Jainism For Beginners Level 03

Author(s): Sayampurnashreeji
Publisher: Sayampurnashreeji

Page 85

(Non-absolutism-respect for the life of all being leading to mutual understanding and peaceful co-existance)
nce upon a time, there lived six blind
men in a village. One day the villagers told them. "Hey, there is an elephant in the village today. They had no idea what an elephant was. They decided, "Even though we cannot see the elephant, let us go and feel it anyway." All of them went where the elephant was. Each of them touched the elephant. "Hey, the elephant is like a pillar," said the first man who touched his leg. "Oh, no! it is like a rope," said the second man who touched the tail. "Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree," said the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant.
ANEKANTAVADA
"It is like a big manual fan" said the fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant. "It is like a huge wall," said the fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant. "It is like a solid pipe," Said the sixth man who touched the tusk of the elephant. They began to argue about the elephant and every one of them insisted that he was right. They were getting agitated. A wise man was passing by, saw this. He stopped and asked them, "What is the matter?" They said. "We cannot agree on what the elephant is like." Each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like. The wise man calmly explained to them, All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently is because each one of you touched a different part of the elephant. So, actually the elephant has all those features that you all said."
Anekantavada