Intelligence, wisdom, non-delusion, forbearance, truth, control of the senses, serenity of heart, pleasure and pain, birth and death, fear and fearlessness, non-injury, equanimity, contentment, austerity, benevolence, fame and infamy — these different conditions of beings arise from Me alone. (Bhagavad Gita Chapter X – Verse 4 and 5).
Man is born with one or more of these qualities, according to his past karma. What we deserve, Bhagavan gives us. What we have earned in a previous life becomes our asset in the present life, the capital with which we start out. The child’s history is already written before the baby is born. Whatever the child develops into, is stored up and remains latent at the time of birth. We start on our life’s voyage with our pockets filled or empty according to how they were at the end of the previous life. Gross, material things, we cannot carry with us when we depart. But our character, our tendencies — all that is stored up in our subtle body stays with us and accompanies us when we are reborn. Our desires, ambitions, hopes, character traits — all these are stored up in our subtle body. The gross body can carry and enjoy gross things. And when we leave the gross body, we cannot carry gross things with us. But mental qualities being subtle, the subtle, reincarnating body carries these along through ages. The wise man therefore cares more to store up lasting treasures — a noble, lofty ambition, intelligence, truthfulness and other ennobling character traits—than wealth and other perishable things. And rising above them all, the yogi stores up the highest knowledge, jnana, the realization of Truth, which lasts through eternity.
Whatever is arises from God. Intelligence is mentioned first. Some men are intelligent beyond comparison. They easily grasp subtle subjects of thought. They perceive things not comprehended by the ordinary mind. Others have wisdom. They know the Self. They perceive That which is beyond the reach of the senses. Again, others have sound judgment and the power of discrimination. Some have forbearance; no abuse or insult ever agitates their minds. Others are truthful; they give utterance only to their own actual experience of things. And so we find men with different dispositions, different qualifications and different acquisitions according to their characters. ‘And all these differences are from Me,’ says Bhagavan.