Initiative and Enterprise
By Krishna Madappa

"This celestial elixir is the source of all the lights of wisdom,
And that alone is the bestower of all wealth worth having.
Rig Veda 9.1.4

As each day dawns, we continue to experience Einstein's equation in amplitudes, which seem to offset the balance of our individual and collective consciousness, making us drift further apart from the pure laws of nature.  Einstein's equation e=mc2, translated as energy = mass X velocity squared, relates to a fundamental law of nature, from the macroscopic to the microscopic.  It is important to take a moment and reflect on this thought, as yet another story emerges to harmonize and maintain balance in our lives.  The origin of many of these stories we will be sharing travel from 5000BC to about 750AD, in Vedic India.  These stories were the fabric of teaching Gurukulas (schools) which integrated art, music, culture, philosophy, psychology, math, science, love, caring, wisdom, etc into the essence of teaching.  The story in this issue is a simple metaphor - by tending the garden of life with pure love, the beauty of the garden will be resplendent in all her glory.

The story begins in a little village.  A well-educated young man upon completing his schooling, obtained the blessing of his parents to venture into a larger town to eke out a career for himself.  While deep in thought and pondering, he approached the outskirts of the town.  His keen eye caught the attention of two well-attired men and keeping in steady pace behind them, he intuitively knew that words of wisdom would come his way.  One of the men was the king's advisor and indeed they were conversing on the balance of life's nodes.  At that moment the king's advisor saw ahead a dead mouse on the road and remarked to his associate, how, with initiative and enterprise one could make a fine living.  The associate looked perplexed by the thought of a dead mouse associated with initiative and enterprise as the two walked on.

The young man grasped these words as he picked up the dead mouse and proceeded.  No sooner in his stride, approaches a man with a cat.  The cat smells the mouse and the man with the cat offers to but the mouse for one paisa (1 penny).  The transaction took place and everyone was happy.  The young man then goes to the market and used his 1 paisa to get an earthenware pot, which he fills with water and some sweets (gur).  With this he goes to where the flower gatherers are busy gathering flowers in the fields to sell in the market for the evening prayer in the temple and adornment for the ladies.  So he sits under the shade of a fig tree so the water stays cool.  When the flower gatherers see the young man with his water pot and gur as they return to the market from a hot afternoon's picking, they are overjoyed to have such a lovely refreshment.  In return for the water and gur, they give the young man a bunch of flowers each.  So, everyone proceeds into the evening with contentment.  The young man goes to the temple and made his humble offering of thanks with a bouquet of flowers and sells the others.  He now has over 15 paisa.  The next few days he does the same with the flower gatherers and soon his net worth has multiplied.  The flower gatherers touched by the dedication of the young man, advised that he should do the same for the hay pickers in the fields, as the hay was now ready for harvesting.  Thanking the flower gatherers for their suggestion, he proceeded to do the same.  The hay gatherers, touched by the young man's dedication, offered their service to him if he were ever to need a favor, since they had no means of paying him.  That evening in the market place, the young man overheard merchants discussing about the horse merchant coming into town and the need to have hay for them.  Picking up on this tip, the young man approached the hay gatherers to seek a favor in return, which they readily complied. 

The following day when the horse merchant arrived with his 10 horses through the town and sees no hay…his worry and anxiety begins to manifest as a small forest fire.  As the horse merchant reached the outskirts, to his joy he sees a huge pile of hay under the custody of the young man, he offers to buy the entire stock for 150 gold coins.  The transaction concludes, everyone is happy and the young man's net worth has now considerably increased.  He dutifully thanks all the hay gatherers and proceeds to the market.  This time he overhears a conversation about the ship arriving with lots of merchandise in a week.  Well, needless to say, the spirit of enterprise lights his doorway again.

So, arrangements have to be made and plans outlined.  He contracts with the wagon and chariot merchants, the tent merchant and the royal tailor for a regal looking attire.  Having advanced these merchants and the balance due after the arrival of the merchant ship, the young man begins his preparations.  He invites a dear friend of his to be his partner in this venture.  On the morning of the merchant ship's arrival, the young man and his partner proceed to the port in the chariot, way before the break of dawn, set up the regal looking tent and await the ship.  None of the other merchants were there because to them it was business as usual.  This ship arrives very early and the young man meets with the captain and arranges to buy the entire shipment, concluding the final payment by dusk.  This captain agrees, recognizing the integrity of the young man.

Very soon, the merchants begin to arrive and learn that the young merchant has bought the entire shipment.  Taken aback by this change, the young man's friend invites the merchants into the tent to conduct their business while being served hot tea.  Once inside the tent, the nerchants begin their transactions and buy their usual share for an agreed upon price.  At this point, having recognized the integrity, astuteness, enthusiasm and love the young man exudes, they offer to buy his share too, for good luck.  So again, everybody is satisfied, all the respective merchants who contracted with the young man were taken care of including his friend, and his net worth exceeded 10,000 gold coins.

As is the custom in India, Guru Dakshina (invoking the teacher's blessing) is essentially embodied into one's way of life.  So dutifully the young man took half of his net worth of gold coins and knocked at the door of the king's advisor.  When he presented the bag of gold coins to the advisor and asked for his blessing, he looked at the young man and remarked that he has never been a student of his, nor had he ever seen him.  The young man upon hearing the story which issued from the words of "initiative and enterprise" upon seeing the mouse owed his achievements to the advisor.  Such dedication, faith, sincerity and love for all was instantly recognized by the king's advisor who then with no hesitation chose the young man as his son-in-law and gave him half his kingdom.

Each and every time this story is shared, it unfurls layers and layers of subtle fields of thought that make learning a true joy.

God Bless