अविद्यायामन्तरे वर्तमानाः
स्वयं धीराः पण्डितं मन्यमानाः ।
जङ्घन्यमानाः परियन्ति मूढा
अन्धेनैव नीयमाना यथान्धाः ॥ ८॥
avidyāyāmantare vartamānāḥ
svayaṃ dhīrāḥ paṇḍitaṃ manyamānāḥ .
jaṅghanyamānāḥ pariyanti mūḍhā
andhenaiva nīyamānā yathāndhāḥ .. 8..
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.
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 thinking themselves wise and erudite, go round and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind. – Katha Upanishad 1.2.5
- King and the Bhagavata Scholar Story