KINATRUTH THAVALAI @ WELL FROGS
*The frog in the well knows nothing of the sea *Japanese proverb,
meaning that one should be aware of the limitations of one's own
experience. This Japanese proverb is said to have come from a Chinese
fable which is attributed to philosopher Zhuang Zhou, who lived around the
4th century BC. The fable appears in The Zhuangzi
<https://ctext.org/zhuangzi?searchu=frog>, an ancient Chinese text which is
regarded as a foundational text of Taoism. The fable, which was untitled,
told a story of a frog who had always lived in his well. He believed his
well to be all that existed. He was then visited by a sea turtle who told
him of the great ocean. Upon hearing this, the frog realized he had a very
limited view of the world. There are a few variations of this proverb, one
of which is ‘the frog in the well cannot talk of Heaven’. Of course, it’s a
ridiculous thought, but this is exactly why we often approach situations
and conversations with such dogged determination. This proverb warns us to
be modest about the extent of our experiences. What we have not lived, we
cannot fully understand. It would be easy to acknowledge this in another
person, how narrow and restricted their view is. It is however, more
difficult to admit our own limitations. We would have to reveal that we
don’t know it all. That there may be a whole world outside the boarders of
our understanding. We would have no choice but to be humble in our
dealings. The benefit in doing so however is that we are open to constant
expansion. After all, the frog in the well who now knows of the ocean, is a
different frog indeed!
Our of the world is restricted to the words we know. The more words
we know the bigger is our world, the bigger is our well. Thanks to the
information explosion, we can see more places and know more words, but time
still fetters us. We remain frogs in the well. horizon Kupa manduka
knowledge The kupa manduka can jump out of the well but he will find
himself in another well, one where the wall is made of the horizon; he can
never break free from the horizon. Both the wall of the well and the
perimeter of the horizon are shaped like a chakra or wheel. A chakravarti
is one who calls himself a universal emperor but is actually a kupa
manduka, as his rule is restricted by his horizon. He does not control what
lies beyond. But we can expand our horizon and the size of our well. For
this we have to keep evolving, stretching our knowledge and expanding our
viewpoints. We have to engage with more people, discover their wells and
figure out if theirs will help us make ours wider or narrower.
KUPA MANDUKA: *Kupamanduka*/ *Kupamanduka-nyaya* (कूपमण्डूक) is a
Sanskrit <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit> language expression,
meaning "frog in a well". In Sanskrit, *Kupa* means a well and *Manduka* means
a frog. The phrase is used for a small-minded person who foolishly imagines
the limits of his knowledge to form the limit of all human knowledge (much
as a frog might imagine the well in which it lived to be the largest body
of water possible, being completely unable to conceive of anything as vast
as an ocean). Equally, if such a frog looked up from its well, and saw but
a small circle of sky, it might imagine this tiny disc to be the entirety
of the heavens, unaware of the existence of other beings existing beyond
the walls of the well and able to see the whole sky bounded by the true
horizon.
*"The frog in the well" logic illustrates that a frog residing in the
atmosphere and boundary of a well cannot imagine the length and breadth of
the gigantic ocean. SB 2.5.10, Translation and Purport
<https://vanisource.org/wiki/SB_2.5.10?hl=frog%20in%20the%20well>:
Whatever you have spoken about me is not false because unless and until one
is aware of the Personality of Godhead, who is the ultimate truth beyond
me, one is sure to be illusioned by observing my powerful activities.*
*nānṛtaṁ tava tac cāpi*
*yathā māṁ prabravīṣi bhoḥ*
*avijñāya paraṁ matta*
*etāvat tvaṁ yato hi me*
"The frog in the well" logic illustrates that a frog residing in the
atmosphere and boundary of a well cannot imagine the length and breadth of
the gigantic ocean. Such a frog, when informed of the gigantic length and
breadth of the ocean, first of all does not believe that there is such an
ocean, and if someone assures him that factually there is such a thing, the
frog then begins to measure it by imagination by means of pumping its belly
as far as possible, with the result that the tiny abdomen of the frog
bursts and the poor frog dies without any experience of the actual ocean.
Similarly, the material scientists also want to challenge the inconceivable
potency of the Lord by measuring Him with their froglike brains and their
scientific achievements, but at the end they simply die unsuccessfully,
like the frog.
The time we live from birth to death is the only real history we
experience; what we hear of what happened before and of what can happen
later are just stories. The only space we experience is the land we live
in, work in or travel to. What we hear of other lands is other people's
imagination.
Our knowledge of the world is restricted to the words we know. The more
words we know the bigger is our world, the bigger is our well. Thanks to
the information explosion, we can see more places and know more words, but
time still fetters us. We remain frogs in the well.
The kupa manduka can jump out of the well but he will find himself in
another well, one where the wall is made of the horizon; he can never break
free from the horizon.
Both the wall of the well and the perimeter of the horizon are shaped like
a chakra or wheel. A chakravarti is one who calls himself a universal
emperor but is actually a kupa manduka, as his rule is restricted by his
horizon. He does not control what lies beyond.
But we can expand our horizon and the size of our well. For this we have to
keep evolving, stretching our knowledge and expanding our viewpoints. We
have to engage with more people, discover their wells and figure out if
theirs will help us make ours wider or narrower.
*Tales of truth*
Truth in India is people-dependent. But in the West, truth is seen as
people-independent. Therefore, European and American philosophers,
especially those who claimed to be scientific, were obsessed with objective
truth that is somewhere 'out there'.
In India, truth was seen as people-dependent that exists 'in here' within
people. Therefore, Indic philosophers, termed 'metaphysicians' in European
universities, accepted all truth as subjective.
Subjective truth, unlike objective truth, is constantly expanding and
growing. Hence the word for infinite truth is Brahmn, from the root Brh,
which means 'to grow'. To do namaskar to a human being is to remind the
frog in the well that it can expand the rim of its well in the quest for
Brahmn.
The concept of subjective truth, so essential in Indian philosophy, rattles
most people today. We are obsessed with the objective truth, no thanks to
the scientific and industrial revolutions that has taken over the world for
the past 300 years. We all want the Truth, spelt in capitals. But for the
wise men of India, truth remained a function of two people.
If we meet people with narrow vision, our well always remains limited in
content. People were encouraged to keep meeting smarter and wiser men.
Hence the value given to guests, strangers, storytellers and wandering
sages, we can never leap out of our well, but every kupa manduka can expand
the size of his well. While infinity is a goal that is elusive, expansion
is always a possibility. Understanding this is the foundation of spiritual
growth.
KR IRS 16 1 23
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