BHAGAVAD-GITA 5:18

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 5:18

 

vidya-vinaya-sampanne

brahmane gavi hastini

suni caiva sva-pake ca

panditah sama-darsinah

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

vidya--with education; vinaya--and gentleness; sampanne--fully

equipped; brahmane--in the brahmana; gavi--in the cow; hastini--in the

elephant; suni--in the dog; ca--and; eva--certainly; sva-pake--in the

dog-eater (the outcaste); ca--respectively; panditah--those who are

wise; sama-darsinah--who see with equal vision.

 

TRANSLATION

 

The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a

learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater

[outcaste].

 

PURPORT

 

A Krsna conscious person does not make any distinction between species

or castes. The brahmana and the outcaste may be different from the

social point of view, or a dog, a cow, and an elephant may be

different from the point of view of species, but these differences of

body are meaningless from the viewpoint of a learned

transcendentalist. This is due to their relationship to the Supreme,

for the Supreme Lord, by His plenary portion as Paramatma, is present

in everyone's heart. Such an understanding of the Supreme is real

knowledge. As far as the bodies are concerned in different castes or

different species of life, the Lord is equally kind to everyone

because He treats every living being as a friend yet maintains Himself

as Paramatma regardless of the circumstances of the living entities.

The Lord as Paramatma is present both in the outcaste and in the

brahmana, although the body of a brahmana and that of an outcaste are

not the same. The bodies are material productions of different modes

of material nature, but the soul and the Supersoul within the body are

of the same spiritual quality. The similarity in the quality of the

soul and the Supersoul, however, does not make them equal in quantity,

for the individual soul is present only in that particular body

whereas the Paramatma is present in each and every body. A Krsna

conscious person has full knowledge of this, and therefore he is truly

learned and has equal vision. The similar characteristics of the soul

and Supersoul are that they are both conscious, eternal and blissful.

But the difference is that the individual soul is conscious within the

limited jurisdiction of the body whereas the Supersoul is conscious of

all bodies. The Supersoul is present in all bodies without

distinction.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.