The Naked Yogi Who Held Off Alexander The Great

Alexander the Great was campaigning and conquering across modern Pakistan when they came across a naked yogi. A bunch of them actually. But there was one in particular we have to mention. He was the guy who didn’t make room for Alexander to pass.

Alexander’s guards yelled at him, “This man has conquered the world! What have you done?”

Our yogi simply said, “I have conquered the need to conquer the world.”

That got Alexander’s attention. It also got his personal approval. He told his guards, “If I could be any man in the world other than myself, I would be this man.”

There are two types of battles we’re all fighting. Our outer battles – where we’re up against the world at large, and our inner battles – where we’re up against the enemies inside our own heads.

There’s a few reminders tucked into this story that help keep me honest with myself:

You don’t need to fight every fight.

You don’t need to define winning the same way as anyone else.

Look for and respect mastery of all forms.

It’s not just the conquerors of the world that deserve studying. It’s the conquerors of ego, the conquerors of art, the conquerors or quiet, and so many other categories too.

*this is one of a million great stories tucked into Steven Pressfield’s book, “The Warrior Ethos.”