Plato describes representatives of humanity chained in a dark cave and able to see only shadows cast by the light of a fire. One person breaks free and sees the outside world, and he returns to the cave to tell the people there that they are living in darkness. But the cave-dwellers consider him crazy.Plato describes representatives of humanity chained in a dark cave and able to see only shadows cast by the light of a fire. One person breaks free and sees the outside world, and he returns to the cave to tell the people there that they are living in darkness. But the cave-dwellers consider him crazy.
Those who are in the dark well of this material world cannot conceive of the light outside, in the spiritual world. The prisoners in the cave are conditioned souls bound by material desires. The chains are lust, greed and anger.
The puppet pantomimes perceived on the wall of the cave represent other living entities and the various objects the soul perceives while in the body. Each imprisoned soul takes the shadows of these puppets to be the real objects of the universe. Although the prisoners are seated next to one another and although they exchange opinions about the show they are watching, they neither see themselves nor one another, for they are bound by their passions.
The chambers of the cave correspond to the region revealed to us through the sense of sight and other gross material senses. The fire within the cave corresponds to the sun that is perceived within the material world.
The ascent out of the cave into the upper world represents what Socrates calls the “upward journey of the soul into the region of Absolute Intelligence, God.
Once a prisoner has reached the heights of the upper worlds and has become accustomed to them, it would be very strange indeed if he wanted to return to the cave. Those who have attained the upper world are reluctant to become involved in the affairs of men. Their souls simply long to spend all their time in that upper world.
When an divine personality, an avatara, does descend into the cave(this material world) and mingles in the darkness with blind asuras, demons, literally “those opposed to light,” he may often encounter unpleasant situations, just like Jesus. Jesus Christ who descended into the material world to lead the gross materialists to the light of the kingdom of God, but being so absorbed with the shadows of their puppet play they could not understand him. Thus the avatära, descending from the realm of light to lead the prisoners out of the cave of darkness, runs great risks. Because of this, Krishna says in Bhagavad gita that no servant in the world is more dear to Him than one who delivers His message of freedom to others. “For anyone who explains this supreme secret to the devotees, devotional service is guaranteed and at the end he will come back to Me. There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear.” (Bhagavad gita. 18.68–69)
From this allegory Socrates concludes that the soul of every man possesses the power of learning the Absolute Truth, but he must be turned around in order to see the light. It is not that the prisoners in the cave are blind. Their vision is already there, but it is obscured.
We are all originally Krishna conscious entities, and we have the ability to partake in the light of devotional service to Sri Krishna. Krishna consciousness, love for Krishna, is innate in all of us. We simply need to be turned around. And this is the role of the guru. He directs the soul away from the flickering temporalities of this material world to the contemplation of the Divine.
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