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One of the most common methods adopted by people to become rich is by buying lottery tickets. It sounds great that one can buy a $1 ticket and hope to get a return of $10mn. To extrapolate this theory, if a person buys 1000 such tickets every month then his chances should increase by 1000 times. In real world if a person adopts this strategy , we will call him a “gambling addict” and would try to avoid him. Its because we know that even if a person buys 1000 lottery tickets, the odds of losing are way more than winning. For some reason when it comes to stock market this strategy is followed by majority of people. And people don’t find anything wrong with it. …..Why does this happen???? The series #Karma Yoga will explore how we can use the trascdental knowledge of Karma Yoga to develop our mental strength that helps us fight temptation of Short term gains via Speculation. The series will focus on the learnings of Chapters 3 and Chapters-5 of Bhagawad Gita (Sacred book of Hindus)
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Coming back to our Lottery example, let us say that Billy invests $1,000 to buy 1,000 lottery tickets. If he does not win the Jackpot the lottery people pay him back anywhere between $800 to $1,200 in return and plus he stands to win $10mn monthly jackpot. In 3 months Billy has $6,000. His friends are praising his financial acumen because they get the illusion that he has got a return of $5,000 on an investment of $1,000 in 3 months and plus he still stands a chance to win the jackpot. In this case the lottery management has created an illusion that it’s safe to invest. Thus very shortly all of Billy’s friends join because they suddenly feel that buying lottery tickets worth $1,000 is not such a bad idea. In six months each of them has reaped in on an average $4,000 gain. They are all partying. But the party does not last for long. The lottery management has collected $80,000 and has paid back $86,000, it is just about to break even. The news of this lottery scheme is spread around the town and all the folks are in it. In the 10th month the total collections cross $100,000. But the returns start slimming down, new folks are not getting that return the way they were getting before, but they are still positive, hence the inflow continues. By the end of the year the total collections are $450,000 and the lottery management has paid $322,000. The scheme comes to a screeching halt as the new investors start getting just between $100 to $150. And one fine day the scheme comes to an end. The net collections of the lottery were $464,000 and the net payment was $355,000. The late entries in the scheme have lost an average 80% to 90% of money, the only folks who profited are the lottery management people, because they did not buy any tickets. Replace the lottery management with the scrupulous Stocks brokers and we get the dark side of Wall Street where the stock prices are just pumped up giving an illusion of great investment , only to be seen later to crumble down. Time and again it keeps happening because, the short term illusion puts blinders on a common person’s logical thinking and very easily they are made to believe that speculation is safe. One thing is very clear though, if you want to be in Stock market for long time then the first challenge is to stop thinking like an average individual who thinks speculation is safe. So the challenge is how to train our mind to overcome the temptation of Speculation. This becomes very hard when Speculation is rampant with high short term returns. Following Texts from Bhagavad Gita teaches us the concept that one should not be attached to the fruit of our work, instead should treat our work as an offering to Lord. If one is able to practice that is preached in these verses then one would never be tempted to Speculate.
Bhagawad Gita : CHAPTER-5 : TEXT#2 - : The Blessed Lord said: The renunciation of work and work in devotion are both good for liberation. But, of the two, work in devotional service is better than renunciation of works.
NOTE: Refer to Text#1 of Chapter-5 for the background of this text : In that text Arjuna is perplexed by Lord Krishna’s advice of working with devotion , because in the earlier chapter he had talked about renunciation of work. So Arjuna is asking Lord Krishna as to which one of these two he should follow. In text#2 Lord Krishna clarifies that by renunciation he is referring to the fruits of work. Following are the main points from his text.
1. Activities performed with intent of a return (seeking sense gratification) are cause for material bondage. As long as one is engaged in activities aimed at improving the standard of bodily comfort, one is sure to transmigrate to different types of bodies, thereby continuing material bondage perpetually.
2.People are mad after sense gratification, and they do not know that this present body, which is full of miseries, is a result of one's worldly activities in the past. Although this body is temporary, it is always giving one trouble in many ways. Therefore, to act for sense gratification is not good.
3.One is considered to be a failure in life as long as he makes no inquiry about the nature of work for worldly results, for as long as one is engrossed in the consciousness of sense gratification, one has to transmigrate from one body to another.
4. Renunciation by persons eager to achieve liberation of things which are related to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, though they are material, is called incomplete renunciation. Renunciation is complete when it is in the knowledge that everything in existence belongs to the Lord and that no one should claim proprietorship over anything.
5. One should understand that, factually, nothing belongs to anyone. Then where is the question of renunciation? One who knows that everything is Lord Krishna's property is always situated in renunciation. Since everything belongs to Krishna, everything should be employed in the service of Lord Krishna.
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