What is common between saint and sinner, animal and man? || Acharya Prashant,on Bhagavad Gita (2020)

Acharya Prashant

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

Transcript

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.

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