124 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 9, Ch. 21
with faith and respect and gave him a share of the food. The
brahmana guest ate his share and then went away.
PURPORT

Rantideva perceived the presence of the Supreme Personality of God-
head in every living being, but he never thought that because the
Supreme Lord is present in every living being, every living being must
be God. Nor did he distinguish between one living being and another. He
perceived the presence of the Lord both in the brahmana and in the
candala. This is the true vision of equality, as confirmed by the Lord
Himself in Bhagavad-gita (5.18):

vidyd-vinaya-sampanne
brahmane gavi hastini
Suni caiva $va-pake ca
panditah sama-darsinah
“The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a
learned and gentle bradhmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater
[outcaste].” A pandita, or learned person, perceives the presence of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead in every living being. Therefore, al-
though it has now become fashionable to give preference to the so-called
daridra-nérayana, or “poor Narayana,” Rantideva had no reason to give
preference to any one person. The idea that because Narayana is present
in the heart of one who is daridra, or poor, the poor man should be called
daridra-ndrdyana is a wrong conception. By such logic, because the Lord
is present within the hearts of the dogs and hogs, the dogs and hogs
would also be Narayana. One should not mistakenly think that Rantideva
subscribed to this view. Rather, he saw everyone as part of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead (hari-sambandhi-vastunah). It is not that every-
one is the Supreme Godhead. Such a theory, which is propounded by the
Mayavada philosophy, is always misleading, and Rantideva would never
have accepted it.
TEXT 7
MITT ATSTATITT HBT ATA: |
fad ora TEA BATT eft Ae U9 II
