#21 Charity and CAGR, Crafting a Dharma
Charity and CAGR
seem like a strange pairing, you say?
But there is a genuine question here, one that occasionally bubbles up in my mind. I dance with it a bit, then walk off to the bar; when I turn back, it isn’t there any longer. But it stalks me, and pops up at unexpected moments.
Last week, discussing financial markets, a friend said - “There are only 9 people in the world who are worth more than 100 billion dollars. That kind of wealth makes me very uncomfortable, when there is also so much deprivation.”
Framed like that, the sentence could lead you to believe that Elon Musk’s 100 billion and the poverty of hundreds of millions are two sides of one coin, that one is somehow responsible for the other. In fact, the converse is true - the progress of technology and economic activity are the best bet for lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty, into lives of meaningful work. Entrepreneurship is the most potent force in fighting poverty.
What about charity? It fills a few holes, transforms some lives. And, my mother used to say - “ Every time I persuade someone to contribute to my work, I expand one heart”. Each of us is much, much better off than crores of Indians who live below the poverty line. We confront this poverty every day, even if we allow it to become part of the backdrop of our lives.
How you deal with this reality is between you and your conscience, and I refuse to get judgemental about it. For myself, I believe in giving.
When March turns to April, and the new financial year kicks in, I pull up the spreadsheet that lists my financial assets. I estimate what money will come in next year, and how I will spend it. One of the tables lists the ‘causes’ to which I plan to contribute. It’s never enough. In our India, it’s never enough.
“ Give more?” I ask myself.
Then CAGR pops up, and the question becomes,
“Give more now, or later?”
“How is that a question?” you ask. People are poor now. If you want to give, give now.
Not that simple. If I decided to give away half my wealth before I die, say a crore of rupees, I could give that crore away tomorrow, and redeem my pledge. But, CAGR!
Since 2007, my financial assets have grown at 20% per annum (Compound Annual Growth Rate, or CAGR). If I can grow this money at the same rate, then 1 crore today will be worth 13 crores when I turn 80. The question becomes, give away one crore now, or 13 crores in 2036?
Economists have a way of looking at this question, via something they call the ‘discount rate’. This is a rate which measures our ‘time preference’ for money. We would all prefer a rupee today to a rupee tomorrow - even in a world without inflation. But by how much? If I am indifferent between a hundred rupees today and a hundred and five next year, my discount rate is 5%. In which case, it makes sense for me to reduce spending today savings today, and convert a hundred rupees of savings into more than a hundred and five tomorrow.
But a man who is starving today may not be alive next year. A school child who is poorly educated for several years will not be compensated by a large grant in 2036. Economists hold that the discount rate for the poor is significantly higher than that for the rich. We see this in the interest rates they are willing to pay to borrow money. Well-paid city folk pay 7 to 8 per cent for home loans. Poor rural folk borrow money at 25% or more.
If the poor value a hundred rupees today more than they do a hundred and twenty five tomorrow, the prescription is clear - Give Now. I’ve not thought about this in as rigorous a fashion before, so I need to mull over these numbers and concepts a bit longer. Before I slip off, I need to acknowledge two other thoughts, which I won’t dwell upon. The first is how much wealth you should leave your children. The second is the insecurity that creeps up with age - I can run the numbers till my eyes smart from staring at the screen, but am I sure I have enough for old age and infirmity?
There are no easy answers, or definitive ones, but my little tool kit of discount rates provides a clear nudge, and a surprising one - a crore given away today may be more valuable than thirteen crores in 2036.
Garam Dharam
Crafting a Dharma
For much of my adult life, I’ve used the word dharma in a very loose manner, as something I do because of the role I play, by birth, or affiliation. You help a friend in need because that is what friends do. You show up at the wedding of a staff member’s daughter, even though it is in the back of beyond, because, noblesse oblige. You stop for the victim of a road accident, because, fraternité.
Recently, I’ve been hearing proud pronouncements about India being superior because it is a ‘dharmic civilisation’. From my understanding, the three most significant works texts on dharma are the Manu Smriti, Kautilya’s Arthashastra, and Yajnavalkya’s* Dharmashastra. I have a long acquaintance with the first two, so for the last couple of months, I have been dipping into Yajnavalkya’s treatise for fresh insights.
Yajnavalkya, or at least the original Yajnavalkya (see the footnotes for more), was a yogi, and the text opens with the sages appealing to him, the king of yogis, for insights into “social classes, the order of life, and the rest”. The translator* confesses that the meaning of ‘the rest’ is not clear; the weight of the book is on the upholding of social order, through custom, ritual and legal procedure.
In a section covering verbal assault, one verse says that when a man “abuses someone, saying ‘You are a mother-fucker or a sister-fucker!’ the King should make him pay a fine of twenty five panas.” The King would have collected a fortune in the boy’s school I attended.
