Business to the Buddha

Category: Business to Buddha

  • Opportunity cost of being Humans







    It was a 2013 evening, my sister and I went for a walk after dinner. It was a daily practice for us those days. Chinu was playing with the stray dogs – well behaved and good dogs of our area. This habit also included feeding left over chapatis to these stray dogs. We had started eating multi-grain chapatis, my sister used to prepare the composition (of course sourced from internet) of different grains – usually five. One day my sister told me – “I have noticed that these stray dogs do not eat these chapatis, earlier when we were making wheat chapatis it did not happen.” I jokingly said – “They have not developed a taste for it!” Her observation was correct, these dogs did not touch these chapatis, matter became bit serious and a learning – eat chapatis of one grain at a time. Perhaps the animals are closer to the nature than us, they know what will suit their body more than we know about our body. That is our problem – we have moved away from listening to our natural instinct. I wonder if animals have glutton intolerance or lactose intolerance etc. We humans have such eating disorders. I believe the reason is our not listening to our body. I believe our body can give us signs that – you should not eat it. But we do not listen.

    I could remember incident of 2013 when I had been watering plants at home. I noticed that the pots were discarding water that the plant did not need. Plants also take as much as required, we do not, our greed is for more money than what we need to survive, we’ve huge wardrobes and eat more for taste than for nourishment. Have you seen a fat leopard? But obesity is a problem with us. We go to gym to be fit, yet our eating habits belie our natural instinct.

    Have you heard a saying birds of a feather flock together. Needless to say, many must have seen birds of same species flying together from season to season. Literal meaning of this saying actually changes in our (human being’s) context. Because we humans have divided our existence by color of skin, our way of thinking and our religious following etc. We have been fighting for Left Vs Right or religious supremacy – be it ISIS in Syria (for Islam) or Rohingya (against Islam). That is an opportunity cost of being Humans.

    We have – somewhere – missed our intelligence in our growth (smarter phones but dumb people), our belief of being morally correct (building stock pile of nuclear weapons for self protection – war for peace) and proving one being religiously pious than the other (my religion is better and correct than your religion is). That is opportunity cost of being human!

    The question to ask is – are we really “being” human? Animals are better in some sense, they don’t kill to either propagate their religion, control other animals and show supremacy.

    In Indian theology it is said that a person is born as human after a million+ lives as other creature. Well, few people would not accept this concept because of their way of thinking or conditioning of mind. Why there is harmony in nature but not in our cities, countries? Isn’t it the “cost” we are paying for the opportunities we have got as human beings?

    This was topic for Sept 7th 2017 LBC, I wrote after a month. You can see what the other writers of the LBC have to say in their respective blogs.  Maria, Ramana uncleji, Ashok and Shackman.

    PS – English meaning of Opportunity cost – the loss of other alternatives when one alternative is chosen.

    More on opportunity cost as concept of economics at investopedia

    Image source – http://www.jamieatlas.com/2008/07/24/stepmill-most-underrated-machine-in-your-gym/

  • Marginal utility







    This was the topic for last weeks LBC. I have been finding it difficult to spare time these days to write regularly. The year 2017 has started like this irregular weekend blogging, hope I will break it sooner.

    Half full, half empty, possibility thinking, optimism, pessimismI have written on Marginal utility earlier – Marginal analysis. Let me first explain what is this jargon? My wife explained it to me – see if you are very hungry and you are given an orange you would find it the most satisfying thing in the world. My wife is a CA, she knows economics better than me, I was trying to come up with an example of buying a 1 bedroom hall kitchen (BHK in short) apartment in Mumbai vs a 2 BHK or 3 BHK etc, but I could not come up with some example like that. She does not like oranges as much, wonder why and how orange came as an example in her mind. It is difficult to analyze mind of a lady!

    She continued – once you have had one orange and your hunger is bit quenched, now the second or a third orange would not be that satisfying to you. The satisfaction you get from the second or third orange is less, marginal utility is the same what is the incremental utility, benefit or satisfaction you get from eating the one extra orange.

