THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER 5
SANYAS YOGA OR THE RENUNCIATION:
VERSE NUMBER18
Text in Transliteration:
vidyaavinayasampanne braahmane gavi hastini
suni chai ‘va svapaake cha panditaah samadarsinah
Text in English:
Men of Self-knowledge are same-sighted on a Brahmana imbued with learning and humility, a cow, an elephant, a dog and an outcaste.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Sunlight falls equally on all things. It makes no difference between the sacred Ganga and sewage water. The knower of Brahman cognizes Brahman only everywhere. The distinction whih the worldly make among beings, is born of ignorance. To them an ideal Brahmana is one who is to be shunned. Among men the former is topmost in rank and the latter the last. Similarly, among animals the cow is to be revered, the elephant admired and the cur kept aloof. Bt the man of Self-knowledge does not see into the assumed differences in men, animals, birds and other creatures. He cognizes the same Omniscience present in all these forms which are unreal. The Jnani sees truly while the worldly see erroneously.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Nescience creates plurality and difference among beings. Omniscience reveals unity behind the seeming multiplicity.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
vidyavinayasampane; great learning brings great humility. As our knowledge increases we become increasingly aware of the encircling darkness. It is when we light the candle that we see how dark it is. What we know is practically nothing compared to what we do not know. A little knowledge leads to dogmatism, a little more to questioning and a little more takes us to prayer. Besides, humility come from the knowledge that we are sustained in existence by the love of God. The greatest thinkers of all ages were deeply religious men.
vinaya; humility or rather modesty which is the result of cultivation or discipline. The first division of the Buddhist Tipitaka is called vinaya or discipline, vinaya is the opposite of the pride or insolence. The recognition of dependence on non-human factors produces cosmic piety. The truly learned are humble.
samadarsinah; see with an equal eye. The Eternal is the same in all, in animals, as in men, in learned Brahmins as in despised outcasts. The light of Brahman dwells in all bodies and is not affected. By the differences in the bodies it illumines.
The characteristics of the Supreme, being, consciousness and bliss, are present in all existences and the differences relate to their names and forms, that is, their embodiments. When we look at things from the standpoint of the Ultimate Reality present in all, we “see with an equal eye.” The fundamental dualism is that of spirit and nature and not of soul and body. It is the distinction between the subject and the object. Nature is the world of objectivization, of alienation, of determinability. There we have, the distinction of minerals, plants and animals and men, but they all have an inner non-objective existence. The subject, Reality, dwells in all of them. This affirmation of basic identity is not inconsistent with the empirical variety. Even Shankara admits that the one eternal reality is revealing itself in higher and higher forms through successive stages of manifestation. The empirical variety should not hide from us the metaphysical reality our fellow beings with kindliness and compassion. The wise see the one God in all beings and develop the quality of equalmindedness which is characteristic of the Divine.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
The liberated sage or Jivanmukta or a Brahmana has equal vision as he beholds the Self only everywhere. This magnificent vision of a Jnani is beyond description. Atma or Brahman is not at all affected by the Upadhis or limiting adjuncts as He is extremely subtle, pure, formless and attributeless. The sun’s reflection falls on the river Ganga, on the ocean or on a dirty stream. The sun is not at all affected in any way. This makes no difference to the sun. So is the case with the Supreme Self. The Upadhis (limited adjuncts) cannot affect Him. Just as the ether is not affected by the limiting adjkuncts, viz., a pot, the walls of a room, cloud, etc., so also the Self is not affected by the Upadhis.
The Brahmana is Sattvic. The cow is Rajasic. The elephant, the dog and the outcaste are Tamasic. The sage sees in all of them the one homogeneous immortal Self Who is not affected by the three Gunas and their tendencies. (Cf. VI.8, 32; XIV.24)
Comments by the blogger:
Self-knowledge makes one attuned to God. He realises he is one with God. Then it is only natural that one of God’s attributes should shine in him. For him there is hardly any difference between a learned Brahmana imbued with humility, a cow, an elephant, a dog and an outcaste.
In the course of time and civilization of even three or four centuries like that of England the people are divided according to their occupation. In European countries there were Class troubles till the first world war and it took the second world war to annihilate it. An outcast was treated to be like an animal. In the older civilizations like Egypt there were slaves. The people were enslaved and traded like any chattel or commodity. This always happens in a society. But in India it should not have happened where the Vedopanishadic Sages and Saints walked the earth as colossus. But even in India it happened. Simply because the Lord says and lists out the outcast we should not take that he considers the outcast as lesser than a cur. If you see the main theme of the stanza, that the one with Self-knowledge will have the same-sightedness and will not treat differently a learned Brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and an outcaste treat them as his equals, then the difficulty in understanding the Lords list and wordings will go, leaving place for light and understanding.
For the Lord all are equal. The whole universe is his body only. And he does not even take into account the good and bad conducts of people, according to another stanza in this chapter. He mentions the word outcaste because there were people in Lord Krishna’s avatara who were considered to be outcastes and the Lord is not afraid of mentioning them. He is not going to stand in any elections for the Parliament to choose carefully his words, irrespective of the ground position. He is no politician to play with words. And outcastes and curs are as full of the Lord as the man imbued with Self-knowledge. It is only a question of time before the cur takes human birth and the outcaste to caste away his body and come back here as a Vaisiya, or a Shatria or even as a Bramana according to his Prarabhda.
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