Concealing Brilliance

 The Baby Leaf

The ongoing debate over destiny over effort is always an intriguing one; to what extent can we shape outcomes, personalities, events, and on the other hand to what extent are these innate, pre-programmed, with minimal room to maneuver. As the information age continues to deepen, learning sources continue to increase, which can be useful. It can also be dangerous as the sources of information can be flawed. Nature however, is a timeless and perfect teacher, it is self-evident reflects an unquestionable sense reality. In the juncture between winter and spring natures spectacles can be so beautiful. Trees whose leaves had fallen, whose bark had become dark and tainted, unbelievably begin to show signs of life.  One tree around 30 feet high, towering and with some glimpses of green at the top, however nothing lower down, exhibiting a very dry crusty bark in its trunk stood out. In between the puzzle-like lockings of bark, a fresh green leaf around 2 inches long struck in huge contrast to the faded darkish tone brown. The leaf was part of a twig, which was fairly robust and there were other small leaves about to sprout also. In an unlikely position, the leaf was beginning to blossom to an eye-catching level.

Revelations of Time

Back in the office, in the lead up to the forthcoming Indian elections, a number of Banks are hosting sharing sessions with officials to give an idea of forecast, outlooks and insights on expectations and impacts. Receiving a request, I made the relevant connections back with the Consul-General in Hong Kong on the topic and connected with our India heads. Within no time, contacts were shared to the extent of “here’s the details, feel free to reach out.” We had a task, we wanted to get it done, and we went about it. It was refreshing. It is Asia, it’s growing and there is ample opportunity for those who want to take it. Market saturation is an interesting stage in the cycle. In places where there are too few spaces, and too many takers, a culture of protectionism, lack of confidence in ability, and greed can lead to people not sharing openly, owning relationships due to the risk of being exploited by others. The case to share and not to share can be argued quite easily. Either way, it isn’t optimal, because the situation is not of abundance but saturation. The saving grace is, brilliance will find a way to shine. In the story of Genghis Khan, whose Mongolian Empire was famous or infamous for having conquered in the Asian subcontinent more than any group until his, the beginnings are very telling of this principle. As a small child, in an environment where invasions and consolidation of villages, towns, and countries were a commonplace, Khan’s family was killed in front of his eyes. In one depiction of the scene, there is an ancient Chinese quote which describes how one should not take advantage with a baby tiger for when they grow older, nothing will be able to stand in its way. The extent of Genghis Khan’s vengeance was unprecedented, he could not be held back with anything that generation and a few more, could come up with. Similarly we see leaders who have experienced bad treatment, they have emerged through many tussles and turn to be victorious in what their nature and ambition led to them doing over time. In this way, time and consistency in outlook will prove over time the extent to which our resolve is fixed.

Brilliance Can’t Hide

In the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic, there is a description of the Pandava brothers who were heirs to the throne. They were ousted by their cousin brothers the Kauravas from the kingdom on a number of occasions, due to ambition to sit on the throne. Dressed not in royal clothing, but in simple cloth with matted hair in locks, the Pandava brothers were enroute to a royal ceremony, and tried to stop by the banks of the River Ganges, the celestial being who was bathing there stopped them saying that they are not royalty, nor celestial, and therefore had not right to share the waters with him and his consorts. Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers refuted and said the waters didn’t belong to the celestial and therefore he will bath in them. The celestial quickly became angered and picking up his weapon charged at Arjuna. Arjuna quickly dispatched of him in an embarrassing fashion. Later in the same journey, a King approached the large-framed brothers and said whilst they are trying to disguise themselves, it is self-evident that they are extremely powerful and of an entirely different constitution to even the average Kings in the area. The Pandavas worked tirelessly, continued to refine their skills, meeting new teachers and acquiring more celestial weapons. They did not rely on their destiny and natural constitution alone. But it did play a part. Growth requires effort, the same way the leaf from the bark required nutrients, and resilience in order to grow, however it’s growth was inevitable. If we pay attention, there is certainly in our journeys understanding this perpetual interwoven relationship and reconciliation of effort and destiny in this world. Ultimately, reality, including brilliance of mediocrity will not be able to hide for long.