    The concept can be applied to anything in life – having an extra laptop or mobile to a home. In terms of economics the concept fits perfectly. Marginal utility of anything reduces over the quantity. Just because of the same we have abused air, water and everything that we have available freely. I am trying to relate this concept to a Sanskrit saying – Ati sarvatra varjayet (अति सर्वत्र वर्जयेत) – surplus of anything is not good.

    The next best thing that comes to my mind on it is – love. I have had a tough time explaining to someone that love does not necessarily mean sex, I have written on love earlier. Love is something where there may not necessarily be a marginal utility. It is something unconditional, something endless. So goes, the concept of profits and revenue. Yet both the types of endlessness are of different types. In love – a particular type – there is no ownership. When there is no ownership and mostly when there is no “I” or ego, it automatically becomes endless – so the concept of marginal utility ends the slop is infinite. On the other hand how much is too much for a company to grow? There is no marginal utility question on revenue each unit revenue brought adds utility in terms of PAT. Of course we may say that until breakeven of a company the marginal utility of each unit revenue is steep whereas after a certain profit margin say 30% PAT the utility diminishes. Sometimes sales are differed to next quarter or booked in current quarter even if that costs in terms of dumping products to distributors.

    If we start living in present moment in spontaneity I wonder if we would even have a complex calculation of “Marginal utility” in life.

    I am late in writing this post again, Marginal utility was last week’s LBC topic where Maria, Rummuser, Ashok, Shackman and I write weekly. You can visit their blogs and read their thoughts on the topic.

  • Melting pot







    I am sure when we read the title we all will speak about culture and nation. My take apparently is no different. India as a country, culture and in terms of way of life has been a melting pot of thoughts. If we look at Mahabharat time – there were many kingdom fighting from one side or the other in the war. The range goes from present day Afganistan to South East Asia and Kerala.

    Afganistan reminds me of Bamiyan Buddha statues. The smaller statue was so big, check photo (sourced from Wikipedia), that a man standing at the foot measures only till the ankles. The statue reminds me of Gwalior fort Jain tirthankar’s statues. No wonder, when I saw them some had disfigured heads.

    The Buddha was basically from Nepal. He came to India for his quest of spirituality. India at that time too, was a confluence of different ways of life. Buddha studied with same master’s who were worshipers of fire, some teachers were of Yoga and Indian philosophies. After learning so many things we was still not self realized. After six years of hardwork, following many different teachings – including fast he was emaciated and almost on the verge of death. That day he was enlightened. Lord Mahavir was his contemporary – he had a different teaching. Both the teachings blended in Indian culture.

    Indian culture basically accepts many different approach of spirituality and religion. The best blend you can see is Bhagvad Geeta. It talks about Bhakti, Gyan, Dhyan and Karma yoga etc. Every chapter in the book is a type of Yoga – yoga means addition. What does a melting pot do – it mixes everything. Right? That is what Yoga is. I have written on Yoga earlier too – including a debate and court case in the US – whether Yoga is Secular or no!

    The question on secularism moves me to another dimension of India. We are secular, and in last couple of years Indian intellectuals (apparently others are equally intellectuals but are considered lesser) have returned awards for lynching of a Muslim Indian citizen. It was a sad incident in the state of Uttar Pradesh during Akhilesh Yadav Government (Samajwadi Party, which apparently is more Muslim centric political party). Recently, another lynching happened – a police officer was killed – muslim Indian citizen – in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, this time state Government is a coalition with BJP (more Hindu tilting political party). Last time the intellectuals returned awards, this time no one came forward! This is all economics of power.

    Economics reminds me of an interesting fact of Indian politics. The best economists – Mr Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram – came up with farm loan waiver in last decade. When a non economics expert can understand that it is not a solution why a renowned economist takes such a decision – a melting pot you see. The decision was a confluence of politics in economics.

    All the above thoughts are in a melting pot here. My thoughts mostly are  multi-directional – so this blog moves from socialism to capitalism and spirituality to business etc. The melting pot includes few dreams I have – one is here, add to it wish to help Sindhutai Sakpal‘s Orphanage, Art of Living foundation projects and rainwater harvesting in Malwa region of MP. I wrote to one District Magistrate, never received a response, not even from CM’s office – is this a participative government?

