Dharma & Religion

The reason why "western universalism (XXXism) " is a big deal, fill in any of many things into the XXX, is that Dharmiks have been traditionally unable or unwilling to give a clear, coherent answer to the questions:

1. What are your core beliefs/values?

2. What is the hierarchy of your literature that I can go look up to learn more about these?

The answer usually degenerates into

1. The Question is Improper!

2. It is wrong to even THINK of Core Beliefs or Values, those are WESTERN concepts!

3. Our literature starts with the Vedas (sorry, it is blasphemy to speak of the Vedas as literature onlee), Ramayana (no that is not Vedas), BG (no, that is not Vedas), Puranas (obviously not)..

4. But my Core Belief is that if I don't dunk my skull into this pond, facing to the East and holding my nose and/or my ears, before 7AM every day, the whole Universe may go down the tubes. Rain or shine. If you try this in a land where the pond is frozen, well, that is your fault for cross the seas. Brasht onlee!

This is why XXXX Universalism and all other nonsense run riot in urban anglicised Indians, not to mention every where else. So develop clear answers. Or frame new questions that anyone can ask and get clear answers, that define SD/Hinduism/ whatever u call it.Is this meant to be "beliefs or values"? Is there an implication that values arise from beliefs? etc. Anyway, I will give an answer to move the conversation along:

The four goals of human existence are 'dharma, artha, kama, moksha'. The latter three are to be pursued in accordance with dharma. This is the core of Hindu life.

I think the problem starts when people ask Hindus about Hinduism. The assumption is that the Hindus must be knowledgeable about Hinduism. But most of the time, most of the Hindus are not knowledgeable about Hinduism. This is a very common thing in the world. Followers of most of the ideologies do not know the full details of their ideologies. People only know certain aspects of the ideology which they follow. Only those who study the ideologies in full detail would know it properly. Others would only have some vague and general knowledge.

So, most Hindus would have some knowledge about Dharma, Karma, re-incarnation, Gods, Goddesses, ...etc. But, they are not the right people to go to, if one wants the full knowledge about Hinduism. The best thing is to ask an expert(guru) or to consult the scripture when one wants know about a topic. That's why importance of guru has been stressed.

In Hinduism, there are 2 types of Dharma:

a) Samanya Dharma (General)

b) Vishesha Dharma (Special) (Contextual)

Samanya Dharma(General):

It seems, according to Manu:

" ahimsa satyam asteyam shaucham indriyanigrahametam samasikam dharmam chaaturvarnye abhravin manuh.."

Ahimsa(Non-violence), Satyam(Truth), Asteyam(Non-Stealing), Shaucham(Cleanliness) and Indriya-nigraham(Control of senses) are the Dharma of all the 4 varnas.

Most educated Indians are offered the choice of "Western Univeralism" versus Indian family values and they choose the former because they are unable to face up to questions or comments that state up front as they have barely read up on Dharma (our own education system under the successive governments ensured no learning of ancient scriptures/texts). Moreover, the education policy controlled by Marxists/Islamists ( It didn't help that Education ministers for first 20 years post independence were all muslims), deliberately put out the view that Hinduism is backward while monotheism is modern aka western construct.

1. The caste system is bad (whoops its easier to hide the fact that I and my entire extended family are Madhwa Brahmins than explain. So I say "yeah. Caste is bad. I don't follow it)

2. Idolatry is bad (oops we do have idols at home so I say "Well uh er not really. We believe in one God bla bla)

3. You believe in an elephant headed God or a bloodthirsty goddess? (Er um these are primitive beliefs. people are moving away from all that)

4. Do you believe in arranged marriages (oooops - mine was arranged so I'll say "Oh you see it's not like that you know. Nowadays you get to meet and get to know your future partner)Indians have, exactly as pointed out, internalized and accepted the characterizations of Indian society made by others.

It is those same others who are now offering us jobs and wealth and either we accept their definitions or we get branded as someone not worth associating with.Let alone explaining Sandhya vandanam which most people do not do, we are unable to admit that our jati is our extended family and our jati is still used in India for education and job reservations. So much for the lie that the "caste system" is going away. We find it difficult to point out that we have no caste. Only jati. But the connection of jati with profession does not exist any more. The system of jati ("caste") based reservation was precisely to remove the link between varna and jati. Unfortunately even the Indian legal system has internalized the western definition of caste.