"Whether it be night, day or twilight, who can bar others from the ocean, the sides of the Himalayas, and this river? O ranger of the skies, whether the stomach be empty or full, whether it is night or day, there is no special time for anybody to come to the Ganges. As regards ourselves, endued with might, we care not when we disturb thee." Arjuna to the celestial Angaraparna, Chaitraratha Parva, Mahabharata

With Great Responsibility comes Great Power

The Concorde Club

After returning from a two day trip to India the primary topic of conversation amongst the team was work, with a close runner up being luxuries. It made for a very interesting set of observations. The discussions started with the quality of lounges in Hong Kong, then in India, then the rest of Asia, and then the Middle East, and then the rest of the world. We then moved onto airlines, and airline clubs, and then to the tiers of membership within those clubs. We then went to many of the additional benefits one gets as they progress, namely having a couple of square feet extra space, a personal member of staff to serve you and bring you what you want, and a number of prestigious credit cards. As one becomes more senior, they will tend to have better facility available should they choose; and most do, and it does not by default mean the people are bad people at all - values has nothing to do with whether a person is rich or poor, in first class or economy - in fact there are some very humble people in my experience in luxurious lounges, who are often far more considerate than some at the other end of the plane – it is all to do with how we view and use the things at our disposal. The problem arises when people with opulence and power misuse it and become absorbed in their own apparent greatness; this is a problem because it very likely an inaccurate view of reality in the bigger context, and secondly it will very likely bring disappointment as not everyone in the Universe will recognise such self-recognised greatness. Groundedness, and alignment with good values will help us to be in touch with reality, will help us be very strong; and this is not just a nice to have – in an environment where groundedness and values, whilst not non-existent, are often rare and easily compromised- we should be very bold, strong and determined so that these values can prevail. What follows are some related accounts in what the lack of values and self-centerdness can lead to, verses what values can lead to.

Excuse me???

The Vedic teachings tell of one of the original progenitors of human civilisation called Prajapati Daksha. Praja means the people, and Pati means Lord. He was therefore a very esteemed person, respected by even the demigods. His daughter had married Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is a very unique personality, and increasingly even today photos of him are in yoga studios all over the world in deep meditation wearing very simple items of clothing and covered in ash, and he is seen as an embodiment of devotion, deep detachment and focus. The daughter of Prajapati Daksha, called Sati, married Lord Shiva. She was extremely beautiful and amongst her description it is described that she had eyes like those of a deer cub. Once there was a large sacrifice taking place, to which all of the demigods were invited. Lord Shiva and his wife were also present. When Prajapati Daksha entered the arena, he was offered complete respects by all of those in the arena except by Lord Brahma, and Lord Shiva. Lord Brahma was his father, and therefore etiquette had it that Prajapati Daksha offer his respects unto his father. Withstanding that, Lord Shiva did not pay his respects; this was completely unintentional as Lord Shiva offers respect to everyone being completely transcendentally situated, but was more by accident, and by higher arrangement. Prajapati Daksha became furious. Here were the most powerful personalities in the Universe, paying their respects, and his son-in-law, did not. Radhanath Swami explains in this connection that ‘For one who is accustomed to being honoured, dishonour is worst than death.’ In the infamous gang cultures today, in interviews, gang leaders and drug lords more often than any other answer, cite “respect” as the cause of murders. Prajapati Daksha, who was otherwise a highly evolved and cultured being, began to unload countless insults unto Lord Shiva in the presence of everyone. The story continues, and this ended up to be the cause of his eventual downfall to a very very humbling material position in which he returned to Lord Shiva with folded palms. The Srimad Bhagawatam concludes on this that “Although the six qualities of education, austerity, wealth, beauty, youth and heritage are for the highly elevated, one who is proud of possessing them becomes blind, and thus he loses his good sense and cannot appreciate the glories of great personalities.” It is therefore so important that no matter what our material circumstances and success may be, that we remain firmly grounded and keep reminding ourselves that each time any success comes.

With great responsibility comes great power

Here we argue that whilst Spiderman had the great saying that ‘With great power comes great responsibility’, and whilst this is certainly true, the converse is also often true. If we take responsibility, i.e. being able to respond positively and responsibly, we will actually attract great power. Arjuna was one such example, who at one time had everything at his disposal, he was highly esteemed loyalty, with great palaces, and even large chambers just for thinking. But there was a substantial difference between his possessing this, and President Mugabe for example, who today possesses a very luxurious residence. Some of the essential differences lie in values and mindset. Arjuna was noble, truthful, benevolent towards others, he did not think he owned these things, rather that he had been given them by the grace of God to be used in the service of God and others. It certainly may be questioned whether such values exist in many people with opulence today. Arjuna’s values bought him power. Lord Krishna even declares in this regard that wherever Arjuna is and wherever He is, there will certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power and morality. So these values and devotion in Arjuna actually attracted opulence, and power. We should therefore certainly aspire to i) be successful , ii) with a higher consciousness, and not give up in either regard. In fact, if we are inclined towards higher values, and decide to give up, what will this make for? Those with less regard for values will come to power. We are influenced by our leaders, and often times in the workplace we subconsciously take on the mood of our leaders to some extent, and sometimes even need to in order to progress. If therefore, as people aspiring towards values driven leadership, we are not successful, we are actually paving way for a landslide in the other direction in the years to come. Whilst we may not align in every way with the rock band, Manic Street Preachers, their lyrics "If you tolerate this, then your children will be next," may be very useful when remaining determined to uphold essential in our workplaces and communities.