A Summary of the Srimad Bhagavatham : Ch-2. Part-6.

2: The Process of Creation :


Part-6.

We consider human beings as everything. We think of peace in the world—world peace. Generally, as human beings, we only think of peace for humanity, and not for lions and snakes. We do not think of their peace, as it is not our intention. We do not want peace for any animal or insect in the world; our attitude is that they can take care of themselves. We have roundtable conferences only for the peace of mankind because man can think only as man, and he cannot think as any other species.



We are to give justice to everybody, but that is not possible because of the insistence of the personality of each individual. A snake cares only for itself, and it can strike anyone who comes near it. It does not think that all are equal. It is not possible for even a human being to think that all are equal, because the insistence of the body and the survival instinct of the particular personality—the shape into which one is born—is so strong. But justice is meted out by the judiciary of the cosmos, and that judiciary has an eye everywhere and knows all things that are taking place. A snake is respected in the same way that a saint is respected; there is no difference.



But for us it is horrible to hear all these things. Is God as affectionate towards a snake as He is towards a saint or sage? The point is, there is no comparison of one level with another level. We have passed through that level, and we were snakes once upon a time. Would we have liked to be killed when we were snakes? We loved ourselves so much that we would have liked to continue as cobras because it is ‘me’, it is ‘myself’, it is ‘I’. The snake does not say that it is a snake; it says that it is ‘me’. Similarly, the human being does not say, “I am a human being.” The human being says, “I am ‘me’, and you cannot interfere with me.” The insect also says, “You cannot interfere with me.”

Swami Krishnananda

To be continued  ...