Bhagavad Gita -Srila Prabhupada 248

Shrimad Bhagavad Gita As It Is -Shri Shrimad A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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Karma-yoga—Action in krsna Consciousness
Chapter 5: Verse-18

vidyä-vinaya-sampanne
brähmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva-päke ca
pantitahsama-darsinah[1]

TRANSLATION

The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brähmana, 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 brähmana 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 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 brähmana, although the body of a brähmana and that of an out caste 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 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.



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References

  1. vidyä=with education; vinaya=and gentleness; sampanne=fully equipped; brähmane=in the brähmana;
    gavi=in the cow; hastini=in the elephant; suni=in the dog; ca=and; eva=certainly; sva-päke=in the dog-eater (the outcaste); ca=respectively; panditäh=those who are wise; sama-darsinah=who see with equal vision.

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