Have you ever heard a story that completely changed your perspective on something you thought you knew?
There’s an old parable about five blind men that comes to mind, and it perfectly illustrates how easy it is to miss the bigger picture when we focus too narrowly on one part of the whole.
"The truth is rarely pure and never simple."— Oscar Wilde
In a small town, five blind men were told about a strange new animal that had just been brought in—a creature called an elephant. Curiosity got the best of them, and they decided to investigate. Since they couldn’t see, they relied on touch to understand what this marvelous animal was all about.
The first man grabbed the elephant’s trunk and confidently declared, “It’s like a big, thick snake.” The second man, holding the ear, disagreed, saying, “No, it’s like a very large piece of unleavened bread.” The third man, who was feeling the leg, exclaimed, “Not at all! It’s like a thick and mighty pillar.” The fourth man, pushing against the elephant’s side, said, “You’re all wrong. It’s like a mighty wall.” Finally, the fifth man, holding the tail, called them all fools, insisting, “The elephant is like a rope.”
Now, from where we stand, it’s clear that each of these men is correct in their own way. The elephant is indeed all of these things. But here’s the catch: each man’s limited experience of the truth is exactly what stands in the way of their understanding of the whole truth.
This parable reminds me of how people often perceive yoga—particularly those who have only encountered the surface level of this ancient practice. Just like the blind men, they’ve touched only one part of the elephant and have concluded that this small piece is all there is to know.
Imagine someone who’s never tasted coffee before. One day, they walk into a café and order a cup of plain black coffee. They take a sip, grimace at the bitterness, and decide right then and there that they don’t like coffee. But here’s the thing—they’ve only experienced one type of coffee, in one way. They haven’t tried it with cream, sugar, or as a latte or cappuccino. From their limited experience, they conclude that all coffee is bitter and unpleasant. They miss out on the rich variety and complexity that coffee has to offer simply because they’ve judged it based on that first, narrow experience.
And so it goes with yoga.
Many people today have a narrow view of yoga. They see it as nothing more than a physical exercise—a series of postures that require flexibility. So, when they’re asked if they’d like to practice yoga, they might say, “No thanks, I’m not flexible.” Just like the person who declined to explore coffee further because they didn’t like their first sip, they miss the true depth and breadth of yoga.
It’s no surprise that yoga, as it has migrated to the West over the last hundred years or so, has been cherry-picked to align with our culture’s immediate needs and desires. Our focus on fitness, weight loss, and exercise has led us to gravitate toward the physical aspects of yoga, so much so that this “dumbed-down,” hyper-physical version of yoga has become what most people recognize as yoga.
But just like the elephant, yoga is so much more than the sum of its parts. Yes, the physical practice is important, but it’s only one piece of a much larger picture. Yoga is a philosophy, a way of life, a path to spiritual and mental well-being. When we focus solely on the physical, we risk missing out on the true beauty and potential of what yoga has to offer.
So, what about you?
Have you only touched the surface of something in your life?
Is there a bigger picture that you might be missing?
Maybe it’s time to explore the whole elephant and see what new truths you can discover.
Let’s keep our minds open and our perspectives wide, so we don’t miss out on the wonderful opportunities that lie beyond our initial understanding.
Love
Sumit Banerjee
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