Course of the Ignorant
अविद्यायामन्तरे वर्तमानाः
स्वयं धीराः पण्डितंमन्यमानाः ।
दन्द्रम्यमाणाः परियन्ति मूढा
अन्धेनैव नीयमाना यथान्धाः ॥ ५॥
avidyāyāmantare vartamānāḥ
svayaṃ dhīrāḥ paṇḍitaṃmanyamānāḥ .
dandramyamāṇāḥ pariyanti mūḍhā
andhenaiva nīyamānā yathāndhāḥ .. 5..
Fools dwelling in darkness, but thinking themselves wise and erudite, go round and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind.
Commentary:
Yama continues, “People in this world are actually like blind people led by blind people. The teachers of humanity are blind. They understand nothing about the ultimate reality of life, and they are the rulers, the administrators, the teachers, the prophets. The subjects are also blind, and so one who cannot see is instructing the other who also cannot see. These are the people who are sunk in avidya, ignorance of the ultimate nature of reality. Avidya is non-apprehension of what is really there, and apprehension of what is really not there.”
Avidya has two characteristics: avarana and vikshepa. Avarana is the veil that covers the consciousness and prevents it from knowing what is actually there, and vikshepa is the other aspect of avidya which, while it has already screened the perception of the reality away from consciousness, it compels it to know something which is not there. So, a double tragedy follows for people who are sunk in avidya: they do not know what is really there, but they know very well what is not there. They think they are very wise; such are the people in this world. They think they are most learned, highly cultured, and no one is equal to them. Staggering, dizzy, giddy due to the pride of wealth and the strength of the ego, they live a futile existence in this world. Mūdhāḥ is the word used in respect of these people, fools of the first water.
Swami Vivekananda Says —
You have understood that the man who lives in ignorance and enjoys, is not different from the brute beast. Yet there are many who, though steeped in ignorance, in the pride of their hearts, think that they are great sages and go round and round in many crooked ways, like the blind led by the blind.[Source]
Shrotriya, he who knows the secret of the Shrutis, Avrijina, the sinless, and Akâmahata, unpierced by desire — he who does not want to make money by teaching you — he is the Shânta, the Sâdhu, who comes as the spring which brings the leaves and blossoms to various plants but does not ask anything from the plant, for its very nature is to do good. It does good and there it is.
Such is the Guru, तीर्णाः स्वयं भीमभवार्णवं जनानहेतुनान्यानपि तारयन्तः — “Who has himself crossed this terrible ocean of life, and without any idea of gain to himself, helps others also to cross the ocean.” This is the Guru, and mark that none else can be a Guru, for
अविद्यायामन्तरे वर्तमानाः स्वयं धीराः पण्डितम्मन्यमानाः।
दन्द्रम्यमाणाः परियन्ति मूढाः अन्धेनैव नीयमाना यथान्धाः॥
— “Themselves steeped in darkness, but in the pride of their hearts, thinking they know everything, the fools want to help others, and they go round and round in many crooked ways, staggering to and fro, and thus like the blind leading the blind, both fall into the ditch.”[Source]
Sri Ramakrishna Says —
In this world everyone needs true knowledge to become free from misery. But who can teach them? If in fact someone does have knowledge to give, let that person give as much as he or she can. But deluded by manifold ignorance, people do not realize their inadequacy. Without having any wisdom themselves, they try to impart it to others, or pretend to do so, to acquire name and fame or to satisfy some other selfish motive. Thus, as the blind led by the blind, the teacher and the taught fall into the same predicament. Soon both repent, lamenting bitterly.
The Master followed a path diametrically opposite to that of others. He practised selflessness, renunciation, and self-control to the fullest degree, thereby making himself a true instrument in the hands of the Divine Mother. After realizing the Truth, he became calm and free from anxiety. He then spent his life in one place and demonstrated for all a new way of teaching. He first realized God, then opened to others the store of wisdom that he had gathered for distribution. Immediately, many seekers of God began to turn up uninvited from who knows where. Not only were they blessed by his pure touch and divine grace, but they also spread his message wherever they went and made others blessed. This was so because wherever we go, we express the thoughts within us. As the Master used to say in his patois: “A man belches what he eats. If he eats cucumbers, he belches cucumbers; if he eats radishes, he belches radishes.”
(Source: Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play, by Swami Saradananda, Translated by Swami Chetanananda)
The blind leading the blind
A similar metaphor exists in the Buddhist Pali Canon, composed in North India, and preserved orally until it was committed to writing during the Fourth Buddhist Council in Sri Lanka in 29 BCE.
Suppose there were a row of blind men, each holding on to the one in front of him: the first one doesn’t see, the middle one doesn’t see, the last one doesn’t see. In the same way, the statement of the Brahmans turns out to be a row of blind men, as it were: the first one doesn’t see, the middle one doesn’t see, the last one doesn’t see. — Canki Sutta (MN 95)
The phrase also features in the New Testament. It is mentioned several times in the gospels, with similar stories appearing in Matthew, Luke and the non-canonical gospel of Thomas, possibly reaching the evangelists via the hypothesised Q source.
“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides [of the blind]. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” — Matthew 15:13-14
Sextus Empiricus (160 – 210 CE) compares ignorant teachers and blind guides in his Outlines of Scepticism:
“Nor does the non-expert teach the non-expert—any more than the blind can lead the blind.”
Perhaps the most famous artistic depiction of the phrase is Pieter Bruegel’s The Blind Leading the Blind. The distemper on canvas painting was completed in 1568, and is currently in the collection of the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples, Italy.
Related Articles:
- Fools, dwelling in darkness, but wise in their own conceit and puffed up with vain scholarship, wander about, being afflicted by many ills, like blind men led by the blind. – Mundaka Upanishad 1.2.8
- King and the Bhagavata Scholar Story