Story of Alexander the Great and Yogi Kalyan

Alexander's thirst for knowledge was real. Once he invited an ascetic Brahmin named Kalyana to Takshila for a philosophical discussion. According to the Greek historian and biographer Plutarch, Alexander himself framed a few questions.Some of these questions are as follows:

Which are more numerous,the living or the dead? The living,for the dead are not. Which has got higher number of animals - the sea or the land? The land,for the sea is only a part of land. Which is the cleverest of all beasts that man should fear? That one with which man is not yet acquainted. (Man fears the unknown.) Which existed first,the day or the night? The day was first by one day. Alexander showed surprise on this. The Brahmin smiled and added: "Impossible questions require impossible answers." How may a man make himself beloved of all? A man will be beloved when possessed with great power does not make himself feared. How may a man become a God? By doing that which it is impossible for a man to do. Which is scarier,life or death? Life is scarier since it bears so many evils.

Alexander succeeded in taking Kalyana out of India. The Greeks called him "Kalanos". The sage accompanied Alexander to Persia.On a pre-stated day, at Susa in Persia, Kalanos gave up his aged body by entering into an open pyre in presence of the Macedonian army.

The historians have also recorded the astonishment of the soldiers as they observed the yogi had no fear of pain or death. He did not even move once from his position as flames consumed his body. Kalanos had bid farewell to close companions before this but did not say goodbye to Alexander, to whom the sage simply said: "I shall see you later in Babylon." Alexander left Persia and a year later, he died in Babylon,which is south of modern day Baghdad.

However, this legend of Sage Kalyana and Alexander the Great continues to live to this day.

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