Y'dig?

Traditionally, the swan has been seen as the embodiment of discretion or of good discrimination. Indeed the Sanskrit word for swan is hamsa and the hamsa chakra, located between the eyebrows at the top of the nose, is the location of the spiritual center that gives us this quality. The swan was said to be able to drink milk out of a pond, and to take in only the milk without imbibing any water.

The importance of this quality is paramount, and one can see from these paintings that Saraswati, playing her music on the veena gets her discretion/discrimination from her hamsa, and similarly, in the next picture, the vehicle of Bramha, the Creator, is the swan, and hence, the success of the creation itself rides on the back of a good hamsa chakra.

How important then is it for us, mere mortals seeking some spiritual insights, confused by the plethora of what’s available in today’s spiritual supermarkets, with eveybody and his aunt, climbing on the bandwagon and trying to earn a buck or more out of it, in these troubled times?

Help required please….. I am confused, what is the correct word for this quality of hamsa? Is it discretion, which according to the definition below is the freedom to decide in a given situation, or, is it discrimination, the recognition and understanding between one thing and another?

Surely, a quality is inherent and nothing to do with a conscious decision? And discrimination, the ability to tell between right and wrong, is somewhere closer, but as a word in our society is nowadays has such negative vibes?

Which is best please? And, how does one tell spiritual butter from margarine?

discretion |disˈkre sh ən|
noun
1 the quality of behaving or speaking in such a way as to avoid causing offense or revealing private information : she knew she could rely on his discretion.
2 the freedom to decide what should be done in a particular situation : it is up to local authorities to use their discretion in setting the charges | a pass-fail grading system may be used at the discretion of the department.

discrimination |disˌkriməˈnā sh ən|
noun
1 the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, esp. on the grounds of race, age, or sex : victims of racial discrimination | discrimination against homosexuals.
2 recognition and understanding of the difference between one thing and another : discrimination between right and wrong | young children have difficulties in making fine discriminations.
• the ability to discern what is of high quality; good judgment or taste : those who could afford to buy showed little taste or discrimination.
• Psychology the ability to distinguish between different stimuli : [as adj. ] discrimination learning.
3 Electronics the selection of a signal having a required characteristic, such as frequency or amplitude, by means of a discriminator that rejects all unwanted signals.