Background- Six Blind Men and the Elephant is the story of six blind men who view an elephant differently. As described in the video (Kanika24fps), they touch the different parts of an elephant and form their own opinion about the same. They all have different views about the elephant and argue that their views are more correct than others. The story has a strong link with a religion. Like an elephant, there are different viewpoints on religion. This leads to arguments and fights. Instead of arguing, if all sit together, realise their limited knowledge and try to make it complete with the help of knowledge of others, most of the fights about the religion will come to an end.
Ans- The argument of six men relates to limited understanding of the absolute truth based on individual experience. As the blind men described different features of the same elephant, people in general define their belief about religion in their own words. Their understanding is shaped by their limited knowledge about the real truth. Even though, their thoughts have common source, their blind vision makes them believe they are following different faiths. This is significant because all the religions promote the same truth of humanism but the people fail to interpret it properly. This also makes them claim that their belief alone is right.
What does the elephant stand for (metaphorically)?
Ans- The elephant stands for the complete truth about religion. The different parts of the elephant represent different aspects of the religion by different people. The expanse of religion is vast and the individuals only know some part of it. None of the blind men was able to discover the complete truth about the religion. This is due to their restricted insight about the existing truth.
Who do the blind men represent?
Ans- The blind men represent the people, who do not understand that the concept of religion can be explained in different words. The also lacked the understanding that their knowledge is incomplete. They also don’t know that it is necessary to listen to the religious beliefs of others before proving their own point. Such people also can’t identify the real nature of the religion.
What could they have done to get a better understanding of the elephant?
Ans- They could have listened to one another to understand their observations in its entirety. They could have sat together and put their findings before the whole group to construct the picture of whole elephant. This could have prevented the difference in opinion about the elephant. This could have helped them to conclude that they all touched the different parts of the same elephant. In the perspective of religion, it has a wider application. There is so much conflict in the name of religion. It is due to the wrong interpretation of the religious belief.
Dead Poet’s Society
Background- Dead Poet’s Society is a film based on the lives of young students. They all come from rich families and follow the dreams of their parents. They study in a well- known school. The rules of the school are very strict. The education at the school stands on four pillars- discipline, tradition, honor and excellence. The school expects the students to strictly follow the rules. The school also keeps the record of the former students who excelled in studies. As per the video (Bell), a newly appointed English teacher does not believe in the four ideals of the school. He encourages his students to make the best use of their natural talent to make their life different from others. He also gives them a slogan ‘Carpe Diem’ which means seize the day. At the end, the teacher succeeds in teaching the greatest lesson of life- follow one’s natural desire in a time bound manner to become extra-ordinary.
Ans- It is a helpful lesson because Mr Keating shows to the students the photographs of Ex-students who are now dead. He also tells that these former students wasted the opportunities by following the traditional approach of learning and running after career as decided by their near and dear ones. Unlike the past student, he wants his students to seize every moment to do extra-ordinary things based on their natural liking. To create a greater impact of his words, he whispers ‘Carpe Diem’ while the students were looking at the photographs with interest. Mr Keating urges his students not to run after success but to do something that will make them different from those present in the photographs of hall of fame.
Explain the concept of ‘Carpe Diem’. Whether or not you think this existentialist viewpoint is helpful.
Ans- Carpe Diem is a Latin word that means ‘seize the day’. It is very important because every person has limited time to live in the world. Finally, a day will come when everyone will stop breathing, become cold and die. So, as per the teacher, there is a need to make the best use of every passing moment with the aim of making the life special. In other words, Mr Keating advises his students not to wait for any favourable moment to do something superior. Instead, he suggests to understand the inner talent and to use it to their advantage without any delay. I thing this viewpoint is helpful because there is a general tendency of the humans to wait for better conditions to start something new. However, that moment never comes and they die without achieving success. While teaching, Mr. Keating is able to drive the thought of self-discovery among his students.
Compassion and Enlightenment
Compassion is the ability to understand the suffering of others and to make efforts to reduce their pain. Compassion is essential for enlightenment which requires no distinction between self and others. A compassionate person first understands his or her own pain. Due to this, he comes to know about the state of suffering of others. When the same person sees another person feeling the pain, he or she can easily connect to it. Moreover, a compassionate person forgets that it is the pain of others and thinks that all pain belongs to him or her. Further, when compassion grows, the whole world appears to be a single unit and all the individuals appear to be the image of self only. This is the state of enlightenment. Thus, compassion helps someone to get enlightenment.
A compassionate guru can be of great help in developing compassion. As we have seen that compassion helps to bring enlightenment, guru can assist a person to get enlightenment also. The first thing that a guru does is that he or she leads by example. In the related video (Dharan), Amma is the guru who tries to reduce the pain of devotees by hugging them. She travels from place to place to give the hug to large number of people. As per Amma, she wants to awaken motherhood in people. She says that motherhood is all about selfless care to relieve suffering. There are many examples to prove that Amma is lessening the pain of several people. For example, Amma shows the compassion to the orphans by running the orphanage. She is also concerned about the difficulties of the people belonging to other country. That is why she donates money to the relief funds for the people affected by hurricanes in the US. Thus, Amma believes that the suffering of the whole world belongs to her and it is her duty to help the needy. In short, Amma is the best example of enlightenment achieved through compassion.
