Chapter 5, Verse 18
vidyā vinaya saṁpanne
brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
śuni caiva śvapāke ca
paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ
Sages see with an equal eye the learned and cultured Brahmin, the cow, the elephant, the dog, the outcast.
Here Lord Krishna uses the words ‘sages’ and ‘Brahmin’. The word ‘paṇḍitāḥ’ means sages, high souls who have attained perfection; those who have attained the true Realisation, God-Realisation.
“Sages see with an equal eye…” When one has reached the state of perfection, all judgements disappear from the mind and one becomes a saint. As the Bible says, “Be holy as your Father in Heaven is holy!” As God sees equality in everything, the mind of the saint who has attained perfection, who has attained God-Realisation, doesn’t have any judgements. A saint sees the same way as God sees. In the eyes of a saint, nothing exists except God. Saints don’t see duality or limitation. They see only God Himself, the supreme reality, which is above Maya Prakriti; they see that everything is a manifestation of this Truth. They see one uniform existence everywhere.
“The learned and cultured Brahmin, the cow, the elephant, the dog, the outcast.” Here Krishna is referring to the diversity in the outside world, where each one is performing his duties. But the sages, the sadhus, the saints perceive only the oneness: they see God equally in each person. They see beyond outward appearances and respect each person’s role as being in accordance with the Will of God. They have this deep knowledge which allows them to see that there is perfection everywhere! There is nothing which is imperfect! Imperfection is due to the ignorance in the minds of men. But if one has transcended one’s human nature and realised the Divine Self, and the divine qualities manifest through one, then one sees that the whole creation which has come out of Him is a projection of His own Will. Here Lord Krishna says to Arjuna, “Rise like the saints and sages and see the Reality; see that it is only Me everywhere. And I am not touched by anything, because this is all My Prakriti Tattva. This is only the manifestation of My Will.”
Bhagavad Gita
