Beautiful stories (myths maybe) about Alexander and sages of India

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luckySnow

@luckySnow

Dazzler

Posted: 7 years ago

When Alexander came to India, he discovered that, of all the countries he had conquered, the most truthful, wise and beautiful persons were found here. He desired to see the heads of India, i. e. the philosophers and the saints. He was then taken to the banks of river Indus, where he found a saintly personality. Alexander was known as the Emperor of the world, while the saint did not have even the loin-cloth round his waist. Alexander had a great personality. The eyes of the saint were also sparkling with spiritual lustre, saying, as it were, "I bestow grandeur on the kings and beauty on the beautiful ones, whenever I look at them".

Alexander the great was overwhelmed by the spiritual personality of this saint. He said, "O great soul! Be kind unto me. People here in India keep even the jewels like you hidden in obscurity. But in Greece great importance is attached even to small things. I request you to be gracious enough to accompany me to my country. I shall offer you kingdom, wealth and precious stones. I shall offer you anything you might require but pray, do accompany me".

The saint only smiled and said, "I am everywhere. I am omnipresent. I am beyond space."

Alexander could not understand the saint and repeated his request and the temptations. The saint replied, "I do not stand in need for anything. I am not a man to like my own discarded sputum."

Alexander got annoyed and felt insulted; for nobody till then had ever refused to comply with his orders. He drew his sword to kill him. There-upon the saint burst into laughter and said, "You could never have told such a big lie in your life before".

"I have yet to see a sword which could cut me". Children sit on stand, play with it, construct small houses and then demolish them themselves. The sand does not lose anything in the process. It remains the same as before. Similar was the case with the saint.

This body is like a house of sand which is built according to the innate tendencies of man. I am the sand, the base, the all-pervading. I was never' a house. If anyone wants to .demolish it, he is in reality damaging his own house The sand does not run any risk of losing anything. It remains the sand all the same.

"The stars are never separated from the light. So you are myself and I am yourself."

On this retort from the saint, the sword fell down automatically from the hands of Alexander, the great and he apologised for his arrogance.

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luckySnow

@luckySnow

Dazzler

Posted: 7 years ago

In the hills of Sogdiana lived a great man who can tell the future. But nobody has ever seen the man but has heard only his voice. Alexander wished to know about his future. His wife Rushnak took him to that hill where the man was believed to be living.

''Come alone!'' a heavy voice came from the cave and ran through the hills.

Alexander looked confused. He nervously entered the cave. Inside the cave was very dim light. Alexander saw two caves inside the cave. One was going right and the other was going left.

The voice boomed. ''On you right is life and on your left is death. Choose wisely.''

Alexander laughed at the voice and said, ''Only a fool will choose death.''

''Let me tell you about these paths,'' the voice said.

Alexander listened.

''if you choose life. Then you will live for hundred years. You will have sons and daughters; grandsons and granddaughters. Your name will echo among the great emperors.''

'''And if you will choose death then you will die young. But your name and fame will live forever. You will be regarded as the greatest conquerer of all times...but...''

''Enough! I choose death.'' Alexander said, ''for I don't want to become old and die helplessly. Besides, I want glory and fame.'''

Saying Alexander enters the cave on his left.

The voice laughed loudly. ''Only a fool can choose death! Foolish Alexander you will die helplessly lying in your bed.''

Alexander was shocked.

'''But your name will remain forever,'' the voice said..

Alexander was happy to hear...

''But you will not see your mother land, and your mother.''

Alexander fell on his knees and started weeping.

Sogdiana is Bactria, Rushnak is roxane

Edited by luckySnow - 7 years ago

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luckySnow

@luckySnow

Dazzler

Posted: 7 years ago

Calanus and Alexander

When Alexander and his troops (Anabasis of Alexander) stormed down upon some Jains and Brahmins walking around in the meadows around the Indus valley, the Brahmins did not flee, but just looked at them and stamped their feet in unison on the ground. Alexander was amazed. When he asked them to explain their actions, they said "Every man possesses as much of the earth as this upon which we have stepped, but thou being only a man like the rest of us, except in being meddlesome & arrogant, art come over so great a part of the earth from thy own land, giving trouble to both thyself and others, and yet thou also will soon die and possess as much of the earth as is sufficient for thy body to be buried in. Alexander was spellbound and decided not only that he needed a new Guru, after decades of advise from Aristotle, but also decided to take on of them back to Macedonia after his conquests...That guru who accompanied him happened to be a Jain called Calanus (certain quarters maintain that the emperor actually preferred a more sober ascetic called Dandamis (or Mandanis according to Strabo), a senior to Calanus).