The people who wrote our constitution and our lawmakers have internalized that.We are unable to explain that we still have arranged marriages. we are unable to say that Indian society is a family centered society. When you have a son or daughter, your mother or mother in law will come and live with you to help. But we are unable to admit that we are a family centered society. The system of arranged marriages was designed to remove family objections and interference in an attempt to reduce incompatibilities.

The fact that it does not necessarily work is not the point.There is absolutely nothing wrong with idol worship. In fact the name "idol worship" is a misnomer. The idol serves as a central point which serves as an area around which people collect for prayer. The concept of having a church or a mosque is also merely to have a collection point.

There is s philosophical issue in Christianity and Islam where it is alleged that if you sit in front of an image you will start believing that the image is God. This is complete nonsense. No Hindu believes that an image of God is God. The image is simply a meeting point for worship and prayer. Anyone who pays brief attention to the meaning of Hindu prayers (as recited in Sanskrit) will know that the first act of prayer in front of any idol is to pray to a formless omnipresent God to please come and occupy the idol for a brief while while you worship that god within that idol. "Invocations" that are sung before any Indian/Hindu function are simply a prayer-invitation for God to be present there and guide us. God is invariably "invoked" at the outset.

Note that we never blow out lamps or candles. Fire/Agni is life. We always light them. Next time you have a birthday party, light lamps, don't blow them out.The multiarmed "bloodthirsty" durga and the elephant headed God are simply artistic manifestations of stories of good over evil and the power of God to help you or make you feel better - no different from any other type of worship.

The route I take is that I have simply stopped referring to myself as a follower of a religion, but as a follower of Hindu dharma.Dharma and religion have some differences. Religion is the belief in and the worship of God and that is there for all Hindus who wish to worship God. But there is something more for those who do not believe in God.

The first is a system of moral values (dharma)The ten rules of Manu Dharma are:

• Patience (Dhriti) It is the most essential rule of Dharma...

• Forgiveness (Kshama) ...

• Piety or self control (Dama) ...

• Honesty (Asteya) ...

• Holiness (Shauch) ...

• Control of senses (Indraiya-nigrah) ...

• Reasoning (Dhi) ...

• Learning or knowledge (Vidya)

- to be followed whether or not you believe in God.The second is a philosophical exploration of the origins of the universe and cosmos - explanations that are said to become self evident if one is interested in following the rules of study, meditation and yoga that form part of the Hindu body of knowledge. 

In fact the Vedas deal in this most esoteric aspect of Hindu dharma. In my limited understanding, the primary axioms of Sanathana Dharma(Hinduism) is:

a)'Veda(s) are the eternal truth.'

b)'Veda(s) are divine. They are not man-made.'

c)'Veda(s) are the authority on all things.'

d) 'All the experiences, words, customs and ideologies of the people that are in consonance with the Vedic teachings are acceptable. 

And all the experiences, words, customs and ideologies of the people

contradictory to Vedic teachings are rejected.'The word Veda refers to all the four Vedas along with Vedanta(Upanishads).-------

Based on the above fundamental axioms, Indic philosophies have been categorised as 

Astika 

Nastika

Astika Philosophies are 6(Shat Darshanas). They accept the Vedic authority. They are:

a) Nyāyá, the school of logic (by Gautama)

b) Vaiśeṣika, the school that proposes atoms (by Kanada)

c) Sāṃkhya, the enumeration school (by Kapila)

d) Yoga, which assumes the metaphysics of Sāṃkhya (by Patanjali)

e) Mimāṃsā or Purva Mimāṃsā, the tradition of Vedic exegesis that stresses on the importance of Vedic rituals. (restored by Kumarilla Bhatta - who is disciple of Jaimini - who is disciple of Vyasa)

f) Vedanta or Uttara Mimāṃsā, the Upaniṣadic tradition.(restored by Adi Shankaracharya - who is disciple of Govinda Bhagavatpada - Gauda Bhagavatpada - Shuka - Vyasa)