The next verse says, “The fine is halved when the abuse is directed at inferiors and doubled when directed at wives of others and at superiors. The imposition of punishment should be done according to a person’s superiority or inferiority in terms of social class and caste.”
A republic strains in the opposite direction, to rid itself from inbuilt biases in society and procedure, and strive for equality before the law.
The process of trial, in a modern nation, is evidence-based. A substantial section of the Dharmashastra eschews evidence for trial by ordeal - and the text is not referring to the current Indian ordeal of jail without trial. The suspect must prove his innocence by surviving ordeals which entail swallowing poison, holding his breath under water while a runner fetches an arrow, or carrying a red-hot iron ball without scarring.
The Dharmashastra is a fascinating window into patriarchalism, hierarchy, cant, and ritualism. To be fair, some of the sections on legal procedure also show a remarkable sophistication in setting out the nature of contracts and the role of precise documentation.
But if you are seeking a guide to ethical self-conduct, which is the dharma I want to model, you will not find it here. Except perhaps in the deep and abstract formulation, that the highest dharma is “to perceive the self by means of yoga”.
And so, I turn back to myself, to the precepts that have become part of my life, by osmosis, observation, or self-observation. I list them here, but must stress, firstly, that they are not prescriptive, except to myself, since I often fall short of the ideals they represent. I recognise that some of them are owed to privilege and circumstance. And lastly, that this is an evolving screed, which, hopefully, will respond to the changes in my life.
Truth, above all else.
Honesty goes beyond not telling lies. It demands that I try to accurately represent the truest, and deepest, version of what I know
Don’t inflict injury
One response to this can be - Duh! That’s obvious.
But the younger me could be very callous and insensitive. A part of my journey, I hope, is learning to be more careful with the impact my way of walking the world has on others.
Your children come first
All humans sail into the world with their genes and their nurture, and sail or flounder accordingly. But my child is the only being that I willed into the world. This responsibility was total, though it’s scope will gradually fade.
‘Dil chhota nahi karnaa’
This just doesn’t sound the same in English - be big-hearted? It goes beyond both charity and generosity. Don’t let your being shrink in response to the smallness of others. Sail forth.
Don’t sweat the small stuff
We can burn so much energy on really small things - why that cup has not been returned to the kitchen sink, why the curtains are not fully drawn, the kurta worn creased, the scratch on the car unattended. The “search for perfection, is all very well, but to search for heaven is to live here in hell.” Gordon Sumner aka Sting.
Never lose sight of the really important stuff - the time to listen to music, or admire the sunset, or give gratitude for the many gifts brought to you by the tides of fortune.
Gratitude
Always
Value friendship
Deeply. Honour it with time, attention, respect, and when needed, help
Don’t let your goods own you.
A verbal commitment must bind you like a contract
Don’t do it for the money
I adopted this maxim 20 years ago - that I would take on work if it appealed to me, without asking how much it would pay. And the obverse, if something didn’t appeal, I would say ‘No’, without asking what it would pay. This was extremely liberating, and allowed me to look at work with joy and anticipation, rather than as a means to an end. This may not have worked when I was in my 20s; it may have led to penury if I didn’t have a home, so it is a special blessing to be able to live by this rule.
You Can’t Own the Outcome
Only the doing. When you do, commit.
Honour chance, or karma.
Some of my most meaningful experiences and relationships have come from random encounters - a lost stranger at a bar in Edinburgh (NL # 13 ), or a swimmer on a far shore in a Faridabad quarry. This could only happen because I created space in my life for the unexpected.
Know thyself…
I used to know what meditation was. I’m not so sure any longer, but I try to spend the first 15 minutes of the day in a quiet mode, subduing the chattering monkey of the brain. Self-observation is also a trait I had to acquire as an occasional actor.
Especially your body
Shareer gyanam, pratham gyaanam.
Never stop learning
Luckily I was born in 1956, the Year of the Monkey, so I am insatiably curious. Still, as you get older, it is easy to become content in what you know. I am sometimes able to recognise when my boredom runs really deep, into the very heart of the work I do, or the life I lead, and - so far - I have been able to make radical shifts every eight to ten years. This shift into the unfamiliar also forces me to
Retain a sense of humility
And not assume that age should automatically bring seniority and privilege.
Don’t try to be someone else,
Because each of us is unique. I try to speak to my own strengths, address the ways in which I would like to improve yourself. Too much focus on the lives of others leads to
Envy
Sheer poison, which also demeans your sense of self.
Every man is worth the consideration you give him
I inherited this from my Nanaji, my mother’s father, whom I never met. This is one of the most difficult maxims to live, especially in a society as stratified as ours. But when I try to reach out, and gather a glimmer of another’s life, the experience is always rewarding, often surprising.