    Melting pot was this week’s LBC topic where Maria, Rummuser, Ashok and Shackman write weekly. You can visit their blogs and read their thoughts on the topic.

  • Angels and Demons – Possession







    After a long long time, I am sharing another interesting story from The Prayer of the Frog. Occasionally I read one of the other story from the book by Father Antony de Mello. The book is available in two volumes Prayer of the Frog Volume 1 and Prayer of the Frog Volume 2. This time I was searching for a story on “Angels and Demons”, I was confident to find some or the other story because Abrahamic religion have a deep rooted concept of angels and demons. I was taken aback when I could read more than one stories on angels but none involving demon! This is a very interesting story so thought that without delay I will share it here.

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    An old woman died and was taken to the Judgment Seat by the angels. While examining her records the Judge could not find a single act of charity performed by her except for a carrot she had once given to a starving beggar.

    The power of act of kindness is such that she was taken up to heaven on the strength of that carrot. The carrot was brought to court and given to her. The moment she caught hold of it, it began to rise as if pulled by some invisible string, lifting her up towards the sky.

    While she was ascending a beggar appeared clutching on to the hem of the woman. He too was lifted along with her. Behind came another person holding the beggar’s foot and was lifted too. Soon there was a long queue of people lifted up to heaven by that carrot (act of kindness). The woman did not feel the weight of the people who held on to her; in fact she was not even aware about them.

    The whole queue rose almost near the heavenly gates. The woman looked back to catch a last glimpse of the earth and saw this whole train of people behind her. She was indignant! She gave an imperious wave of her hand and shouted, “Off! Off all of you! This carrot is mine!”

    In making her imperious gesture she let go of the carrot for a moment—and down she fell with the entire train. There is only one cause for every evil on earth: “This belongs to me’”

    Angels and Demons was this week’s LBC topic where Maria, Rummuser, Ashok and Shackman write weekly. I had suggested this topic, you can read what other writers have to say in their respective blogs.

    Source – Prayer of the frog Vol 1

  • Does Time Run Out? Terror Attacks







    This is the same thing as sunset and sunrise. Time is the way existence just ‘is’! Time runs out for us because we believe that our existence is limited to our this life. A person on deathbed may think that time is running out, because he may die soon – again because our perception of life is very limited to the body.

    Ok! I got it. Many people will say – “I don’t believe in past life or future life”. Many would say – “We do not believe in the concept of life beyond this body, because our scriptures do not support this concept.”

    Let me try to explain a perspective from those scriptures – is it a possibility that they say there is no life beyond, because they do not consider the physical death as death? Is it a possibility that the scriptures suggest that death of this body is not death of something which is beyond the perception of existence?

    What is time? Time is not what you see on your wrist watch. If that was the thing TIME, you would start calling yourself as “173CM” or may be “75KG” because you measure as much in height or weight respectively. The measurement is not the THING. Measurement is a dimension of the THING, isn’t it? If you say I am overweight and reduce say 5 kg, would you reduce actually? So, if the belief is the exact time in your clock is TIME. Why is it different in US Vs Europe Vs India? Have you ever thought that how did the first person who created watch know “what is the time right now?” Why does time not remain same (figuratively too) if we are on the same planet earth? What is earth stop revolving around its axis? What is earth stops revolving around sun? The point I am trying to make is – we are very limited by our perception and that creates our realities. Same is the case with time, when I say figuratively too – it means the words of astrologers – “you are going through a tough time, do not get involved in such and such things”. Or this is the best time for you to invest in XYZ. Besides these I came across an interesting video on Time and theory of relativity, here it is

    This was the line of thought for this week’s LBC post, I suggested this topic. You can see what the other writers of the LBC have to say in their respective blogs.  Maria, Rummuser, Ashok and Shackman. However, after thinking this much and after Manchester attack, I have to think in a different way too. The time is really running out for us as humans. If we know correctly Dinosaurs did not invent weapons yet they are extinct. We have a bigger problem, we are more susceptible to higher losses.  In that sense of the world time is running out. When I was a kid, I used to think Kashmir terrorist problem (early 90s) is only limited to India. Now, when I read news like this – UK, France, Indonesia, etc terrorist attacks and a remote island country Philippines fighting ISIS I get surprised, terrorism may have been a local phenomenon but seems no more now.

