the elephant

The elephant was in a dark house:
Some Hindus had brought it for exhibition.
In order to see it, many people were going,
every one, into that darkness.

As seeing it with the eye was impossible,
(each one) was feeling it in dark with
the palm of his hand.

The hand of one fell on its trunk: he said,
"This creature is like a water-pipe."

The hand of another touched its ear: to him
it appeared to be like a fan.

Since another handled its leg, he said,
"I found the elephant's shape to be
like a pillar."

Another laid his hand on its back: he
said, "Truly, this elephant was like a throne."
Similarly, whenever any one heard (a description
of the elephant) he understood (it only in respect of)
the part that he had touched.

On account of the (diverse) place (object) of
view, their statements differed: one man entitled
it "Dal", another "Alif".

If there had been a candle in each one's hand,
the difference would have göne out of their words.

The eye of sense-perception is only like the palm
of the hand: the palm hath not power to reach the
whole of him (the elephant).

(Maulana Jalalu'l-Din, Mathnavi)

the elephant

You thus regard the Self as a limited entity, in the same way as a number of persons born blind perceiving the elephant through touching its different parts, come to have diverse notions regarding it (each one regarding it to be like the part that he had touched) and as none of them had touched the whole elephant, none had any idea of the elephant as a whole entity.

(The Chandogyopanishad, Sir Ganganatha Jha)