Nastika philosophies. They reject the Vedic authority. They are:

a) Buddhism (supposedly by Siddhartha Gautama)

b) Jainism (supposedly by Rishabha, the first Tirthankara. Mahavira is the last of the 24 Tirthankaras.)

c) Cārvāka - Materialistic and hedonistic school of thought.-----

Then, there are Tantras or Agamas. The Tantras like Darshanas(Philosophies) can also be Vedic or Non-Vedic. All the Tantras/Agamas (or the aspects of Tantras) that are in consonance with Vedas are acceptable. Rest are rejected.

The Tantras also claim their origin from divine beings. Even so, if the teachings are contradictory to Vedas, they are rejected.-----Then, there are Smritis or Dharma Shaastras. 

Smritis are authored by the Rishis. They deal with the rules of conduct. There are several Smritis.The general rule is that the whole (or part) of a Smriti which is conflicting with Vedas is rejected.-----

Then, there are Itihasaas(Ramayana & Mahabharatha) along with the 18 Puranas and 18 Upa-Puranas. Generally, they can be treated similar to Dharma Shaastras.-----Finally, there are traditions of family. Each family follow certain traditions and customs which it has inherited from its ancestors. These traditions are also acceptable and encouraged as long as they are not in conflict with the above mentioned scriptural teachings.

To be continued to dissect Religion...

Credits : All learning and work of Johnee,Dr Shiv, A Gupta and many more

Cost of learning is failure!

A few days back, I was speaking to a friend and colleague Aarti Gill, founder of OZiva (health nutrition brand) about three sets of people in life and brands in business.

Discoverers : They hypothise and find something new that exists, can be created or tamed. They make attempts but are restricted due to resource crunch or lack of will.

Conquerors : They conquer the landscapes i.e. lands, breakthrough technologies, pioneer new product usages.

Colonisers : They come and colonise/monopolise the markets by correcting some of the early mistakes of conquerors/pioneers and get a larger market share in the meantime conquerer saps/loses energy in the initial fight creating that market.

Example I gave was about P&G's near monopoly of diaper/sanitary napkin market (coloniser) while Johnson was the conqueror.. creating a diaper. They made the mistake of using expensive Egyptian cotton and thus was expensive. Even though the concept of diapers and sanitary pads was lapped up but the usage was rather restricted due to high cost unless P&G changed the material and brought down the costs.

Result? No one knows that it was Johnson who came up with the idea of diapers while 'pampers' rules the western world. Johnson is too embarrassed of the drubbing and we rarely get to learn about the mistakes. However, calling it a mistake is a Hindsight bias.. Imagine had Johnsons not made the first diaper?

What is the lesson that I am trying to impart here?

I believe that our society's "mistakephobia" is crippling, a problem that begins in most elementary schools, where we learn to learn what we are taught rather than to form our own goals and to figure out how to achieve them.

We are fed with facts and tested and those who make the fewest mistakes are considered to be the smart ones, so we learn it is embarrassing to not know and to make mistakes. Our education system spends virtually no time on how to learn from mistakes, yet this is critical to real learning. As a result, school typically doesn't prepare young people for real life - unless their lives are spent following instructions and pleasing others

Businesses are even more severe in punishment towards adventurous. Even though everyone wants an 'Entrepreneurial' manager (both are so contradictory words), they are the first to shoot down in interviews itself, anyone with a different or courageous idea.

Imagine if you quit your job pursuing a business idea (yours truly being one) & most struggle given 90% of new businesses fail, to get back into corporate is a challenge. Continuing doing the same thing what Shiv kumar (my ex CEO at Philips) used to call, "Incrementalism of decimal point managers", is considered an excellent career choice while someone who failed trying new thing is deemed failure. Even though he may have more learning about consumers & markets, failure being the biggest teacher.

