April 7, 2024

  A number of weeks ago, I cam across this phrase from the Ishopnishad- an early chapter in these texts. "Tens Tyaktena Bhunjita". Its exact meaning seemed very confusing to me but apparently this is the secret to existence according to the ancient Hindu thought-leadership. It means, from what I could gather. "Consume with Sacrifice". It is an appeal not to renounce- quite the opposite. It is an appeal to enjoy and enjoy in the most corporeal and material way. I took this to imply that it is all good and even preferable to buy that expensive car, be promiscuous, eat gourmet meals, watch movies and IPL games, and watch whatever else floats your boat. Basically do whatever the hell you want- with no regret nor remorse. This is covered by the word "Bhunjita". But there is a catch. What about the word "Tyaktena'? This means you can and should do all of this, but with a sense of sacrifice. I was left scratching my head. What does this mean? Does it mean I can do this if I sacrifice something else? In other words, I can do this as long as I pay the price? Like go to jail, or lose my health, reputation and other aspects of my mojo? This would be logical as there is always a price to pay to have fun. This seems to be obvious- not all that insightful. I was sure there must another explanation of consuming with sacrifice. It turns out that this is actually a core idea of sustainability. It means one can consume but only if one offers more than what one consumes. Give more, take less. If everyone did this, there would not the need for stupid expensive ESG programs in corporations. This is yet another fad- and a whole industry is quickly developing around it, because there is money to made, rent to be extracted, coffers to filled, wealth to be hoarded. There are corporations large and consulting firms boutique and everyone in between trying to aggressively jostle for a piece of the  society-imagined and government-created pie. No one even knows what it is. Is it to do with Climate Change? Is it to do with Diversity? Is it to do with Sustainable supply Chains? Is it do with Charitable causes supported by Corporations ( CSR activities). It is possible a melange of all of this. A multi- billion dollar fledgling industry in the making- and it can be disrupted simply by following some Vedantic advice- "Tena Tyaktena Bhunjita". There needs to be two aspects that we must address in order  to achieve this. Firstly, give more. Giving can be charity, or time, or sweat equity or training. If I were to summarize, it means serving. Being able to serve- in one way or another. This is clear enough- there are many people who have the idea of service built into their fabric. Institutions like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( the much-maligned RSS), communities like the Sikh community, and family based societies where there is a tacit compact whence kids look after their aging parents and parents look after their kids until they don’t need looking after. This is not a compact that is correlated with time. In some cases, parents will need 40 years of care, if they fall ill early or if they stop drawing an income early. In some cases, sons will need 40 years of care, in case they are incapacitated in one of any number of ways. This is a sacrifice, it is an act of giving more- and in return they can consume a bit less than what they are giving.  The other part is to do with consuming less- in other words tending asymptotically towards becoming an ascetic. Removing, slowly by resolutely, several trappings of consumption one by one- or atleast limiting them. This suddenly made sense. If you want to  throw a ridiculously lavish garden party at your sons wedding, say at the gardens of the Palace of Versailles in Paris, that is permissible- even encouraged. But you would have to offer a sacrifice that is larger than your wedding bill. If you don’t want to offer much of a sacrifice that is also permissible- but you have to want to consume very very less. This is why the ascetics go and live in the mountains- they renounce everything and everyone. On the face of it, the immediate family members or loved ones might feel that is selfish, insensitive and fundamentally irresponsible, After all, who will take care of the family if the head pops off to the mountains never to return? Except that while he is not offering the sacrifice of taking care of his loved ones, he is consuming even less- in fact close to nothing. And hence the vedantic equation is complete balance. It all hangs together.

As I an beginning to absorb this phrase with a new-found clarity, I am asking myself how I intend to pursue this. Should I sacrifice more, should I consume less or am I already in the right balance. This can be a very worthwhile exercise to do, on ones’s own initially. If one is unsure, they can seek the advice of a friendly neighborhood hindu spiritual guide- and many rich hindus do exactly this- I think. There is also the chance that a multi-billion dollar consulting industry will suddenly mushroom based on this need. Mckinsey and BCG will now start having a Vedantic Balance practice, much like an ESG practice. I would imagine, they would start hiring monks and other God men from positions of pre-eminence. They would be hired for free but the firms would charge the folks who want to hire their services.  Because of the profit motive. Why do we feel that we need external validation or consultation for any of our decision making? Because this is the way we have drawn up the Capitalistic Industrial society. And the people at the top tier of this society would need it to be this way so as to preserve their top-tierness in perpetuity.