In college at JMU
I first study world religions

I later marry a Thai woman
And travel Asia and Europe

Back in the USA
To her I one day say

I haven't been to India yet
But India has come to me

So many neighbors
In Virginia and North Carolina from
The Subcontinent

One day I am driving home
Listening to National Public Radio

An Indian-American man
Is discussing philosophy and religion

The famous meeting in the ancient world
Between Alexander the Great and a naked Indian yogi

What are you doing, Alexander?
I am conquering the world, he says.

You foolish man, says the yogi.
The universe is so utterly vast
Billions and billions of kalpas
Billions and billions of lives
How could you possibly conquer it?

What are you doing, asks Alexander?
I am contemplating Nothingness, says the yogi. You foolish man, says Alexander.  There is only one life.  Why waste it contemplating the Void?

The man finishes telling the story and admits it is inconclusive.  No way to be sure which story to keep on your shelf.

But he ends with a wondrous zinger:

In India, Nothing is permanent.
Not even Death itself.