Wisdom in the New Year

(Published in Banking Services Chronicle January 2005)

Wish you a very happy 2005! May you be blessed with glory and success. With knowledge, power and money. In whichever order you choose and in whatever proportion. But, above all, may you be blessed with the wisdom to let these bring happiness to you!

Because often, they begin to spill over. And then we face the anomaly of excess. A situation faced in Coleridge’s ‘The Ancient Mariner’: “Water, water everywhere/Not a drop to drink.” Ambition turns into hubris and distances us from the cup of happiness. We become so enamoured of being rich in resources that we forget the end of utilising them. Only to find ourselves left moaning over ‘poverty amidst plenty’.

Take Jayendra Saraswati for instance. Being the Shankaracharya of the Kanchi mutt is a rare honour. Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, with a lineage spanning millennia and 69 Shankaracharyas, is a formidable force in religion. Materially too, the mutt commands richness at its behest.

And this Shankaracharya had extended his clout from religion to politics as well. He was chosen as a mediator in the Ayodhya dispute. He also wanted to broker a deal between the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. He influenced the Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa to issue the anti-conversion ordinance in 2002.

For a while it seemed he possessed a magic wand. But greed and pride have been fatal flaws since time immemorial. These are the elements that have led to the greatest tragedies. Greed may have led the seer to commit financial irregularities. Unlike his predecessor Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, who lived a spartan life and always travelled on foot, this Shankaracharya is known to have been fond of jetsetting.

And when A Sankararaman, manager of the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram, repeatedly threatened to expose the wrongdoings at the mutt, it was too much. The Shankaracharya was left “sleepless, tortured and deeply upset.” It was pride, I suppose, that led him to do what has made him a top newsmaker of 2004.

Take another example—the Reliance Group. Dhirubhai Ambani left an empire of Rs 1,00,000 cr with two million shareholders. The two sons, we were told, were determined to carry forward the business. There was hardly time for mourning and the sons were back in office probably the very next day. The gloom at Seawind was not supposed to affect the smoothness at Maker Chambers IV. Professionalism par excellence, we cheered.

Barely two years later, the gloom at Seawind—this time not of mourning, but of bitter family feud—appears to be turning into a storm at Maker Chambers IV. Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani do not even appear to be on talking terms. While the former seems to be tightening his grip on the empire with his business ambitions, the latter is known for his political connections and fascination for glamour.

They have gone down in the eyes of their long-time associates. Says ML Bhakta, the first independent director on Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL) board way back in 1978, who resigned in the wake of this ugly dispute: “Whatever their father Dhirubhai built in over two decades, the brothers will destroy in two days.” Even as the brothers wash their dirty linen in public, the investors remain worried about the valuation of their share price.

And take George Bush for example. He has for the second time been voted the most powerful man on earth. But it remains to be seen whether he would use this as an opportunity to better life on the planet or squander it away in exhibiting his brutal might. He would be well-advised to let countries like Iraq mind their own business. Rather, the focus should be on curbing genuine terrorism and facing challenges like hunger and AIDS.

Jayendra Saraswati, the Ambanis and George Bush are well-positioned to heap happiness upon themselves and upon mankind. May the New Year make them wise!