Bhagavad Gita · 5.18 · Path of Renunciation·18 of 29
विद्याविनयसंपन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि।शुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिताः समदर्शिनः ॥
vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
śhuni chaiva śhva-pāke cha paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśhinaḥ
Sanskrit recitation
Peace of the one who knows · 5.13–5.29 · Teaching
Translation
Sages look with an equal eye on a Brahmana endowed with learning and humility, on a cow, an elephant, a dog, and even an outcaste.
Meaning
The liberated sage or Jivanmukta or a Brahmana has eal vision as he beholds the Self only everywhere. This magnificent vision of a Jnani is beyond description. Atman or Brahman is not at all affected by the Upadhis or limiting adjuncts as He is extremely subtle, pure, formless and attributeless. The suns 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 (limiting adjuncts) cannot affect Him. Just as the ether is not affected by the limiting adjuncts, 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 sge sees in all of them the one homogeneous immortal Self Who is not affected by the three Gunas and their tendencies. (Cf.VI.8,32XIV.24)
After Swami Sivananda
Peace of the one who knows· 5.13–5.29→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 5.13Mentally renouncing all actions and being self-controlled, the embodied one happily rests in the nine-gated city, neither acting nor causing others (body and senses) to act.
- 5.14Neither does the Lord create agency nor actions for the world, nor union with the fruits of actions; rather, it is Nature that acts.
- 5.15The Lord takes neither the demerit nor the merit of any; knowledge is enveloped by ignorance, and beings are deluded.
- 5.16But to those whose ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the Self, like the sun, knowledge reveals the Supreme Brahman.
- 5.17Their intellect absorbed in That, their self being That, established in That, with That as their supreme goal, they go whence there is no return, their sins dispelled by knowledge.
5.18Sages look with an equal eye on a Brahmana endowed with learning and humility, on a cow, an elephant, a dog, and even an outcaste.
- 5.19Even here in this world, those whose minds rest in reality overcome birth; Brahman is indeed spotless and real; therefore they are established in Brahman.
- 5.20Resting in Brahman, with a steady intellect and undeluded, the knower of Brahman neither rejoices upon obtaining what is pleasant nor grieves upon obtaining what is unpleasant.
- 5.21With the self unattached to external contacts, he finds happiness in the Self; with the self engaged in the meditation of Brahman, he attains endless happiness.
- 5.22The enjoyments that arise from contact are only sources of pain, for they have a beginning and an end, O Arjuna; the wise do not rejoice in them.
- 5.23He who is able, while still here in this world, to withstand the impulse born out of desire and anger before the liberation from the body, he is a Yogi, and he is a happy man.
- 5.24He who is happy within, who rejoices within, and who is illuminated within, that Yogi attains absolute freedom, or Moksha, becoming Brahman himself.
- 5.25The sages obtain absolute freedom or Moksha when their sins have been destroyed, their dualities have been torn asunder, they are self-controlled, and they are intent on the welfare of all beings.
- 5.26Absolute freedom exists on all sides for those self-controlled ascetics who are free from desire and anger, who have controlled their thoughts, and who have realized the Self.
- 5.27Shutting out all external contacts and fixing the gaze between the eyebrows, realizing the outgoing and incoming breaths moving within the nostrils.
- 5.28With the senses, mind, and intellect ever controlled, having liberation as their supreme goal, free from desire, fear, and anger, the sage is truly liberated forever.
- 5.29He who knows Me as the enjoyer of sacrifices and austerities, the great Lord of all the worlds, and the friend of all beings, attains peace.
Word-by-word→
- cha
- and
- eva
- certainly
- gavi
- a cow
- vidyā
- divine knowledge
- vinaya
- humbleness
- śhuni
- a dog
- hastini
- an elephant
- sampanne
- equipped with
- brāhmaṇe
- a Brahmin
- śhva-pāke
- a dog-eater
- paṇḍitāḥ
- the learned
- sama-darśhinaḥ
- see with equal vision
Related verses
- 2.57He who is everywhere without attachment, upon encountering anything good or bad, neither…
- 2.48Perform action, O Arjuna, being steadfast in Yoga, abandoning attachment and balanced in…
- 2.59The objects of the senses turn away from the abstinent man, leaving the longing behind;…
- 2.64But the self-controlled man, moving among objects with the senses restrained and free from…