South Canara: Where the Divine Meets the Green

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On the way back from Kukke Subramanya As a child, you visit a place and remember it - for the right reason or the wrong one. If that place leaves no mark, it simply fades away. About 25 years ago, I embarked on a temple tour across the Western Ghats with my extended family, thanks to my mama and manni (mami) . All I knew then was that it would be a fun trip. Beyond that, I had no expectations. It was a week-long pilgrimage that took us through Shravanabelagola, Belur, Halebeedu, Udupi, Dharmasthala, Sringeri, Kollur, and Horanadu. Sringeri Sharadamba Temple I still recall the enchantment of those places. The lush, evergreen slopes of the Western Ghats, bathed in the dusky hues of evening and refreshed by intermittent rain, have stayed etched in my memory ever since. Every turn on those winding roads, with terraced hillsides, charming homes, and coffee and tea plantations blending into the scenery, held an aura that words could never capture. Each stop felt like stepping into a ...
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Conscious Capital

A monthly meetup with my mentor today and we were, as usual, talking about many things.  I told him that lately, I have been juggling a lot of content on Advaita Vedanta.  We were talking about the mind and the pure consciousness, the concept of Brahman and so on.  He told me that it was all interesting and that he was having a conversation with his wife a week ago and was asking her, "What exactly is consciousness?".  

I laughed and replied, "David, that's not a trivial question.  That's exactly what enlightened souls spend lifetimes exploring." We both laughed.  

We drifted from Vedanta to investing.  He said that he doesn't want to invest in certain companies because for him, there's a line; he doesn't want to invest in companies that don't align with his principles.  I asked him how one even decides where to draw the line.  

I admitted that my own beliefs had blindsided me in the past.  I used to think that if I didn't use a product made by a particular company, there was no point in investing there.  But after watching some of those companies multiply in value, I learned a harsh lesson.  Investing philosophy is very different from personal bias.  

"That's true," he said, "but somewhere we got to draw a line."  But for me, those lines often feel blurred.

After so many years in the industry, we found ourselves asking: what is the actual impact of wealth?  In a free world like the US, where optimism and capitalism go hand in hand, there's always an opportunity to bet on the next big thing.  Sometimes, the bet rewards you handsomely, other times, it pulls you down.  If you bet on the industry winners, you get to enjoy a few millions.  If not, then? Who doesn't want the extra cash? But the deeper question is, will it move the needle?  Would I actually feel different in my day-to-day life? Would it change my baseline happiness?

That's when David, in his usual matter-of-fact way, said

The real question isn’t whether you could have had more money. It’s whether, at your current baseline, you’ve done what you truly want to do.

That landed deeply.  It shifts the focus away from the what ifs of money, and towards the choices we make with what we already have.  

It's kind of a double-edged sword.  Am I already living in alignment with what I already have? If the answer is no, more millions won't fix it.  If the answer is yes, then the rest is just noise. 

And then, I said, "David, forget all this, and go find pure consciousness".

As human beings, we love to toy with hypothetical misses.  And for every situation in life, there is always The Road Not Taken.  But maybe the more important road is the one we're already walking - with awareness.

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