"I get flack for saying , “This is a nice college, but the really great educator is McDonald’s.” They hate me for saying this and think I’m a slimy creature. But McDonald’s hires people with bad work habits, trains them, and teaches them to come to work on time and have good work habits. I think a lot of what goes on there is better than at Harvard.” - Munger

Deterrence,Terror, learning from Israel way

Few days back, I read an article by Biju Dominic, ' Wiping out terrorism calls for a radically different approach'. I have respected Biju for a long long time, infact from the time in 2005 when he was leading the account from DDB side and I was brand manager at Philips. Coming from a family with many generation of military & political history, I have seen these debates at close quarters for long... as far as 1982-83. Add to it, I have a deep and abiding interest in most subjects military and human behaviour related.

Terrorist the word itself, carries the message they want to deliver, terrorise the populace in order to mould their opinion to suit group's political, religious or economic agenda through covert and overt use of Violence.

Since America is the foremost military power with a global reach and agenda, it is also at the forefront of military, social doctrines to contain the 4th generation of hybrid warfare. Like any other democracy it is also constrained in its response in accordance to its domestic laws. Add to it the emotional, knee jerk reactions due to virtue signalling by its liberal, intellectual class.

India, due it its geographic location and surrounded by hostile states with religious and geopolitical pecking order motivations (Pakistan/BD and China, UK/US) is another frontline states for terror with a large Muslim population (largely peaceful) but fished in by western neighbour, calling for decimation of a Kafir state. People may not know but the motto of Pakistan army is 'Jihad-fi-sabilliah' - Jihad in the way of Allah. I don't want to get into the details of partition and Pakistan being "New Medina". Add to it, we have many faultiness of language, religion & many grievances, ready to be stoked.

3rd frontline state is Israel, surrounded by huge, hostile (driven by religious motivation) neighbours whose avowed goal is destruction of Jewish people. There is lot to learn from Isarel on anti-terror and there is lot to learn from India on anti-terror.

At the very beginning, let me say Terror can only be defeated with greater terror. A jaw for a tooth and an eye, hand and leg for an eye. It creates deterrence and targeting the key stakeholders (leadership) is the right strategy.. domino theory.. One domino falls the whole pack does. I have repeated ad nauseam that we need to create deterrence.. target families and friends of generals anywhere in the world.

Make them fee fear of personal loss.. bring their skin in the game. Apart from head of state, all must be on table.

The American and Indian counterterrorism debate has largely ignored Israeli calculus. Washington is generally averse to learning from others, and Israel’s security establishment, until recently, was reticent about revealing its thinking. That changed last August when, for the first time in the IDF’s history, Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot published an unclassified version of the IDF defense doctrine. But because the document appeared only in Hebrew, it has remained largely unknown in the American strategic community. To make it accessible, Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs recently posted an English translation of the document.

Indian establishment has only upped its collaboration and for the very first time started implementing the learning i.e. Uri, BawalKot now post Pulwama. So people who say we must make peace know nothing about war. It’s only war, ability to bring unprecedented violence on enemy that ensures peace. And war must continue till one of the participants is exhausted and spent in will and resources. War may not be the beautiful but it ensures beauty to thrive.. Our whole history has been wars with some peace in between.

The “IDF Strategy” document discusses in detail how to deter terrorist groups, specifically Hezbollah and Hamas. In the U.S. policy lexicon, Hezbollah and Hamas are labeled “terrorists.” The IDF calls them “substate organizations.” Substate actors have headquarters, hold territory and govern populations. Thus they present targets of value, making them vulnerable, like states, to a combination of “general deterrence” and “specific deterrence.” General deterrence is achieved by maintaining overwhelming military superiority and earning a reputation like that of the Godfather. The Godfather “takes everything personal.” As his consigliere observed, “If a bolt of lightning hit a friend of his the old man would take it personal. . . . Accidents don’t happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult.” In Eizenkot’s words, Israel must be seen as “an unpredictable enemy that can react in a very severe way.” This something that Indian state and IA has not done till now as our responses have been very measured and lot of times sub-par courtesy optics and politics.

