Yathora

The Gita · Chapter 5

Bhagavad Gita 5.18

विद्याविनयसंपन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि। शुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिताः समदर्शिनः॥

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini śhuni chaiva śhva-pāke cha paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśhinaḥ

Translation

Sages look equally on a Brâhmana adorned with learning and humility, a cow, an elephant, and even a dog and an outcaste.

What it means

The wise see equally a learned and humble Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and an outcaste. Equal vision is the social test of realization. The same Self looks out of every body.

Try this today

The equality verse: mature vision reads the same being through radically different social surfaces.

Something to reflect on

Where does my respect still scale with status signals?

Read it in Yathora
← 5.175.19 →

Translation by Annie Besant (1905, public domain). The meanings are original to Yathora, drawn from Shankara’s commentary.