For Eternal Beginners
सर्व भूतेषु येनैकम् भावम् अव्ययम् ईक्षते ।
अविभक्तम् विभक्तेषु तत् ज्ञानम् विद्धि सात्विकम् ॥ २० ॥
sarva bhUteSu yenaikam bhAvam avyayam IkSate |
avibhaktam vibhakteSu tat jJAnam viddhi sAtvikam || 20 ||
येन [yena] The awareness by which एकम् भावम् [ekam bhAvam] the same attitude ईक्षते [IkSate] is expressed सर्व भूतेषु [sarva bhUteSu] towards all beings, अव्ययम् [avyayam] considering them unchanging अविभक्तम् [avibhaktam] and uniform विभक्तेषु [vibhakteSu] even in their variety - विद्धि [viddhi] know तत् ज्ञानम् [tat jJAnam] such knowledge सात्विकम् [sAtvikam] to be in the quality of
sattva
.
The action we conceive depends on our awareness.
The variety of beings is many - being a teacher or a soldier, being married or single, tall or short and so on. All of them are entitled to perform their activities.
Even in this huge variety, there is something called The Self inside each being. It is not subject to any of this variety.
Whether someone is a teacher, tall, short or categorized in any other way, the Self in them is pure knowledge, not subject to any such variety. It is unchanging - characteristics such as being a teacher are temporary and will wear out in time, along with our body.
The Self isn’t subject to change and thus isn’t attached to any outcomes. When you realize this at the time of authoring an action, your knowledge is in the quality of sattva .