This is a story that I had heard and it inspired me greatly. I want to share the same with all my friends and peers…
Very long time ago “Alexander the great” came to India and he was the first European who had come to the shores of Indus. He came across a very strange man called the “Gymnosophist” He was called the gymnosophist because this man was naked and he seemed to be wise and everybody respected him a great deal. Alexander found the gymnosophist sitting idle looking at the stars and so he asked the man what was he doing. The gymnosophist replied by saying that he was doing nothing, in fact he was experiencing nothingness. Similarly the gymnosophist asked Alexander what he was doing on the eastern shores of the world to which he got the reply saying he wanted to conquer the world. And so both men laughed at each other. Each one considered the other as a fool. Alexander said, “this man is sitting around doing nothing. What a waste of life!!!” The gymnosophist on the other hand thought “what a waste of life it is to try and conquer the world. The same world that is full of misery, betrayal, desire & delusion. (moha & maya) He wants to conquer the whole world and at the cost of what??? Will he be satisfied after he is done conquering the world?”
The value of gymnosophist s life no matter what he did was zero while the same of Alexander was the sum total of his achievements. For Alexander his life was achievement focused while the gymnosophist felt if nothing is at value what is the point in living a life??? The answer is ‘to introspect’ i.e. figuring it out. In life you do many things but the point is figuring out why you are doing, what you are doing…
The focus of your life depends on your own perspective toward the same. One of my best friends had asked me once why an MBA?? And I tried telling him in vain that may be during that time I will be able to figure myself out…
