Bhagavad Gita 5.18
विद्याविनयसम्पन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि । शुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिताः समदर्शिनः ॥
vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini | śuni caiva śva-pāke ca paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ ||
Translation
The learned look with equal eye on a Brahmana possessed of learning and humility, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a Svapaka.
Reflection
Whose place in the hierarchy of your day have you been ranking, where the wise would still notice the same self?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Five
Sama-darśinaḥ. Same-seers. The verse lines up five categories the world ranks: the learned and humble brahmana at the top of the social pyramid, the cow honored, the elephant noble, the dog ordinary, the śva-pāka (the dog-cooker) at the bottom. The wise see the same in all five. The verse is one of the Gita's clearest social moments. Aurobindo: the sama-darśana is not the failure to notice difference. It is the seeing of the same self behind the difference, while the differences continue to be there. The wise still call the cow a cow.