Just as he entered the first Indian kingdom, Alexander had a strange encounter. He met a ragged sage and noticed something round and shiny in the latter’s hand. Alexander asked what it was. The sage replied that it’s a secret that can’t be revealed but has to be lived. Alexander insisted on knowing more.
The sage said, ‘The only detail I can reveal is that the wealth in your entourage is less than this object I hold in my hand.’
Not to be outdone, Alexander ordered a giant weighing scale. He ordered all the wealth he had looted on his way to be placed on one side of the weighing scale. The sage placed the object in his hand on the other side. To everyone’s surprise, the weighing scale tilted completely to the side of the shiny object.
Alexander begged the sage to tell him the secret. Instead of an answer, the sage took a pinch of dust from the ground and put it on the shiny object. What followed was baffling as the side of the shiny object became light and went up.
Alexander pleaded, ‘I’d be obliged if you could please unravel this mystery. I implore with folded hands.’
‘Now I can tell,’ the sage replied, ‘since your question is laced with humility. This is the human eye. It’s the most precious object to view both the world and the divine. That’s why no amount of material wealth can match it. However, just a bit of dust of illusions, worldly beliefs, images of the past and concerns about the future, and the eye becomes worthless. The irony is that even the dust is not real; it’s merely an illusion.’
Alexander was dumbfounded. The sage’s words were paradoxical; mysterious yet clear. They were also dangerous. Alexander’s fear stemmed from the possibility of him realising the futility of his action. Since he was filled with the desire to conquer the world, he didn’t stay.
We might not be out to conquer the world with an army, but are similar to Alexander in our thoughts. We keep covering our eyes with the dust of brazen, unwarranted desires, little realising their futility. Also, we don’t realise that divinity will be visible simply by wiping the dust. Let’s not ignore the sage’s words and scamper away like Alexander did. Instead, let’s try to clear the dust from our eyes and get a glimpse of the divine.
We keep covering our eyes with the dust of brazen, unwarranted desires, little realising their futility. Instead, let’s try to clear the dust from our eyes and get a glimpse of the divine.