As per the video, there are many people who got inspired from Amma, left their profitable job and joined her in serving people. For instance Brian Harvey, now known as Gautam, left his job in Yahoo and came to the ashram of Amma to help devotees free of cost. He says that earlier he used to live for himself and now he lives for others too. So, he has got the knowledge, due to Amma, of realising the trouble of others and assists people in reducing their worries. Similarly, Darshana left her job as psycho therapist twelve years ago to begin a new journey as a volunteer to help people in difficulty. For past several years, she has been helping the devotees of the ashram. She is inspired by the compassion and energy of Amma. She is happy to give her service to the people who are in trouble. She recognizes the efforts of Amma in moving from place to place to give hug to the people suffering from various problems. She also appreciates the energy and stamina of Amma to bless the devotees for several hours at a stretch. So, under the influence of a spiritual guru, people like Gautam and Darshana discontinued their comfortable life and decided to live the life for relieving pain of others .Thus, a spiritual guru makes the development of compassion and then enlightenment easy.
Attachment Causes Suffering
One of the four noble truths of Buddhism is that the suffering is caused by attachment. Buddhism says that wishing to have something is all right but thinking that the acquired things will remain in the same state, can lead to suffering. This can be understood with the help of an example. Every woman has the desire to give birth to a child. Once she becomes mother, she takes full care of the child and wants her child to stay healthy all the time. She also wants her child to be near her. Unfortunately, one day, if the child dies for whatever reason, she finds it difficult to accept the reality and loses her mental balance. So, having a child is perfectly ok, but putting conditions about the child is the source of suffering. Similarly, take the example of a man who earns lot of money and saves it for future needs. Suddenly, if he loses his money, he gets depressed. This is because he wants the money to stay with him and not to change hands. In other words, it is the attachment with the money that causes suffering and not the money itself. As per Bratcher, “the Buddha taught that we need to accept the truth of impermanence. If we do not expect it, we do not miss it”. In other words, it is not the possession of something that is painful but the desire that it will remain the same causes suffering. On the other hand, if there is detachment with the things, the loss of them will not make much difference to the mental peace. So, Buddhism recommends staying detached with anything. As a result, pain will automatically come down.
In the video (My Yoga), Shakti Mhi says that the disturbance in the mind is due to the attachment with physical body. Right from the childhood, as she believes, others make the people believe that the body is important and it should remain attractive all the time. In fact, all the relations are set up on the basis of body. She states that the physical body is subject to change with time. In the childhood, body looks charming. In the youth body looks attractive. As the old age starts, body starts losing its beauty. When this happens, many people don’t accept this reality and become sad. So, she recommends that instead of focusing on body, it is beneficial to pay attention to thoughts running in mind. She makes it clear that it is not the outside occurrences that make the people sad, but the thoughts about body that is responsible for suffering. She further adds that body can be easily hurt but not the mind. Spirituality, as per her, is moving beyond body and giving more importance to the mind. She suggests that one should question the thoughts that start from the existence of body. She also wants people to look beyond surviving because survival is linked to body. In the end, Shakti Mhi appeals to everyone to stop identifying with body and begin realising the importance of mind.
Change is the rule of nature. In fact, this earth itself was different in the past to become what is now. Change has happened and will continue to happen in future, whether someone wants or not. It is better to realise this truth and shape the thinking accordingly. Attachment with one’s body causes pain because the physical body is bound to change due to ageing, while the mind if free of such negative effects. Buddhism, one of the oldest religion in the world, strongly believes that the detachment to all things, living or non-loving, is key to lasting happiness. In brief, real joy can come from detachment with worldly things.
Works Cited
Kanika24fps. "Six Blind Men." Youtube.com. YouTube, 18 May 2009. Web. 01 May 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBqgr5xZLz0>.
Bell, Tom. "Carpe Diem." Youtube.com. YouTube, 10 July 2011. Web. 01 May 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lCoU5yI0oI>.
Dharan, Sudeep. "Amritanandamayi On CNN." Youtube.com. YouTube, 04 Sept. 2007. Web. 01 May 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7zxg8IMqnM>.
Bratcher, Sharon L. "Why Do We Suffer? Buddhism Vs Christianity." Reformedperspective.ca. Reformed Perspective Magazine. n.d. Web. 01 May 2016. <http://www.reformedperspective.ca/component/content/article/55-magcontent/christian-living/196-why-do-we-suffer-buddhism-vs-christianity>.
My Yoga on Gaiam TV. "Shakti Mhi - Examining Self Perception." Youtube.com. YouTube, 17 Feb. 2008. Web. 01 May 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhEgVDc1uiE>.
