THE CHAMELEON

ONCE a man entered a wood and saw a small

animal on a tree. He came back and told another

man that he had seen a creature of a beautiful red

colour on a certain tree. The second man replied:

"When f went into the wood, I also saw that

animal. But why do you call it red? It is green."

Another man who was present contradicted them

both and insisted that it was yellow. Presently

others arrived and contended that it was grey,

violet, blue, and so forth and so on. At last they

started quarrelling among themselves. To settle the

dispute they all went to the tree. They saw a man

sitting under it. On being asked, he replied: *'Yes, I

live under this tree and I know the animal very

well. All your descriptions are true. Sometimes it

appears red, sometimes yellow, and at other times

blue, violet, grey and so forth- It is a chameleon.

And sometimes it has no colour at all. Now it has

a colour, and now it has none."

In like manner, one who constantly thinks of God

can know His real nature; he alone knows that

God reveals Himself to seekers in various forms

and aspects. God has attributes; then again He has

none. Only the man who lives under the tree

knows that the chameleon can appear in various

colours, and he knows further that the animal at

times has no colour at all. It is the others who

suffer from the agony of futile argument.