Yesterday I tried to remember the parable of the cave as I thought it was linked to the concept of the reality and what we observe through our senses.
In The Republic, Plato tells the allegory of the cave. Socrates asks us to imagine prisoners tied up from birth in a cave facing the back wall of the cave. A fire burns behind them, a fire they do not see. What they do see are the shadows cast on the wall by the people and objects that pass in front of the fire. The prisoners begin to name the shadows. They try to guess the shapes that will appear next and admire those who guess correctly. These they hail as the philosophers and the intelligent.
Now imagine if one is set free and is shown the fire and the objects that cause the shadows. At first, he thinks this is an illusion or hallucination, for the truth must be the shadows. After a while he comes to realize that this is the real truth. The shadows are but reflections of the fire and the objects in front of it. It is a revelation.
Now imagine that he goes back to the other prisoners and tries to explain what he has seen. He is not able to do so. He lacks the vocabulary to do so. Some even brand him a heretic.
I shall not go into Plato’s theory of forms here, but suffice for me to repeat the point from yesterday that the guru cannot explain reality. He can guide you but you have to see it for yourself. This is Sankara’s message in the commentary on theb Kenopanishad.