Specific deterrence is tailored to each enemy and focuses on particular actions. It requires “an ongoing analysis of the enemy’s characteristics, considerations, capabilities, identity, and decision making processes.” Israel seeks to influence the “calculations” of its enemies directly by persuading them of “the futility of continuing to fight” and reminding them of the “outcome of previous confrontations.” This is come thing Indian army has only started to say recently when Lt Gen Dhillon stated that anyone who picks a gun will be killed and he appealed to the mothers of these youth to put some sense into their wards.

Pulibius Syrus on stone pelting & suicide bombing: Pardon one offence and you encourage the commission of many. Here is where we have had a massive failure with both of the regional parties undoing each other in relating stone pelters and pushing the forces to ignore these.. even though most gunweilders in Cashmere have graduated through stone pelting. A stone a 90-100KM/hr is a projectile that breaks the skull and soldiers are succumbing to it, severely demoralising the morale.

The IDF constantly worries about whether its deterrent is sufficiently strong. It works daily to ensure that it meets each and every condition required for success. Red lines are clearly, publicly and repeatedly announced by top Israeli officials not only in Hebrew, but also in Arabic. Israel’s capability to enforce these red lines is demonstrated by “building a force that is partially visible to the enemy.” Credibility is enhanced by taking “limited offensive actions to signal that the ‘rules of the game’ have been broken.” And it is careful to withhold punishment otherwise. (Indeed, Israeli policymakers have occasionally chosen not only to avoid punishment but to reward good behavior, for example, in supporting the reconstruction of Gaza even though Hamas uses some of the material Israel supplies to build tunnels and rockets.)

"Israel sees Hezbollah as the “most severe threat.” A proxy of Iran, it has assembled an arsenal of more than one hundred thousand missiles and rockets aimed at Israel—many of them precision-guided with the ability to hit strategic targets, including the equivalent of the Pentagon in Tel Aviv. Hamas, whose charter pledges to “raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine” occupied by “warmongering Jews,” stands second among substates whose attacks must be deterred. It has fought three wars against Israel in the past decade. During the Second Intifada, Hamas perfected the suicide bomb and used it to kill hundreds of Israeli civilians. Today, the group has thousands of rockets and is burrowing tunnels into Israeli territory for future attacks. (Israel has discovered a number of tunnels in recent months, each buried one hundred feet underground.)"

How does the IDF meet threats posed by these groups? Not by direct attacks to degrade them; not by all-out war to destroy them. Instead, it attempts to deter them. As Yadlin explained,

“Vis-a-vis Hamas and Hezbollah, we haven’t destroyed their capabilities, but we were able to establish deterrence. And this is basically because we hit them hard, and because the terrorists became . . . half-state entities. . . . The terrorists have discovered that when they are responsible for their economy, for education, for the life of their people, suddenly they are not that daring to use terror all day.”

India has NOT been able to establish deterrence because most leadership of Kashmiri terrorism enjoys the hospitality of Pakistani state. Guided, protected and feted to realise their strategy of "Bleeding by 1000 cuts". We have not been able to physically hurt these entities also due to domestic politics in India. You kill a family member of these Jihad leaders, you deter. The day we hurt families of Generals in Rawalpindi, we put fear of God that any action against indian state or its citizens will have severe personal ramifications for perpetrators 

Of course, deterrence is not the only strand in Israel’s strategy to counter its enemies. Full-spectrum prevention of terrorist attacks includes detection (deep penetration to identify threats), defense (such as the Iron Dome missile-defense system and secure walls or fences on all borders) and decisive defeat (when, despite best efforts, attackers succeed). While many states, including the United States, invest heavily in similar efforts, Israel is unique in its placing deterrence at the core of its counterterrorism strategy.

Pulibius Syrus to propagandists saying we can’t afford war: Necessity knows no law except to conquer.

The IDF accepts the fact that this strategy sometimes fails. When it does, Israeli citizens die. But Israel’s national-security community still considers deterrence better than any feasible alternative for meeting threats posed by its substate adversaries. And after each conflict, the IDF has redoubled efforts to establish a new level of deterrence.

I see more educated a person become, less is his proclivity to see violence as a means to an end thus leaving out one very important traits of specie's survival on this planet. I have more faith in that semi-literate (so called) who stands up to fight for his land, home & hearth.

