Svajanam means kinsmen. So kinsmen does not mean, in higher sense, only my brother or my sister or my father or my uncle. No. Svajanam means all living entities. Because one who hasn't got Kṛṣṇa consciousness, with ordinary consciousness, material consciousness, he cannot think in terms of svajanam. "My kinsmen, all living entities," he cannot think. Actually, everyone is our svajana, because if God is father, as Kṛṣṇa claims, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4), if He is the supreme father . . .
Not only He claims; at least, any fine religious system claims, "God is the original father." That's a fact. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvam pravartate (BG 10.8). Everything has come from Him. He is the supreme father. So if Kṛṣṇa is the supreme father, He is father of everyone. Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya (BG 14.4). In all species of life, in all forms of life, they are all our svajana, kinsmen. How it cannot be? Because Kṛṣṇa is the original father. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore a devotee of Kṛṣṇa does not want to commit a little harm to any living entity. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
- vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
- brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
- śuni caiva śva-pāke ca
- paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ
- (BG 5.18)
Paṇḍitā, one who is learned, he is sama-darśinaḥ, equal vision. Not that . . . just Kṛṣṇa has equal vision. That picture, Kṛṣṇa, He's embracing the calf. He is not only embracing the gopīs, but He is embracing the calf also, cows also. Sama-darśinaḥ. For Kṛṣṇa the gopīs, the calf and the cows, or anyone in Vṛndāvana who has come to serve Him, they are all equal to Him. Somebody wants to serve Kṛṣṇa as calf, somebody wants to serve Kṛṣṇa as cow, somebody wants to serve Kṛṣṇa as gopī, somebody wants to serve Kṛṣṇa as cowherd boy, somebody wants to serve Kṛṣṇa as His father, somebody wants to serve Kṛṣṇa as His mother. These are the different mellows, different taste. Every living entity has got his own taste, how to love Kṛṣṇa. But the central point is to love Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa also reciprocates. He has no discrimination that "Here is gopīs, beautiful girl. Therefore I shall love her more than the calf." No. Kṛṣṇa is not so partial. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's devotees also, because he has . . . Kṛṣṇa consciousness means he has got now in minute quantity Kṛṣṇa's quality. Therefore he is also equal to everyone. He thinks everyone svajana, the same . . . member of the same family. It does not matter if one has become ant or one has become elephant. The living spark, the soul, is the same dimension, either within the ant or in the elephant. This dimension of the soul we have several times discussed, one ten-thousandth part of the top of the hair.
- keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya
- śatadhā kalpitasya ca
- jīvo bhāgaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ
- sa cānantyāya kalpate
- (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 5.9)
That is the dimension. In śāstra we get the dimension of the soul—very, very minute: one ten-thousandth part of the top of the hair. Just imagine. So that portion is within the ant and within Brahma and within elephant. Therefore, one who is paṇḍita, one who knows what are these souls, spiritual sparks, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, if he has got full knowledge, then his vision is:
- vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
- brāhmane gavi-hastini
- śuni caiva śva-pāke ca
- paṇḍitāh sama-darśinaḥ
- (BG 5.18)
Sama-darśinaḥ means equal vision. A learned brāhmaṇa, he is most intelligent man in the human society, so, and a dog . . . superficially, externally, there is much difference. Here is a dog, a street dog, and here is a learned brāhmaṇa. But one who is paṇḍita, one who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he sees that the paṇḍita and the dog, they are the same, because they are also the same spiritual spark. By his karma, he has become a learned paṇḍita, and by his karma, he has become a dog. But within the different body, dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ (BG 2.13), asmin dehe, in this body there is the soul.
That is his vision. Of course, externally, it is not that I shall behave equally with the brāhmaṇa and the dog. That is external behavior. But internally, we should know that both the brāhmaṇa and the dog, they're a spiritual spark. This is called brahma-jñāna. Brahma-jñāna means the knowledge of spiritual self. That is called brahma-jñāna. So when one attains this brahma-jñāna, then brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu (BG 18.54). Samatā, equal. That is brahma-jñāna.