    I read on Twitter – the suicide bomber was a 22 year old Salman Abedi, a son of immigrant from Libya. The irony is – he was born in UK! People of Twitter were making observations from both the sides – stop immigration and what will you get if you stop immigration the lad was UK born. I asked myself another question – if this person was born in UK do we need to contest immigration or we need to look at the other sources where the root cause of such attack reside? The other thought that ran through my mind at that time (and I love thinking about it) how would the Buddha (or any other spiritual master of our time) handle such brat?

    Source - https://hateandanger.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/albert-einstein-i-know-not-with-what-weapons-world-war-iii-will-be-fought-but-world-war-iv-will-be-fought-with-sticks-and-stones-1.jpgSA – I would die for my religion. TB – Why dont you live of it? SA – I’ve been commanded to spread the message, those who do not follow must be killed. TB – Can your death justify spreading the message? SA – ??!! (I’m confused what he will answer.) TB – What happens when you get killed or you kill them? SA – I will go to heaven. TB – What is the proof that you will go to heaven? Is not the earth where you live is a heaven? You live in the UK one of the most developed country, is not it a heaven? What happens to those who die due to your attack? SA – they will rot in hell. TB – Can you prove it? What if they also join you in heaven? Or what if the opposite happens – you go to hell and they in heaven? SA – That is not possible. TB – Do you have any proof, that wont or cannot happen? I think you can guess the response of SA. I hope people like SA get to meet the Buddha type of enlightened masters when alive and change their perceptions – that will help eliminate the underlying problem- root cause.

    I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. – Albert Einstein

    When I raised this question to myself about root cause – I realized – we are really running a race against time, and before it is too late, we need to unequivocally, categorically, without any denial of any sort accept that the boy was brainwashed somewhere and need to stop this menace. Yes in such situations we can say time is running out for existence of humanity.

    Image source Einstein quote- https://hateandanger.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/, image 1 – unknown

  • The Supernatural







     

    I follow the art of living foundation and have done a couple of courses of Art of Living. The founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (fondly called as Guruji) keeps on sharing his wisdom on many topics, one such ‘Ishavasya Upanishad’. You can search on Wiki or Google about what are Upanishads, a summary can be found here.

    The following commentary by Sri Sri on Ishavasya Upanishad is very interesting and profound, was shared with me by someone recently.

    Tena bhunjitha

    …The world is there to enjoy but not clinging on to it, renouncing it, letting go, you relax. When you relax, you are able to enjoy better.

    Ma grdhah kasyasviddhanam

    Don’t covet other’s possessions.

    When everything is done by God, what is the purpose of my living? This question on the purpose of life passes through every mind, the so called intelligent mind, at least. If you consider yourself intelligent , this question must come to you at some point or the other. It should have bugged you actually. Is life just eating, sleeping and doing your routine? Is that it? What is the purpose? What am I here for? I am sure this question has come into your mind. What’s the purpose of life? The seed has started sprouting. Don’t be in hurry. It is very good. This question must pass through your mind. It invokes the Spirit in you. But hold on. Though you don’t want to do anything at that time and nothing seems interesting, the Upanishad says

    “Kurvanneveha karmani”

    Keep doing your work and live for 100 years.

    “Kurvanneveha karmani jijivisecchhatam samah Evan tvayi nanyathetosti na karma lipyate nare”

    (Let every man wish to live for a hundred years while performing karmas in this world. Other than this, there is no way; karmas do not bind the man)

    There is no other way you have to. There is no other way. You can’t take your life off. Knowing that all this is permeated by the Divine, keep engaged in activity and live for 100 years. When you are doing an action for yourself, for gaining something, it is painful but when your action is just the sake of action or for contributing something to the Existence because you are here to contribute, then it will not bind you. If your focus is only on you, if you are a taker, how much can you take? That is when the mind gets tired.

    But if you are a giver, if you are here only to give, the action does not bind you. When you take, you feel the obligation. When you give, you feel the freedom. Keep acting and live for 100 years. Your wish should be to live for 100 years. There is no other way. You are born and till your death, you have to keep acting…

    We are mostly takers, we just enjoy possession. If we learn only the above part of Ishavasya Upanishad life will become very easy, isn’t it? We are supernatural, we have forgotten that.

