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bhandum akhilasya janto:

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R. Skrintha • May 18, 1998 


Dear Sri Sudarshan & other Bhaagavata-s,

In re the line "bandhum akhilasya janto:", Sri Sudarshan wrote:-

> A member who read the above post of mine wrote to me 
> saying, "from the general drift of your comments, does it
> not appear that the Lord makes no distinction between 
> good, evil and indifferent "jantu-s" of the world and 
> treats them all alike? Is this not a rather amoral,
> un-scriptural view to take?".

Please permit me to note that what Swami Desikan says is fully compatible 
with what Sri Krishna declares of Himself in the Geetha: " suhRdam 
sarvabhUtAnAm ... jnAtvA mAm.." (Bhagavdgeetha 5.29) ["knowing Me as 
the friend of all creatures" ]. Now, that there are no enemies does not 
imply that all friends are *equal*, does it? :-) Certainly not. Indeed, 
*even* among Bhaktaas, the Lord acknowledges differences, as evidenced by:

" catur-vidhA bhajante mAm janah sukRtino 'rjuna
 arto jijnasur arthArthi jnAni ca bharatarCabha "

" teshAm jnani nitya-yukta eka-bhaktir visisyate
  priyo hi jnanino 'tyartham aham sa ca mama priyah  

 [Bhagavadgeetha  G 7.16, 7.16]

[ 4 types worship me, Arjuna: the afflicted, the inquisitve, the 
wealth-seekers and jnaani-s.

  Of these the ever-united-(with Me), one-pointedly devoted jnaani is 
foremost. The jnaani is extremely dear to Me, and I to him. ]

He proceeds to declare: " Indeed all these 4 are noble. But the jnaani is 
My very self. Such is my conviction".

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa would say, "Certainly, *everyone* 
is a manifestation of NaaraayaNa, but beware of His thief, and such like 
manifestations." In another narrative due to Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, 
a sage tells his disciple that all forms of life, both human and animal, 
are manifestations of Lord Hari. Keeping this in mind, the disciple, on 
one occasion, approaches a violent elephant, inspite of the mahout's 
warning. Subsequently, the disciple was badly hurt. Later he complained 
to his Master: " You implied that the elephant is also Lord Naarayaana, 
so why did i have to suffer like this?". To which, the sage tersely 
replied: "you shd have listened to the mahout-Naarayana". 

Please forgive me for any apachaarams unwittingly committed!

Hari Om,
srik.