Video Information: Shastra Kaumudi Live, 23.02.2020, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
Context:
विद्याविनयसंपन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि।
शुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिताः समदर्शिनः।।5.18।।
The learned ones look with equanimity on a Brahmana endowed with learning and humility, a cow, an elephant, and even a dog as well as an eater of dog's meat.
~ Shrimad Bhagwad Geeta, Chapter 5, Verse 18.
~ What is worldly definition of consciousness?
~ What are the levels of consciousness?
~ Does same consciousness lives in all beings?
~ What is common between saint and sinner, animal and man?
~ Is Consciousness different from Prakrati?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
#acharyaprashant
Context:
विद्याविनयसंपन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि।
शुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिताः समदर्शिनः।।5.18।।
The learned ones look with equanimity on a Brahmana endowed with learning and humility, a cow, an elephant, and even a dog as well as an eater of dog's meat.
~ Shrimad Bhagwad Geeta, Chapter 5, Verse 18.
~ What is worldly definition of consciousness?
~ What are the levels of consciousness?
~ Does same consciousness lives in all beings?
~ What is common between saint and sinner, animal and man?
~ Is Consciousness different from Prakrati?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
#acharyaprashant
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Chapter 5, verse 18.
00:11The learned ones look with equanimity on a Brahman endowed with learning and humility,
00:17a cow, an elephant and even a dog as well as an eater of dog's meat.
00:25So question says, in what way is the vision of the learned one equal towards all of them?
00:38And is this sense of equanimity different from numbness or insensitivity?
00:50Usually when you look at these different beings with a worldly eye, all you see is differences.
01:00So there is the learned Brahman, then there is the cow, the elephant, the dog and then
01:07there is the eater of the dog's meat.
01:12So these five entities have been mentioned and it is said that the one who is really
01:22learned looks equally upon all of them.
01:27The questioner is asking what is this equanimity and how is this different from numbness or insensitivity?
01:38Looking at differences is an intermediate state of consciousness.
01:47The lowest state is when you do not see any differences.
01:53For example, a drop of rain.
01:57It was raining this afternoon.
02:03And the droplets made no difference between the Ganga, a shrine, a dog and cow dung.
02:30Did it matter to a drop?
02:33Some of the drops fell into the Ganga.
02:42Some landed on the shrine's spire.
02:47Some landed on your head maybe.
02:51Some of them did land on your head.
02:54And many drops would have landed on cow dung.
03:01That is not equanimity.
03:03That is deadness.
03:05That is lack of consciousness.
03:07That is the lowest level of consciousness.
03:13The drop is endowed with no consciousness at all.
03:17Therefore, it makes no difference.
03:24Then there is the intermediate level of consciousness in which all that one sees is differences.
03:30That is what one popularly calls as consciousness itself.
03:36The more you see differences, the more conscious you are called.
03:44That's the worldly definition of consciousness.
03:46See diversity.
03:47See differences.
03:49You must be able to tell apart black from white and yellow from red.
03:53Then you are called conscious.
03:56If you are lying and somebody shows you yellow and red and you can't differentiate between
04:01them, you will be probably called drunk or a little unconscious or whatsoever.
04:16This worldly eye looks only at forms and appearances and forms and appearances are obviously different
04:24for different entities.
04:27It does not go deep into the essence of things.
04:32Therefore, all that this eye perceives are differences.
04:40The ego lives in differences.
04:44If there are differences, only then the ego has something to do.
04:47There is this and there is this.
04:49So, I have to make a choice.
04:51I have to achieve something.
04:52I have to reject something.
04:54I have to find something.
05:03Then there is a higher level of consciousness that is being referred to in this verse.
05:13At this level, the looker wants to penetrate beyond the appearances into the underlying
05:29reality.
05:34Where are the appearances coming from and to whom are all these appearances?
05:41Where are all these appearances coming from and to whom are all these appearances?
05:51The moment these questions are asked, diversity disappears.
06:00You find that all the appearances are coming from the same place and what's even easier
06:06to see is that all the appearances are coming only to you.
06:12It's to you that all the appearances are there.
06:21And why do you see all of them?
06:25You see all of them because you are searching for something, somebody who has so far remained
06:36elusive.
06:42You are the one who is seeing things, different things and you have a need to see different
06:52things because the one you are desperate to really see has so far not been found in a
07:00single thing.
07:04Now, how do you really differentiate between this and that?
07:11That's if you address the question to whom are these appearances.
07:20You could take the other route and go into the appearances themselves.
07:25What is it that all the appearances really want?
07:31I see them as conscious.
07:32At least the five entities mentioned here in the verse are all conscious entities.
07:39What is it that all of them want?
07:43And the moment you investigate into why those entities exist at all, why do they continue
07:52to breathe?
07:54Why do they continue to open their eyes and look at the world?
07:58You discover that all of them are looking for, searching for, crying for the same thing.
08:11How do you now distinguish between them?
08:24The most learned priest really wants to reach the same place as the one who is spending
08:39his life eating dog's meat.
08:45It's just that the learned one is making it easier for himself by being learned.
08:54The one who is busy killing animals and eating them is not doing himself a favor by doing
09:06what he does.
09:12But both of them want the same thing.
09:14Not only do both of them want the same thing, even animals want the same thing.
09:19Be it a cow, an elephant, or a dog, or a single-celled amoeba.
09:29As if life itself exists to reach one common shared and ultimate destination, doesn't matter
09:41what the life form is.
09:49Looking from our position, it does appear, however, that a few life forms and even among
09:59those life forms, a few categories are more suited to reach that destination.
10:08But that's only from our point of view and no point of view is absolute.
10:17From where man looks at himself, from where man looks at a cow and a dog, it actually
10:26does appear that liberation is more possible for a man than a cow or a dog.
10:35But this conclusion should be taken with a pinch of salt.
10:41Why?
10:42Because this conclusion is from man's frame of reference.
10:50It's the man who is looking at himself as a man.
10:52It's a man who is looking at a cow as a cow.
10:57A cow does not look at itself as a man does.
11:02We do not know what a cow is in a cow universe.
11:08We do not even know what a pebble is in a pebble's universe.
11:12A pebble appears inanimate to us.
11:16In its own universe, we do not know what that pebble is and how men look.
11:25We do not even know whether a pebble universe exists at all.
11:32But what is certain is, irrespective of the form, shape, expression of consciousness,
11:40all conscious entities exist to be liberated.
11:49Therefore at some fundamental level, you cannot differentiate between them.
11:54They all exist for the same thing.
11:56How to distinguish?
12:13If anybody who has spent time with an animal and he or she will say that he is friends
12:28with the animal, the two of them actually talk as human beings do.
12:42The two of them share relationship that might actually be deeper than the one human beings
12:51have among themselves.
12:56If that kind of a relationship is possible with an animal, how will you distinguish between
13:03an animal and a human being?
13:07But that you see only when you first of all come close.
13:13If you do not come close, then from a distance, you will see only the exteriors.
13:19And when you see the exteriors, all you see is differences.
13:22The cow is not the dog, the dog is not the man.
13:26They are all different.
13:28And if they are different, and if they are different from you, then they are foreigners.
13:36Then they are aliens.
13:39Then they have nothing in common with you.
13:44Then their existence is totally exclusive of you.
13:51And then you can slaughter them.
13:55Therefore if you are someone who relishes slaughter of any kind, it becomes important
14:00for you to keep a safe distance.
14:03If you will come too close, you will not be able to kill.