    The process of learning, unlearning and relearning keeps on happening, I was robbed and I learnt something. Later on, I again started hoarding (owning up things), the execution, plan and reality keeps on messing up in the path of spirituality and business both! We may be supernatural – as the masters, mystics, messiah – but we miss it by millions of miles.

    The supernatural is title of the Loose Bloggers Consortium. Other bloggers who write regularly are, Ramana Uncleji, Shackman and Maria. Do drop in on their blogs and see what their take is on this week’s topic.

    Source – Sri Sri talk on Ishavasya Upanishad.

  • What would you do in long term?






    In the long run we all are dead – John Maynard Keynes

    I was talking to my boss. He throws interesting questions – what do you think of next disruption? Ok do not talk about bitcoins, healthcare and analytics has already plateaued! Hum! That is a challenge. Wish I knew what is next disruptive business, technology or industry.

    I asked myself, is there lack of cloths that people die of severe cold in winter in India? Is there lack of food on earth that people die of hunger in world? If there is lack of cloths or food, why are our retail stores full with cloths, and food wastage is ~33% or so (National Geographic).

    My mind goes in a very long term when such questions come to mind. I believe in next hundred or hundred and fifty years or may be sooner, we would not need money (currency) or any such thing. This is very surprising for the financial system, businesses or capitalistic mind to believe. Let me elaborate. Have you seen Uber? Has Uber made ownership of car redundant for many people?

    What if our all basic requirements are fulfilled in the same manner – for example, I have some cloths in my wardrobe, I do not wear them all in a day. I wear only one at a time. Why should I have so many cloths? What if we can just select what to wear, wear it and return at some location when we are done! You may ask a question – then how would people earn money or offer services? Uber ride requires cash, card or wallet payment. Let us think of a future – car is driven by machine, cars are run by electricity, electricity is produced automatically by nuclear power and cars are manufactured by machines. No need of a human being for anything. Remember Keynes idea of working 4 days a week or lesser. Actually our capitalistic mind does not approve of this. People must work to earn their living. The best thing is – only capitalistic approach of running for better, more, improved can help us reach the state of future which is imagined here.

    When everything happens automatically, so what would humans do to earn, or say passing time? Can you relate the first part of previous sentence with the nature? Everything happens automatically for animals and they just pass time, they do not need to earn their living. Just think the phrase “Earning your living”! Does not it sound surprising thing, you just live, is not it? You do not need to earn it. I know you might have felt offended when you read automatically and comparing humans with animals. There will be a difference – our evolved sense of self and ability to think. This ability will force us to think about our existence. Our most of the time will be involved in thinking about our existence. This may take some time, when people will get fad-up with their pleasures – perhaps the way Gautam the Buddha got disenchanted. In that world we would not need money, we would not have a lot of possession, yet we will have everything on our finger tips.

    Just look at housing in Tier-1 cities in India. There are many unused inventory kept, most is out of budget for many people to afford. I see a future where whole world will be a rambling place and a type of hotel, where you can stay when you end your day. These houses will be built by machine and thus we would not need to buy or rent them either. Money as a concept will vanish. When you would have whole world at your feet, you would not steal, you would not look for possession. You would be lighter as Mirdad said in ‘The book of Mirdad’ “Less possessing – less possessed”.

    Here in above paragraphs we spoke about basic needs – cloths, food and shelter. I am sure humans will evolve to self-actualization phase – of Maslow’s need hierarchy – if the above happens (Ok give and take few carnal desires). In the short term, I would want to make that type of world envisioned above. In the longer term, I would want to be self-actualized or say enlightened in this life itself.

    What would you do in long term? was the topic for the week for LBC (Loose Bloggers Consortium). I had suggested this to the group where – Maria, Rummuser and Shackman also write. You can read other LBC authors opinions on their respective links.

  • Business and Humanity






    The visionary thinks beyond his company or his immediate profit. He thinks of the larger good. And, that is what makes him different. There is no place for labor exploitation and harassment of workers in such an enterprise

    I have been thinking about both Business and Humanity repeatedly. The above quote was one that caught my attention. This blog was due in Sept 2014. Yes a lot of things come in mind and thus ideas get spread, and forgotten at times.

