Key of Knowledge

SR No.: 006702
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 1919
Total Pages: 1204
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

Page 710

CHAPTER X.
THE SIDDHANTA.*
A number of blind persons, once upon a time, went out to see' an elephant which had come to their village. They were all taken to it, and allowed to touch it with their hands, one touching its trunk, another its car, a third its leg, and so forth. After the departure of the animal, they all began to talk of their knowledge concerning its form. Each described it according to his own personal observation but it was soon found that their descriptions did not tally. Upon this, a quarrel arose as to who was the truthful witness among them, and from words they speedily came to blows. At this juncture, there appeared on the scene a man who was not blind like them, and who had actually seen an elephant; and he was with great difficulty able to reconcile them by explaining to them that what each one of them had felt with his hand was not the whole animal, but only a part of its body.-The purable of the blindmen and the elephant.
Moral :-Men of this world are like the blindmen of the parable; they insist on their partial knowledge being accepted for the whole truth.
The causes of misunderstanding in religion can be classified under two distinct heads, namely, those which arise from partial knowledge, which men try to pass off for exact truth, and those that are due to a failure to understand the teaching embodied in myths and legends. Of these two kinds, the latter is the more fruitful source of trouble. .
It is not to be supposed that mythology is a science to be encouraged. Its value is apparent from the fact
* Established Truth, the last word, or final conclusion,