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The Blind Man Holding the
Cow’s Tail Fallacy
Once upon a time a blind
person was going to his father-in-law’s house, tracking the way with the help
of his walking stick. Very soon while passing through a field he came across a
cowherd boy and asked, “O brother, would you please do me a favour by leading
me to my father-in-law’s house?”
At this the cowherd
replied, “I am busy in tending so many cows. If I take you to your
father-in-law’s house, all the cows will run away. Of course, I can do one
thing for you - I can lend you a very docile and faithful cow of mine - you can
safely catch hold of her tail and she can smoothly lead you to your in-laws
house.”
Thus advised by the cowherd, the blind
traveller firmly caught hold of the cow’s tail and the cow began walking while
trailing him behind. However, the cow got quite scared of the strong pulling of
it’s tail by a blind person, and hence she behaved so frantically that the
blind person was virtually being pulled roughly along the road and through thorny
bushes while suffering frequent hard kicks of the cow’s hind legs. As a result
the blind man’s body was severely injured and his garments were all torn apart.
Anyway, he arrived in the dead of night to
his in-laws house, in a very wretched condition with cuts and bruises and
totally naked. The servants of his in-laws house took him to be a cattle thief
and punched and slapped him in order to get him to release the cow’s tail from
his hold. Thus the blind man suffered unlimitedly.
PURPORT
Those who have ulterior
motives take shelter of so-called guru’s instead of a truly bona-fide spiritual
master and ultimately suffer very badly like the blind man in his situation.
Any and every person cannot lead one to the
Supreme abode of Godhead and no unauthorised to our true welfare. It is,
therefore, obligatory that one should
take shelter of a bona-fide Krishna conscious spiritual master without
any hesitation.