Equal Vision
The world looks different when our ego – with its demands – ceases. When we have a sense of material poverty, a rich man attracts us and a poor man annoys us. We welcome the wealthy and regard the poor as a nuisance. We have plans to receive, collect and benefit from the affluent. Our mind cannot tolerate even the sight of the have-nots, for what can they give us? We hardly realize that our inadequacy and the resulting urges and aspirations are mainly a psychological phenomenon.
When there is a radical change in our mind, we see the millionaires and the middle class as not much different. We see them both as human beings, with pretty much the same suffering in their lives. Both of them have fleeting joys and lingering sorrows in their relationships. Envy and fear trouble them both. By the token of love in their hearts, both of them are mostly poor, for shallow is their living and they know not what true giving is.
When we have nothing to lose or gain from them, the scholar does not cause envy in us and an illiterate does not make us feel superior. We know their difference; yet we look at them with an open mind, with an unruffled stillness in the depth of our hearts.
Seeing all equally, seeking no self-gratification anywhere and fearing no damage to our image, we enjoy a harmonious relationship with the world around.
The wise ones see all equally. A learned man of religion, full of humility, a cow, an elephant, a dog and an eater of dog’s meat are all the same for them. Geeta 5:18
Swami Chidananda
5 November 2003