"Sūrā so pahicẖānī▫ai jo larai ḏīn ke heṯ,

Purjā purjā kat marai kabhū na cẖẖādai kẖeṯ."

He alone is known as a spiritual hero, who fights in defense of religion.He may be cut apart, piece by piece, but he never leaves the field of battle.

"Chose pen over violence.. Make a career...Terrorists are cowards...they are crazy.." all these are euphemism for self cowardice. Directed violence has a purpose, terrorise, in this case, population into accepting your political, religious views. We need ruthlessness but with a scalpel, not sledge hammer. Need to find long term solution.

"The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."

*All quotes and commentary on IDF from a blog I read on http://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-isis-fears-israel-17286?page=2

Very intelligent but wisdom... well

People often equate wisdom with intelligence or being knowledgeable; but all too often, it becomes apparent that being intelligent and being wise are quite different things. The world is full of brilliant people who intellectualise without really understanding the essence of things. In contrast, wise people try to grasp the deeper meaning of what is known and strive to better understand the limits of their knowledge.

As Mahatma Gandhi once said, 'Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.' Wise people are attuned to what constitutes a meaningful life. Being heated in crucible of life, they perhaps understand what actually matters and is only transactional requirement for managing life. Our daily distractions, financial and professional commitments add layers of hinderance to our quest for wisdom and in my humble student conclusion, it is the environment itself in which we nurture ourselves that can more fluidly put us in the "state" of readiness.

Wisdom implies more than merely being able to process information in a logical way. Knowledge becomes wisdom when we have the ability to assimilate and apply this knowledge to make the right decisions. As the saying goes, ‘knowledge speaks but wisdom listens’. Wise people are blessed with good judgement. In addition, they possess the qualities of sincerity and authenticity, the former implying a willingness to say what you mean, the latter to be what you are.

Wise people are also humble; their humility deriving from a willingness to recognise the limitations of their knowledge. They accept that there are things they will never know. By accepting their ignorance, they are better prepared to bear their own fallibility. People who are wise know when what they are doing makes sense, but also when it will not be good enough. Ironically, it is exactly this kind of self-knowledge that pushes them to do something about it.

I have seen people at the very top saying to very young me, " I don't know.. why don't you try it? That way, I will also learn & be able to contribute in some ways..". I have rarely seen wise people seeing things in perspective of absolutes i.e. Success or failure.

Wisdom is understating that in a world as complex as our, such generalisations ( Success ..failure) are a sign of naive, unsophisticated or even malevolent analysis.

Knowledge is understanding that we are always and simultaneously at point 'a' (which is less desirable than it could be), moving towards state/point 'B' (which we consider better in line with our implicit values and aspirations). Wisdom is understanding that as we continue to close on point 'B', we never really reach it, as everytime we touch, it metamorphose into point 'A'. Its understanding that we always encounter the world in a state of insufficiency and seek it's correction lifelong.

Wisdom is what the sages in Vedanta mentioned about limiting desires in order to be happy in personal life and that's why teachers, knowledge seekers (Brahmins) though dirt poor, continue to be respected.

Wisdom is in understanding that the future is like the past only albeit with a little crucial difference. As prof Jordan Peterson said, "The past is fixed but the future.... it could be better. It could be better , some precise amount. Happiness is to be found in the journey uphill and not in the fleeting sense of satisfaction awaiting at next peak.." ( 12 rules of life).

Now imagine the implications of this differentiation in corporates. What differentiates great &successful CEO with a good CEO. former understands being a CEO is a width job, upholding principles.. building alliances, helping people coordinates/collaborate. Later is a master of function and pivots organisation to what he knows personally & is a master.. knows the depths.

Thank god, my wisdom tooth has stopped aching for few week now.

Social media, being ordinary & happiness

 

Greatest calamity ushered in by social media is shunning of 'Ordinariness'. People don't understand that media is an eyeball game (mostly) & only extremes make eyeballs possible as none would watch ordinary. Social media addicts need to understand, 'Extreme' is not the norm. By the way, 'Ordinary' is NOT deformity, it's the NATURAL state of being. Genius is an anomaly. The way media glorifies genius or our social news feed shows people enjoying life with endless surfing in hawaii to dancing on pier 39 in frisco almost every single day, we have started assuming this as normal.

