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I AM MAHĀVĪRA
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Fig. 14. The Elephant and the Blind Men
"Meanwhile, an intelligent man happened to pass by that way. He saw the blind men quarrelling with each other. For a
while, he could not understand what was the matter. When he asked them, each of them told his own statement. All of them requested him, "You, please, solve our different point of views."
The intelligent man said, "O brothers, all of you are speaking a truth. Every one of you is stating the elephant as each of you has felt by touching it. None of you has seen or felt about the elephant in Toto. The elephant is also like a winnower fan. It is also like a pillar, it is also like a rope (tail), it is also like a drum (stomach) and it is like the stem of the tree. All these forms united
make the whole elephant. Only single form can not lead to the
cognition of the whole elephant."
"O king, the common man has a limited knowledge like the blind men. The latent dispositions, conventions, environment and other condition make up what he is. He likes only that point
which is advantageous to him. This is the reason; he is unable to Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
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