Much later, when the ailing Calanus, after a long march over the desert to Perisa, late 325BC, sitting still on his funeral pyre somewhere (Pasargadae Iran, Sush or Susa Iran or Babylon) on the Bampur Basin of the Iranian Plateau, told Emperor Alexander we will meet again soon, in Babylon', the Macedonians were horrified. This Dikambara Jain saint, who had never fallen ill till his 73rd year, took the fateful decision in his life to leave the holy land when he accepted Alexander' invitation to go to Macedonia much against the wishes of senior sage Dandamis. A few days later, Alexander died in Babylon in a way that is, to date, an unsolved mystery. The prophecy of Calanus came true in a matter of days...

Actually this story is documented by historians...so could be true

Edited by luckySnow - 7 years ago

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Cold coffee_mania

@Fruitcustard_9

Stunner

+ 3

Posted: 7 years ago

I so wish alex had chosen life ,

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luckySnow

@luckySnow

Dazzler

Posted: 7 years ago

Originally posted by: deepikagupta9
I so wish alex had chosen life ,

He should have 🥱 but it is only a story I believe...myths...

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luckySnow

@luckySnow

Dazzler

Posted: 7 years ago

Actually he had fatal injuries all over his bodies...so he was always going to die young

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sashashyam

@sashashyam

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 7 years ago

Yes. They were often very serious, but the worst was the lung injury he sustained while fighting the Malli tribe in what is today Multan. The arrow pierced his breastplant and damaged the lung. Lung tissue heals very slowly and always leaves a scar, which makes breathing painful. That must have been the case with Alexander.

But still he soldiered on, and the horrendous crossing of the desert of what is today Baluchistan was another proof of his bravery and his caring for his troops. When they were all dying of thirst, a soldier found some water in a pit in the sand and brought it to Alexander in his helmet. The poor man was delighted to make this offering to his king, but Alexander poured the water into the sand, for he would not drink the water that his troops did not have. A little later, they found some sweet water in a sandbar near the sea, and only then did he drink it.

Shyamala Aunty

Originally posted by: luckySnow
Actually he had fatal injuries all over his bodies...so he was always going to die young

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sashashyam

@sashashyam

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 7 years ago

Yes, I wish the same, oh, so much!

But he was obsessed with naam, and then again, no one can evade what is fated for him or her.

Shyamala Aunty

Originally posted by: luckySnow

He should have 🥱 but it is only a story I believe...myths...

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sashashyam

@sashashyam

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 7 years ago

These tales, some of which are surely true, say more about Alexander than they do about the sages he encountered in India. They were of course wise, but he too was sensitive enough to be receptive to their wisdom, which was remarkable in one so powerful when still so young.

Much earlier, when he had just got the endorsement of the League of Corinth for the invasion of Persia, he wanted to meet the famous Greek sage Diogenes, who refused to come and meet Alexander.

So the king went to Diogenes, and asked if there was anything he could do for him. Diogenes was then sunning himself, and he told Alexander to get out of the path of the sunlight! Alexander's companions were enraged, but he only laughed and said: Were I not Alexander, I would wish to be a Diogenes.

This anecdote, which I have mentioned in my earlier posts, was extensively covered by almost all Greek and Roman historians and is surely authentic. So he was always like that, and it is no wonder that he was so receptive to the ancient wisdom that he learnt about in India.

Shyamala Aunty

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luckySnow

@luckySnow

Dazzler

Posted: 7 years ago

#10

Originally posted by: sashashyam
Yes, I wish the same, oh, so much!

But he was obsessed with naam, and then again, no one can evade what is fated for him or her.

Shyamala Aunty

This story is uncannily similar to oracle wali story😲 without illusion ..did they tod marod it and put oracle in it

Edited by luckySnow - 7 years ago