    I revisited this title with reference to an interesting news of recent past – Donating the milk of human kindness. This kind of businesses and business ideas impress me a lot. There are a lot of social enterprises that work on the balance between Business and Social good. I have written a couple of blogs on social enterprise earlier. At times it is very difficult to survive in competitive markets with such a cause. There may have been a lot of other companies that probably we (I) might not know and were wound up due to financial crisis. When such closures happen, I start questioning myself again – what is the purpose? Why we work? and many other such leading questions. These points make me wonder many a times, that perhaps when we did not have the concept of money, humans were valued more. With Humans, human values were respected more. With human values, we probably were more caring, just and welcoming.

    The other thoughts going on in my mind were – my recent vacation to Ganpatipule and a video clip of actress Mahira Khan which is going viral of late. In Ganpatipule I visited “Prachin Kokan” a tourist attraction there. It is a place to know about how was Indian social fabric in past, for those who have never lived in Indian village or are kids growing up in tier-1 or tier-2 cities in India it could be a place to know how was our society. Though caste system was depicted there, I could not find a mention to “untouchables” there, so I may be able to write on what was wrong in past – compared to what we learnt in schools. In that museum I could relate to business and humanity working together in historic India – such as a bangle seller would not take money from a baby girl of village. At the time of the girl’s marriage, father of the girl will give this bangle seller gold coin or something. I wonder if we were less ambitious (perhaps driven less by wealth) – as a society – during those times. I could relate this museum and that society to gratitude.

    Gratitude, made me connect to the opinion and viral video clip of Mahira Khan. In this video I felt that if this actress had problem with India she should have refused working here. Though the interviewer is talking more in the clip, but if a person has so much issue with a whole country he or she should just keep oneself away from them isn’t it? This shows a person being opportunistic and thankless. This thought makes me go round to business. The actress is doing business, by acting in Indian movie. Agreed! The question again comes back – can we club or say compromise – “business and humanity” and “business and our self-respect” and “business and our values”?

    Quote – Business Standard article – Buddha at Work

    Disclaimer – author has not seen/visited the website of BabyChakra (referred in the donating the milk of human kindness), nor is related to the company.

  • Farewell 2016







    Wish you a Very Happy New Year.

    Cherish the moments you enjoyed and learn from the mistakes made – that he how we must move on in life and celebrate. Isnt it? The year 2016 was eventful. Every year is eventful though New Year blog 2016, New Year blog 2015, New Year blog 2014, New Year Blog 2013, New Year blog 2012, New Year blog 2011  😉

    Terrorism – There is a new common for the world – terrorism – so that was as usual, religious extremism has not only kept its target India but added Europe to it. These apparently look like some unorganized terrorist attacks, but the end of many of these thread is common. The list is not small – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents,_2016 We need to ask ourselves – when are we going to be “human” behave like humans? Did we learn anything from this in 2016? In fact I wrote this and heard 2017 has started with terrorist attack in Turkey! Waste! These good for nothing parasites on the face of earth do not understand what nonsense they are involved in, if some religion teaches this that is not a religion at all.

    Business & Economics – There were few big developments in the year, first UK voted to leave European Union, second Wells Fargo of US was found out to be involved in a big scandal and third India demonetized high denomination currencies. Here is a wonderful Ted Talk on UK’s vote to leave EU.

    Wells Fargo scandal has no lesser words for taking strict actions against the high, mighty and decision makers who looked for Q-o-Q results and made up books, profits and rewards the culprits. You must watch this video to know how

    Demonetization in India shook many within India, and to utter surprise three others countries planed to follow suit – http://qz.com/867724/three-countries-across-three-continents-after-modis-india-demonitisation-has-spread-to-other-countries-too/

    What banks did post demonetization in India must be a subject matter of scrutiny same as Wells Forgo in the US.

    Another battle happening currently in India is Tata group Vs Cyrus Mistry (the story is yet to unfold fully in 2017). As of 10th Dec 2016 (source), Investors of Tata group have lost about Rs 81,000 crore (810 Billion INR) in seven top Tata group companies since October 24 as Mistry was replaced by Ratan Tata as Tata Sons chairman.

