Chapter 5: Karma-yoga-Action in Kåñëa Consciousness
Bg 5.18
TEXT 18
vidya-vinaya-sampanne
brahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva-pake ca
panditah sama-darsinah
SYNONYMS
vidyä—education; vinaya—gentleness; sampanne—fully equipped; brähmaëe—in the brähmaëa; gavi—in the cow; hastini—in the elephant; çuni—in the dog; ca—and; eva—certainly; çvapäke—in the dog-eater (the outcaste); ca—respectively; paëòitäù-those who are so wise; sama-darçinaù—do see with equal vision.
TRANSLATION
The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brähmaëa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste] .
PURPORT
A Kåñëa conscious person does not make any distinction between species or castes. The brähmaëa and the outcaste may be different from the social point of view, or a dog, a cow, or 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 Paramätmä, 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 Paramätmä regardless of the circumstances of the living entities. The Lord as Paramätmä is present both in the outcaste and in the brähmaëa, although the body of a brähmaëa 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 Paramätmä is present in each and every body. A Kåñëa 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.