5.18 Panditah, the learned ones; sama-darsinah, look with equanimity; brahmane, on a Brahmana; vidya-vinayasampanne, endowed with learning and humility-vidya means knowledge of the Self, and vinaya means pridelessness-, on a Brahmana who has Self-knowledge and modesty; gavi, on a cow; hastini, on an elephant; ca eva, and even; suni, on a dog; ca, as well as; svapake, on an eater of dog's meat.Those learned ones who are habituated to see (equally) the unchanging, same and one Brahman, absolutely untouched by the qualities of sattva etc. and the tendencies created by it, as also by the tendencies born of rajas and tamas, in a Brahmana, who is endowed with Knowledge and tranquillity, who is possessed of good tendencies and the quality of sattva; in a cow, which is possessed of the middling quality of rajas and is not spiritually refined; and in an elephant etc., which are wholly and absolutely imbued with the quality of tamas-they are seers of equality.Objection: On the strength of the text, 'A sacrificer incurs sin by not adoring equally one who is an equal, and by adoring equally one who is an equal, to himself' (Gau. Sm. 17.20), are not they sinful, whose food should not be eaten?Reply: They are not open to the charge.Objection: How?

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5.18 The learned ones look with eanimity on a Brahmana endowed with learning and humality, a cow, an elephant and even a dog as well as an eater of dog's meat.