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| The Allegory of The Cave |
ॐ नमो नारायण ! जय श्री कृष्णा
While teaching and explaining Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta, Acharya Shri Shivender Nagar Ji tells beautiful and knowledgeable short stories. These short stories are instrumental in explaining a point in the discussion. The following is one such short story.
The Allegory (a story to reveal a hidden meaning) of the cave, or Plato's Cave, was presented by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work Republic (514a–520a). I heard it first from Acharya Ji. Following is a brief summary of my understanding. Reference Content Source: Wikipedia.
Imagine a cave where people have been imprisoned from childhood. These prisoners are chained so that their legs and necks are fixed, forcing them to gaze at the wall in front of them and not look around at the cave, each other, or themselves. Behind the prisoners is a fire, behind which people walk carrying objects or puppets "of men and other living things". The prisoners cannot see any of what is happening behind them, they are only able to see the shadows cast upon the cave wall in front of them. The sounds of the people talking echo off the walls and the prisoners believe these sounds come from the shadows (please refer to the image on top of the page).
The shadows are the reality for the prisoners because they have never seen anything else; they do not realize that what they see are shadows of objects in front of a fire, much less that these objects are inspired by real things outside the cave which they do not see. Because it's was a prison, it was never cleaned, the stink in the cave was so bad that it could kill a rat.
Suppose one prisoner was freed, This prisoner would look around and see the fire. The light would hurt his eyes and make it difficult for him to see the objects casting the shadows. If he was told that what he is seeing is real instead of the other version of reality he sees on the wall, he would not believe it. In his pain, the freed prisoner would turn away and run back to what he is accustomed to (that is, the shadows of the carried objects).
Now Suppose... that someone should drag him... by force, up the rough ascent, the steep way up, and never stop until he could drag him out into the light of the sun. Slowly, his eyes adjust to the light of the sun. First he can only see shadows. Gradually he can see the reflections of people and things in water and then later see the people and things themselves. Eventually, he is able to look at the stars and moon at night until finally, he can look upon the sun itself.
The freed prisoner would think that the world outside the cave was superior to the world he experienced in the cave and attempt to share this with the prisoners remaining in the cave attempting to bring them onto the journey he had just endured
The returning prisoner, whose eyes have become accustomed to the sunlight, would be blind when he re-enters the cave, just as he was when he was first exposed to the sun. He almost passed out due to the stink in the cave. The other prisoners would infer from the returning man's blindness that the journey out of the cave had harmed him and that they should not undertake a similar journey. If they were able, they would, reach out and kill anyone who attempted to drag them out of the cave. This where Plato concludes his story.
Acharya Ji adds to the story that, returning prisoner persuasion results in one young man decides to endure the journey to the outside world. The returning prisoner and the young prisoner come out of the cave. Eventually the young prisoner witnessed the truth just like the first free prisoner. They both enjoy their freedom for a month and then the first free prisoner decides to continue his endeavors of the new world. In return for the greatest gift of freedom to the young man, he asks for one favor. He asks him to bring one more guy out of the cave, just like he did. Once he succeeds, ask him to do the same thing as he had asked him of. In this way they will be able to free everyone from the prison. Acharya Ji concludes his additions to the story here.
Teachings of the story:
Suppose one prisoner was freed, This prisoner would look around and see the fire. The light would hurt his eyes and make it difficult for him to see the objects casting the shadows. If he was told that what he is seeing is real instead of the other version of reality he sees on the wall, he would not believe it. In his pain, the freed prisoner would turn away and run back to what he is accustomed to (that is, the shadows of the carried objects).
Now Suppose... that someone should drag him... by force, up the rough ascent, the steep way up, and never stop until he could drag him out into the light of the sun. Slowly, his eyes adjust to the light of the sun. First he can only see shadows. Gradually he can see the reflections of people and things in water and then later see the people and things themselves. Eventually, he is able to look at the stars and moon at night until finally, he can look upon the sun itself.
The freed prisoner would think that the world outside the cave was superior to the world he experienced in the cave and attempt to share this with the prisoners remaining in the cave attempting to bring them onto the journey he had just endured
The returning prisoner, whose eyes have become accustomed to the sunlight, would be blind when he re-enters the cave, just as he was when he was first exposed to the sun. He almost passed out due to the stink in the cave. The other prisoners would infer from the returning man's blindness that the journey out of the cave had harmed him and that they should not undertake a similar journey. If they were able, they would, reach out and kill anyone who attempted to drag them out of the cave. This where Plato concludes his story.
Acharya Ji adds to the story that, returning prisoner persuasion results in one young man decides to endure the journey to the outside world. The returning prisoner and the young prisoner come out of the cave. Eventually the young prisoner witnessed the truth just like the first free prisoner. They both enjoy their freedom for a month and then the first free prisoner decides to continue his endeavors of the new world. In return for the greatest gift of freedom to the young man, he asks for one favor. He asks him to bring one more guy out of the cave, just like he did. Once he succeeds, ask him to do the same thing as he had asked him of. In this way they will be able to free everyone from the prison. Acharya Ji concludes his additions to the story here.
Teachings of the story:
- Acharya Ji normally uses this story to express the greatness of our teachers. He suggests that teachers first uplift themselves by studying hard and becoming masters something. And then they lower themselves again to their student's level so that they can be uplifted as well. And further encourages others to the same as well.
Just like, after the prisoner was out of the stinking cave, he went back inside to get the rest of the prisoners out.
- Plato suggests that the cave represents superficial physical reality. It also represents ignorance, as those in the cave live accepting what they see at face value. Ignorance is further represented by the darkness that engulfs them because they cannot know the true objects that form the shadows, leading them to believe the shadows are the true forms of the objects. The chains that prevent the prisoners from leaving the cave represent that they are trapped in ignorance, as the chains are stopping them from learning the truth. The shadows cast on the walls of the cave represent the superficial truth, which is the illusion that the prisoners see in the cave. The freed prisoner represents those who understand that the physical world is only a shadow of the truth, and the sun that is glaring the eyes of the prisoners represents the higher truth of ideas. The light further represents wisdom, as even the paltry light that makes it into the cave allows the prisoners to know shapes.
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