The Graveyard lessons

People do not visit grave yards unless a tragedy in the form of death strikes someone near and dear. Walking in the graveyard is usually not a socially correct way to spend leisure time and you risk being considered a lunatic. Alternately, you may be branded as a sorcerer or a practitioner of some kind of an occult. But believe me there is another side of the story. Taking a quiet solo round of the graveyard is a very soothing and peaceful experience. Further if you spend sometime in the graveyard you learn quite a few lessons for living. The solitude that is so very rare these days not only pacifies the tension ridden mind, but it also makes one realize the most basic of the realities of life that in the end you must depart and depart alone, no strings attached. Perhaps, this is the greatest paradox of life which people are unmindful of- that life is uncertain and death is the only certainty. Ignorance of this reality is the root cause of all evils of the society. It is very neatly summed up in those words from the queen in the classic Alice in Wonderland – “Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run twice as fast as that”.

Look what is happening. As scores and scores of media stories expose the misdeeds of the high and the mighty in the mindless pursuit of wealth, the realization dawns that mankind is suffering from some kind of a disease. And the genesis of the disease lies in the insecurity. It is in the wealth that people seek security, failing to realize that wealth cannot make one escape death. No one can predict how much of wealth adequate security is. It is because of this that this maddening race for wealth acquisition. This human disposition can be very well understood by the following analogy. When we buy a car we are provided with an extra tyre that is given so that when one tyre gives way the stepney can be used to replace and ensure the movement of the car. But what is the basis of this assumption that only one tyre will give way. What if two tyres get punctured simultaneously. Well, you may ask for one more extra tyre. But what if three tyres give away. In fact, there is no end to this feeling of insecurity. The one extra tyre is given as a reasonable security. And this is what needs to be understood. You plan for reasonable security and leave the rest to God. There is no other way otherwise you will keep on running twice as fast as you can but in the end reach nowhere.

The graveyard also teaches another very important lesson. Usually when people assume power they develop quixotic tendencies, often becoming megalomaniacs. They suffer from a syndrome that makes them believe that the world before them was imperfect and has to be changed to perfection. And if they do not do so the heavens will fall. They further believe that only they are competent to change it to that level of perfection. In the process they start doing things that apparently look strange. Needless to say that the power unbalances them. They too start running twice as fast, at a maddening pace, like the queen had said, to achieve what is not. For them, then, the graveyard lesson is that many people before them tried to change the world. They all departed but the world lives on, unchanged. The basic lesson is that do not look for permanence in the temporary existence.

Oh! For a little more money

It takes 20 years to build a reputation, and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you will do things differently. These words attributed to Warren Buffet neatly sum up the plight of Rajat Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs director who sometime back was charged for insider treading and recently sentenced to a two year jail term by a US court. In Gupta’s own words he lost his reputation so assiduously built over last 40 years. The message from the US courtroom is loud and clear, your actions, sooner or later catch up with you. Gupta- scholar, executive, leader, philanthropist, and educationist might have done a lot of good to the society, but he shipped once and has to pay very dearly. Reputation is a jewel which nothing can replace. It is thousands of times more valuable than all your wealth. And if lost, it is lost for good. This is not to sling mud at the IITian and Harvard Business School educated Indian poster boy of whom the entire professional class of the country was proud. Rather, one must sympathies with him. His contributions by far outweigh the charges framed on him, but it must be remembered that reputation is not always proportioned to virtue. The verdict may appear a little harsh to many but the one basic question that arises is why did he have to do this? What more did he want? And in these questions lie the answers to most of our worldly woes. No amount of sympathy can now undo the damage that has been done to this internationally acclaimed business leader, who taught at the world’s best business schools. Even if the crime is not as big as the sentence, even if there are many more who are guilty of felonies of far greater magnitude, what Gupta lost must serve as a eye opener to all. The ultimate truth is that what you do will have its bearing on you and not on those for whose benefits you did those acts. Sage Balmiki’s story as given in ancient Indian scriptures is a grim reminder to this very hard reality and is paraphrased below. The story goes that before becoming a saint Balmiki was Ratnakar – the dacoit. He used to ruthlessly murder travelers and loot their belongings. Once he happened to encounter the sage Narada. On being accosted Narada asked Ratnakar why he was doing all this. To this Ratnakar said he was doing it for his family. Narada then said, will the family members share the burden of the sins that will accrue to Ratnakar as a result of his evil deeds. Ratnakar was not sure and he said he will go and find it out but till that time he tied Narada to a tree. When Ratnakar asked his family members whether they will share the burden of his sins they all declined. This shocked Ratnakar and he came back and narrated this to the sage after freeing him. But this was the turning point in his life that transformed the dacoit Ratnakar into saint Balmiki.

People must realize that for every evil deed that you do only you are accountable and not those who reap the benefits arising out of those deeds. People also need to realize that there is no end to greed and falling prey to greed ultimately leads to grief. The temptations, though, are very powerful and to win against those you need to follow a golden rule. That is, every time a temptation allures you just resolve – not this time. And remember Hitler’s advice ‘The amount of money that’s in your bank at the time of death, is due to the extra work you did which wasn’t necessary’.