bhandum akhilasya janto:

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Sudarshan & other Bhaagavata-s,

 

In re the line "bandhum akhilasya janto:", Sri Sudarshan wrote:-

> A member who read the above post of mine wrote to me

> saying, "from the general drift of your comments, does it

> not appear that the Lord makes no distinction between

> good, evil and indifferent "jantu-s" of the world and

> treats them all alike? Is this not a rather amoral,

> un-scriptural view to take?".

 

Please permit me to note that what Swami Desikan says is fully compatible

with what Sri Krishna declares of Himself in the Geetha: " suhRdam

sarvabhUtAnAm ... jnAtvA mAm.." (Bhagavdgeetha 5.29) ["knowing Me as

the friend of all creatures" ]. Now, that there are no enemies does not

imply that all friends are *equal*, does it? :-) Certainly not. Indeed,

*even* among Bhaktaas, the Lord acknowledges differences, as evidenced by:

 

" catur-vidhA bhajante mAm janah sukRtino 'rjuna

arto jijnasur arthArthi jnAni ca bharatarCabha "

 

" teshAm jnani nitya-yukta eka-bhaktir visisyate

priyo hi jnanino 'tyartham aham sa ca mama priyah

 

[bhagavadgeetha G 7.16, 7.16]

 

[ 4 types worship me, Arjuna: the afflicted, the inquisitve, the

wealth-seekers and jnaani-s.

 

Of these the ever-united-(with Me), one-pointedly devoted jnaani is

foremost. The jnaani is extremely dear to Me, and I to him. ]

 

He proceeds to declare: " Indeed all these 4 are noble. But the jnaani is

My very self. Such is my conviction".

 

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa would say, "Certainly, *everyone*

is a manifestation of NaaraayaNa, but beware of His thief, and such like

manifestations." In another narrative due to Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa,

a sage tells his disciple that all forms of life, both human and animal,

are manifestations of Lord Hari. Keeping this in mind, the disciple, on

one occasion, approaches a violent elephant, inspite of the mahout's

warning. Subsequently, the disciple was badly hurt. Later he complained

to his Master: " You implied that the elephant is also Lord Naarayaana,

so why did i have to suffer like this?". To which, the sage tersely

replied: "you shd have listened to the mahout-Naarayana".

 

Please forgive me for any apachaarams unwittingly committed!

 

Hari Om,

srik.