People like me, Ordinary, mostly at home on Sundays reading books or doing household chores, trying to break fights among children in our old T-Shirts and shorts have started looking like anomaly. We have somehow been thrown into an abyss of being 'losers'. our images of coming out of crammed trains/tubes, rushing to catch an auto to complete last mile to office are not 'Facebookable' with sweat beads & sometimes crumbled creases. Wearing a tie with fine cut suits (may be once in a month) in an office is real work, rest all of us ordinary men/women are failures.

This is dangerous & cutting the young from reality of everyday grind. The reason why lot of millennials are not able to hold jobs for long is the dissonance & dichotomy between the pictures of their friends/cousins in offices (nice fine suits in AC offices) messes up their heads.

This 'facebookable' fad leads to more and more entitlement, breeding more and more unhappiness in search of a new high.. This is what is killing relationships by creating this 'Outrage Porn' on social media platforms everyday. This brazen victimhood mentality & then demanding entitlements from society is creating a class of happiness junkies in search for another high through outrage or outrageous.

Dear Young graduates, everymen like me do succeed as well. Superstardom is not the perverse of genius alone. There is a way, ORDINARY man can do it also. Its called WORKING HARD & being disciplined. Though what success means to you is different to me but yes all can succeed basis our feet on ground.

Path to greatness exist but what is great depends on your value system. I am happy being the prophet (my measure of success), being 'God' is not my idea.

capitalism, stories and social media

Standard economic theory requires that consumers and businesspeople pay close attention to a vast array of prices, quantities and other information. Because keeping track of this flood of information is very costly, it makes sense to think that people economize on what they pay attention to. That kind of economizing is called bounded rationality, a term coined by polymathic social scientist Herbert Simon, himself a recipient of the Nobel.

Statistics are useful to the extent that we find their insights more persuasive than stories.

But we often don’t.

Data takes effort to contextualize. Stories offer instant gratification. With social media proliferation, everyone is a story teller and has access to publication at no cost.

Capitalism’s success rests on a belief that, given the right incentives, people can work together to solve problems. It’s the greatest story ever told. To understand this better, we need to understand human behaviour. Our brain stores information in bits & pieces as it tends to economise usage of energy. Given that our roughly 2.5 kg brain uses 25% of our overall energy consumption, it become all the more imperative to economise memories or analysis. Stories akin to experience, are a very useful way to believe..

• Stories are often wildly disconnected from our productive capacity.
• We confidently convince ourselves of absurd stories. 

As morgan housel says," The growth of anything -- an economy, a company, a market, a career -- has two parts:

• A technical ability that can solve problems and add value.
• People’s propensity to believe in that value.

It is intuitive to believe that most of what drives success is the first point. Real skills add real value. But the second point, the stories we tell ourselves about those skills and values -- can play the deciding role. Stories can infuence the production of real skills themselves, effectively becoming the pilot of our economy "

Think about stock valuations in 2017 for a minute... What is driving this boom?

Not actual problems being solved. No new laws to date actually solve people’s problems but mostly disturb the cosy status quo.

The boom is being driven by a booming belief in the boom.Stories of reforms being fundamental in nature (GST, RERA, Bankruptcy code), drove the optimism about future and thus increased our ability to take immediate pain.

 The higher bitcoin’s price goes, the less people think it’s a bubble. A four-fold price increase caused a 12 percentage point drop in those who believed it was a bubble, and a doubling of those who found it undervalued..

These stories can be healthy. Like the optimism bias, we wouldn’t get out of the couch if we believed otherwise. But we should acknowledge that they are stories, susceptible to change and often disconnected from reality. 

We must encourage application of the techniques of “scientific” study of the past to analysis of complex ongoing situations and estimates of likely future events. Just as rigorous analysis could cut through the gaps and ambiguities of information on events long past. Analysts shd be self-conscious about their reasoning processes..shd think about how they make judgments and reach conclusions, not just about the judgments and conclusions themselves.