The Power of being Alone

When Gautama the Buddha was asked, “Is it better to walk alone or in company?” He said, “It’s better to walk alone than to walk with a fool.” Well, that’s him, not me. He was quite sure that only a fool will walk with you. So he said, “It’s better to walk alone than to walk with a fool.” Certain lore in this country says, when you want to do a short and quick journey, walk alone. When you want to do a long journey, walk in company. But the important thing is, who is walking with you? Not always being together is a good thing, many times being together can be a nuisance.

So, first and foremost, unless you are a twin, even then, we come alone and we go alone. If one does not know how to be by himself or herself, then being together can be a lot of nuisance. We are referred to as human beings. Human beings means – every other creature is what it is, simply because of what it does. But a human being can simply ‘be’, which is a unique quality of the human being, that we can simply be, that we are not compulsive action, that’s what it means. Our action is conscious and judicious, but generally when people get together, generally, people are in compulsive action. It can be an association, where there could be a purposeful action or it can be a gang, where there can be more purposeful action or it can be a crowd, which can be a compulsive action.

So, essentially, to be human means we have reached that point of evolution within ourselves that if we wish, we can simply sit here, just be. We can consider as to what action to take, and what not to take. This is definitely individual. When individuals come together, we say it’s “We” in plural, but still it is individuals who have to come together. - Sadhguru