Markandeya, Infosys, and the Role of Faith

Sage Mrikandu and his wife Marudhvathi were ascetics who lived pious lives in the forest. They were highly content with their circumstances and had only one desire. They wanted to have a son who could continue their lineage. They performed severe penance to Lord Shiva for many years. Finally, lord Shiva was pleased with their worship and appeared before them. He told them they could wish for a virtuous, wise, and pious child who would live only for sixteen years. Else, they would ask for a dull-witted child who would enjoy a much longer life.  This was an easy choice for Sage Mrikandu. He was a spiritually elevated saint and wanted a child who could memorize and recite the Vedas. He quickly replied that they would be happy with a virtuous child even if he had a short life span. 

Marudhvathi Devi soon gave birth to a brilliant young boy they called Markandeya, and just like Lord Shiva prophesized, he was virtuous, wise, pious, and brilliant. He started learning the Vedas when he was five and completed his sacred thread ceremony when he was twelve. As he approached his sixteenth birthday, he saw the joy and happiness slide away from his parent’s life. They always had somber and teary-eyed expressions and avoided his questions. When he finally pressed them, they revealed that Markandeya had only a few more days to live. 

Markandeya consoled his parents by saying that life and death are simply two sides of the same coin. Then, he added that he was confident that penance to Lord Shiva would help him conquer death. Thus, young Markandeya sat facing the shiva linga and started chanting various mantras. He got absorbed in one-pointed concentration of Lord Shiva and did not even notice messengers of death approach him. They could not even come near him due to the radiance he was transmitting and rushed back to Yamraj – the god of death.

Death does not spare anyone, so we called it Kala or time in southern India. Yama knew that Markandeya’s time had come, so he went to capture him. No one ever sees Yama coming but Markandeya’s penance that he sensed Yama approach and hugged the Shiva linga he worshipped. Yama threw his noose over Markandeya’s neck and also covered the Shivalinga. It is said that the linga was consecrated as Kalabhairava, or the form of Shiva that symbolizes time. The Kalabhariava form of Shiva came and blessed Markandeya so that he was free from the cycle of time. In some versions of the story, it is said that Shiva also killed Yama and then restored him to life after other gods pleaded with him that Yama was also doing his duty. The story symbolizes how a child’s simple act of pure faith won Lord Shiva’s heart. 

The Power of Faith in Entrepreneurship 

The are thousands of books on what it takes to create and scale a successful startup. Every book tries to address a niche area. They focus on identifying the right market opportunity, building a solid core team, making the perfect elevator pitch, and finding your enterprise’s funding mix. Most of them ignore the fundamental tenant of entrepreneurship, which is having absolute faith in your idea. Paul Sarvadi, a CEO and author, calls this Entrepreneurial Faith. Let’s read what he shares in his article published by Forbes. 

Entrepreneurial faith is an inner determination, a confidence, a hope, that drives the courage to act; to set out on the journey of creating a new business. Without faith in a new venture idea, neither the inventor nor the investor would risk the journey. What I have found is that an entrepreneur’s creative force is contagious and pulls people in until soon everybody’s on the same page. Successful entrepreneurs are very good at communicating to others their ideas and their belief in the venture. They garner support from spouses, family members, and potential partners. Their confidence in the project combined with research wins over people and capital to support the idea. Helping others to believe in the idea comes naturally from the heart. Communication with the power of entrepreneurial faith generates both human and capital resources to the company from startup through even the difficult scaling years. 

Narayana Murthy demonstrated one of the finest examples of Entrepreneurial faith after he set up Infosys. He borrowed ten thousand rupees with his wife and invited six friends to join him as he set out to create India’s first significant software services organization. He spent almost a year wrapping up his commitment with Patni computers and joined as the fourth employee of Infosys. In 1983, Narayan Murthy moved to Bangalore because Infosys got its first client, Data Basics Corporation, from the United States. Almost eight years after building their company, they had little to show for their efforts. Their friends had houses and cars and could barely make ends meet. The final straw came when the joint venture with Kurt Salmon Associates – their partners in the US collapsed. The entire team was ready to give up on Infosys, but Narayan Murthy stood firm. 

 ‘If you all want to leave, you can. But I am going to stick (with it) and make it,’ he told them.

This act of Entrepreneurial Faith motivated them, and Infosys gradually became a Software Service giant. Today its market capitalization is US$ 71.41 billion, with more than three lakh employees. Imagine what would have happened if Narayana Murthy had also lost faith in that critical moment.

Spiritual Lessons from This Story

My guru Om Swami narrates a beautiful story that answers a question all seekers face. “How can you have blind faith in someone?” 

He shares the story of a worried and paranoid man approaching his enlightened master. This man asks the master how he can rest easy and believe that god will take care of him, and he is constantly worried this might not be the case. He adds that he spends most of his day worrying and planning for the future. The master smiles and asks him to open a rosebud but keep the petals intact. The man tries his best but tears and damages many petals. His master smiles at his clumsy effort and narrates a poem. I have shared a few stanzas. Please read the full post here. It’s sublime. 

 It is only a tiny rosebud,

 A flower of God’s design;

 But I cannot unfold the petals

 With these clumsy hands of mine.

 

The secret of unfolding flowers

 Is not known to such as I.

 God opens this flower so sweetly,

 Then in my hands, they die.

 

If I cannot unfold a rosebud,

 This flower of God’s design,

 Then how can I have the wisdom

 To unfold this life of mine?