The Bhagavad Gita, while describing the qualities of a wise person says: ‘The wise looks with an equal eye upon a noble brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a chandala’ (5.18).
Commenting on this verse, Bhagawan Shankaracharya says that a jnani looks upon this whole world as his own self (atman); i.e., he does not look upon anybody as different from himself.
This verse is vividly illustrated in the story of king Rantideva occurring in the Srimad Bhagavatam (9.21). Rantideva was a person who satisfied himself with whatever came his way through its own accord without any direct effort on his behalf. In effect, he personified the jnani described in Gita 4.22:
‘He is content with what comes to him without effort. He is unaffected by dualities like heat and cold. He is free from envy and is equipoised in success or failure.'
