Investing lessons from Indian Epics
Ramayan, Mahabharat & Panchtantra, the ancient Indian epics and stories are a wealth of deep wisdom & knowledge. This essay seeks to apply the knowledge to help readers understand investing.
Humans have learned through stories since ages. The epics are stories with moral. These epics offer timeless wisdom to help us tread the right path.
I always use these stories during my financial awareness talks to drive the financial concepts home. The audience relates with the stories to take away the vital lessons home. I will share a few stories that help me deliver some important investing lessons.
In Mahabharata, one comes across a story of a demon Bakasur. Bakasur invades a village causing destruction. He puts a condition that if the villagers provide him a daily supply of food, milk, grains, fruits, vegetables, meat to consume, he wont come to village to destruct it. The villagers agree to it. They try to meet his demands every day, suffering his tyranny. They are compelled to cut down on their intake to provide food to Bakasur. One day 5 prince brothers called Pandavas along with their mother come to this village. They offer their help to the suffering villagers.
Bhim who is the strongest among the brothers, takes on Bakasur and kills him. he rescues villagers from Bakasur. I always use this analogy to explain the concept of Inflation. Bakasur represents Inflation, that eats out of our savings. To beat the inflation, have a strong investment vehicle that will not only safeguard from inflation in present but also helps secure financial future. A well-thought investment in stocks/equities helps investors beat theinflation. The rule of compounding return acts as Bhim.
Second story is from Panchtantra. It is about a priest. This priest is invited to another town to perform a ritual. He gets a cow as a gift from his host. While the priest is on his way back home, 4 thieves notice him and plan to steal the cow from him. First thief approaches the priests and asks him, where is he taking the goat? The priest wonders however; he ignores the thief to moves on. After a while, another thief approaches him and asks, where is he taking the donkey? The priest is surprised, and checks if he is really taking a cow along. He moves ahead, avoiding the thief.
Third thief approaches the priest and asks him, where is he taking the dog? Priest is shocked and asks the thief if he sees a dog and not a cow. Thief tells him, that someone has made a fool of him. The priest is under the influence of black magic, that is why he cant see the reality. They gave him a dog instead of a cow as a gift.
The priest is now confused and frightened. While the priest is in dilemma, the fourth thief approaches the priest and asks him, “Where are you taking this pig?”. The priest, upon hearing it, drops the leash, and runs away without even looking back. The thieves take the cow in their possession.
Moral this story has for investor, is that there will be a lot of noise, and people will spread the rumors and news as sure tip. One must focus more on the financial goal, rather than the noises which surround investor under the pretext of tips. They must depend on the credible source for the investment recommendations and shut the noise.
This is a story from Ramayana. Ravana abducts Sita, the Princess and wife of Lord Rama. Lord Ram, along with his brother Laxman and an army of Monkey, under the command of Sugreeva the King, begin the search. Lord Hanuman, the general, brings the news of Mother Sita’s presence in Lanka. Lanka is across the ocean, and not all the soldiers in Lord Ram’s army have an ability to fly across to Lanka. They build a bridge. Stone by stone, with patience, they build the bridge. It takes time but helps the Army to reach the shores of Lanka and wage a war on Ravana. The moral here is that any goal requires a step-by-step persistence, like the Monkey army build the bridge stone by stone. It is important to have patience and persistence to create wealth too. What matters is commitment to the goal and regular investing in piece meal.
There are stories from epics embedded with some very valuable lessons, that can be applied to on investing too. If we apply the morals at right places, they can definitely generate miraculous results.