    Politics – Donald J Trump the next President of USA. It was most surprising and unthinkable when campaigning started last year. I wonder if what inspired Trump was mockery by Obama in white house in 2011.

    Corruption – There was enough and more hue and cry about Panama papers. Corruption of many rich people worldwide. What is Panama papers? Watch the following video to know more. We must ask each one of these filthy rich people – what would they get by making, hoarding and rolling so much money all over the world? Remember we all leave everything here, including the wealth.

    Somethings caught my eyes, were AT&T’s acquisition of Yahoo, LinkedIn’s by Microsoft and the phenomenon called Pokemon Go! https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/11/crunch-report-pokemon-go-mania/
    Pokémon Go added $9B to Nintendo’s value, global rollout continues within a week
    Pokémon Go has an estimated 7.5M U.S. downloads, $1.6M in daily revenue within a week
    Will 22K people turn up to catch Pokémon in San Francisco and what less – Robbers target Pokémon Go players in Missouri.

    What all these events have taught us? Humanity is important than a religion and terrorism. Globalization needs a perspective of interdependence at times we need to let go of some control, at times be need to think of inclusion. Every company has to be responsible, whether its Wells Fargo or Tata group. Never mock anyone, even if you are the president of the worlds most powerful, economically strong country. You will leave your wealth here only, pay your taxes instead of evading it. Legitimate money will make you and your money more respectable and in the end you would leave your body too here, wont take anything back with you. If you are doing something, put your heart and soul in it, make it awesome like the Pokemon Go!

    This was LBC topic for farewell to 2016, I am late, was bit occupied with a preparation for a workshop on IPR held yesterday 31st Dec. You can read other blogs of other Loose Bloggers Consortium members at Ramana Uncleji and Shackman.

  • Are You Enjoying What You Are Doing?







    I have been writing on Business to the Buddha for 6+ years, 325 or so blogs now. If you have read my previous posts and at times the title, you might have wondered, why such title? One reason you can read it on this link, and other is to look for a way how we can have a more inclusive, economically better and psychologically calmer society? The question of this post – “Are you enjoying what you are doing?” is directed towards that economics and psychological thought.

    What all do we do except our daily chores such as eating, sleeping etc? In those activities there are some mandatory activities and some forced and other times hobbies there are always choices and challenges. Some things we do not like doing yet we have to do, some times we like doing something but we have to postpone those. This is where many people think of such question.

    Long back precisely in Oct 2011, I drafted a blog “Do what you love doing”. Somehow I never completed that article, parts of that are produced below –

    …On this point, I had contention recently in a professional set-up. I also believe that if one does what he/she enjoys doing lot of issues of his/her life could be solved. Take an example – in Mumbai average a person travels 2 1/2 hours per day, works for about 9-10 hours, sleeps say 7 1/2 hours and whatever time is left she/he either stays with family, goes to social gathering or does domestic works. If more than 1/2 time daily goes in office related activities, why not someone do something which is relevant to the interest of the individual? This choice of ‘doing something which is of interest’ has to be a mature and personal decision of a person…

    This was with reference to a reward program in a company. My point of view was very opposite of what many other employees of that company believed in- though the management was appreciative of my opinion. I understood later why employee-employer relations are the way they are in many companies. My observation is – in many cases, beyond money there is a drive that makes a person get up in morning at go to a job. Until one reaches that level of awareness, person looks forward to the last day of month when salary will be credited. If someone has passion and purpose one finds time, energy and resources to do that activity. When this happens a person truly enjoys what he/she is doing.

    This small point what Osho said – “If everybody learns this simple art of loving his work, whatever it is, enjoying it without asking for any recognition, we would have a more beautiful and celebrating world.” is very valid. If we would either start loving what we do, or we start doing what we love our economy and Human Development Index both will fare better.

    I raised this question to some of my email & blog friends, from that discussion the question became topic of Loose Bloggers Consortium. You can read thoughts of other two writers – Rummuser uncleji here and Shackman uncleji here.

    Image source – http://oshoinsight.com/tag/enjoy/