A story heard from a ted talk took me to my own world of contemplation and urged me to write this, before we begin I would like to establish it that am a no scholar in philosophy nor politics, but a decent observer. Balancing is an art that gives superior result to everyone, be it an individual or a country. The success of China's economy should be given to its approach in balancing traditional communist ideology in setting up capitalist institutions to grow itself as the fastest growing economy, likewise, successful or a satisfied person is one who masters this art profoundly
The story dates back to 350BC when Alexander the conqueror met a naked yogi at padmasana posture on the banks of the river Indus, present-day Pakistan. Greek called the yogi Gymnosophists.( gumnos = naked , sophists = philosopher)
Alexander the conqueror enquired about the state of his being to the yogi, to which the yogi replied that he is experiencing the nothingness from within, Alexander could not understand the meaning behind the yogi state and felt abhorrent.
Yogi after observing Alexander along with his warrior men enquired about him, to which Alexender replied that he is the great emperor the history has ever seen and is on a mission to conquer the world,
hearing this yogi laughed and felt pity for Alexender state of being
This story left me much contemplation not only of the extreme that is highlighted but also made me realize that there is no one size to fit all.
I also realized that there is an Alexander and a yogi in every one of us. Alexander the great who wants to achieve the material gains, make a name for himself, who is solely driven by a motive to establish himself at the top above the rest. He is our great Alexander who urges to conquer everything outside to him to put himself on the top
We also have a yogi who is kind, loving, compassionate primarily driven by the motive to achieve goodness for all, he is our yogi for him there is no self - attached, he urges to conquer ourself first to understand the purpose of oneself
It will be a waste of time to debate or comment which one of in us here is correct, be it Alexander or Yogi we need a right balance of these two to make our journey of life meaningful. We can't ignore Alexander as he is the one who pumps adrenaline to grow better than yesterday, at the same time we can't ignore the yogi as he is the one who adds value to our being every day
Let the almighty bless us all with a perfect calibration of Alexander and Yogi within us
Thanks for Reading!! :)
Akshayaram Viswanathan
