The price of growth

When Parikshit was bitten by Takshak, his son Janamejaya started a yagna to burn all the snakes in the fire. All the snakes rose in horror and cried foul over this mindless massacre. At this time, Astika – newphew of the serpent king Vasuki, told the story of Indraprastha to Janamejaya. Many years ago, the Pandavas approached the king of Hastinapur, Dhritarashtra for their share of the kingdom. The kauravas very shrewdly gave a forest – Khandavprastha to the Pandavas to build their own city. Under Krishna's suggestion, the Pandavas burned the forest in order to clear ground for Indraprastha. Arjuna build a barge of arrows all around the forest and all pandavas killed any living creature – Yaksha, human, demon, bird or animal that tried to escape the burning forest. The forest incidentally was home to the families of serpents. Living under the earth, they escaped the burns but were forced to flee to save themselves from the heat and the manhunt. On this cleared ground, the Pandavas built the magnificent city of Indraprastha. Indraprastha was envied by kings, gods and asuras equally. It rivalled the Indra's palace in beauty and graciousness. Astik told Janmejaya that the seeds of revenge were sowed in Khandavaprastha. At that time, the serpents were the victims and were burnt to support the cause of Pandavas and today, Janmejaya is burning the serpents to avenge his father. This will continue to enrich the enmity between the two creatures.

The story bring out two main points –

1. Every action has a reaction – could be equal and may be opposite too! But every action, even inaction, has a reaction.
   
2. There is always a price for every growth – however the payee may not be the same as the one who benefits
   

The first point was also the focus of my previous article – "What I learned from Bhishma?". Sri Krishna explained the importance of action and fulfilling the purpose in his discourse to Arjuna, known to us as Geeta. This is the same idea seen in the story of Rama. When Rama tries to be an upright king to hold the virtues of his kingdom, he has to part with his innocent wife. Even when Ahilya tried to follow the wishes of her husband he was punished to lie down as a rock – just because she was disillusioned as Indra disguised as her husband. Hence, actions – your own or of others – associated to you will have consequences. Never worry about them. They will happen – like it or not. Do your best and stick to your principles and remember the purpose.

It's the second point that excites me today. There is a price to everything. We all have heard it in multiple formats – "there are no free lunches!", "nothing comes for free". In a yagna, the yajman provides offerings to the gods to obtain their blessings in return. In a business, the entrepreneur puts in his ideas, efforts and capital to produce and appease customers. Professionals have to react as per the requirements of their employers and help them succeed in return for their own employment.

Innovation – probably the most sought after term in the business vocabulary today – focuses on growth by performing the tasks differently. However, with every innovation, there is a change introduced – sometimes good, sometimes bad. When the calculator were invented to help people with the calculations, the mental math lost its glory.

Thus, when someone asks the measure of success, I laugh! I simply ask the person to define the parameters of success. If the Indraprastha was a success, Khandavprastha was burnt for t. To build a great palace for 5 Pandavas, innumerable living beings had to die. Whose success was it? And at what cost? Many finance professionals develop deep purses rapidly, however need to retire soon as they start missing the family and other factors in the life. While reading in the newspapers, I came across great many sportspersons, who earned millions just through a single game. However, you may also read many different stories about the same people later. One such example is Justin Bieber's story!

In common societal terms, the success is still measured by the financial capacity of oneself. Any social gain as a family is considered as a greater success. As per the Indian scriptures Lakshmi is associated with Wealth, Durga with Emotions and Saraswati with Knowledge. Knowledge is the basic requirement to gain either wealth or emotions.