Narada, The Collapse of Crypto, and the Myth of Universal Expertise

The wandering Sage Narada was traveling through the Himalayan Mountains when he spotted a beautiful cave. He had passed through this region before, but it felt different this time. The fresh, crisp air was heavy with the scent of beautiful flowers. The gurgle of the river Ganges and the chirping of the birds arrested his attention, and he stood still for a moment to soak in the awe-inspiring beauty of mother nature.

He spotted a cave nearby, sat on a rock, and slipped into deep meditation. Time slipped by, and days rolled into weeks, yet Narada sat unmovingly. The eternal wanderer Narada, cursed by Daksha to always be on the move, had settled down in deep meditation. News of this astounding miracle spread like lightning, and beings across all realms gaped in wonder upon hearing that the eternal wanderer was finally sitting still in Samadhi.

The king of gods, Indira, became very anxious when he heard this news. He was worried that Narada was after this throne. He despatched the god of love, Kamadeva, and his army of celestial nymphs to distract Narada and break his Sadhana. Kamadeva went ahead and began his magic. He filled the air with the rich scent of love and lust that drove beings crazy. The celestial nymphs began an erotic and alluring dance that would drive anyone mad. Narada kept meditating with one-pointed absorption and concentration. Finally, Kamadeva shot him with his arrows of lust and love, and they had no impact on him. Finally, Kamadeva realized it was beyond him to distract Narada, and he fell at the saint’s feet, begging for forgiveness. He was terrified that, just like Shiva, Narada would blast him into nothingness. However, when Narada finally opened his eyes, he smiled at Kamadeva and the Nymphs and blessed them heartily. They all went back to the heavens chanting about how the grace of Sri Hari had protected Narada from all the trials and tribulations.

Meanwhile, Narada’s mind was on a different track. He saw himself as a conquerer of Daksha’s curse and Kamadeva’s weapons of lust. His heart swelled with pride and ego at his achievements, and he completely forgot that only the grace of Sri Hari protects him and shows him the way. Once the spiritual ego raises its head, the only way is down, and Narada will discover it very soon.

He marched over to Lord Shiva to discuss his magnificent achievement. Poor Narada did not know that one of the reasons that lust did not tempt him was that Lord Shiva had meditated on the same spot before it, and it carried his energy. Shiva heard Narada’s story and noticed how the sage puffed and preened like a peacock. He told Narada that he was no longer the sole conquerer of Kama and was humbled to be in Narada’s presence. However, with a mischievous glint, he asked Narada never to repeat this story in front of Sri Hari. Narada smelt a rat. He felt Shiva was jealous of him. Maybe the holy trinity of Bramha, Vishnu, and Shiva was now expanding to be four members, and Shiva did not want that.

He ran to Sri Hari, who was resting in YogaNidra and told him about his achievement. He showed no gratitude towards Sri Hari and described everything as his achievement. He finished with a flourish by saying that even the great Shiva acknowledged Narada as an equal. Sri Hari merely smiled mysteriously and said nothing. Narada felt that even his very own Sri Hari could not bear Narada’s success the only place where people would understand his value was the earth. His spiritual ego made him question his god, whose grace had made all this possible in the first place.

As he stepped onto the earth, he landed on the previously unvisited kingdom of Sheelanidhi. He was surprised at how such a prosperous and beautiful kingdom had escaped his notice previously. The king welcomed him and invited him to the court. When Narada reached the court, he saw Srimati, the king’s daughter. He felt liquid fire engulf every part of his body. It required all his concentration to show his desperation and craving for Srimati in front of everyone. She was as beautiful as Ma Laxmi, the consort of Sri Hari. He proclaimed that she was so beautiful that only one as radiant as Hari should marry her and requested the king to arrange a Svyamvara for her.

Narada went to a secluded spot and reasoned that now that he was the fourth member of the holy trinity of gods, he deserved a beautiful wife. He forgot all about his duties as a sanyasi saint and messenger of Hari. He prayed fervently to Sri Hari, and Narada asked for the following boon when he appeared. “Give me the face of Hari,” he said, and Sri Hari blessed him and disappeared.

The next day Narada stood at the end of the line waiting for the princess to come and garland him. She walked down the line, and a laugh escaped her delicate lips when she reached him. In her beautiful eyes, Narada saw his reflection and balked at the face of a monkey that started back at him. His beloved Sri Hari had tricked him. He had interpreted Hari literally as a monkey and given Narada a monkey face. Narada screamed angrily and cursed at the very divine who protected him. “May you pine for your loved one like I did and rely on the help of monkeys to recover her.” Just as the curse left his mouth, Narada came to his senses. He was in front of his beloved Sri Hari in Vaikuntha. The Devi stood next to him, and he saw how he had been trapped in Maya and how his protector Sri Hari had done all this to teach him humility.

Narada’s curse was also Sri Hari’s doing. When he incarnated as Lord Rama, he relied on the Vanaras to rescue Ma Sita from the clutches of Ravana.
 

Implementing Lessons at Work

Today, I wanted to talk to you about expertise. When people reach a certain stature in society, we automatically assume they know everything about every topic. That’s why an actor can judge a dance show, a TV anchor can comment on every single topic on this planet, a celebrity can give relationship advice, and business leaders can give you the best stock tips. When you hold their decisions to scrutiny and question their credentials, suddenly, the whole thing falls apart. 

Let’s consider the latest cryptocurrency debacle that hit the world markets. The crash was triggered by the bankruptcy of FTX, a crypto exchange run by the 30-year-old Sam Bankman Fried. He goes down in history as the first guy to lose his entire net worth of 26 Billion Dollars in one week. He also lost billions of dollars invested by customers and investors such as Blackrock and Softbank. You can watch the following video by ColdFusion to see how 30 year old and ten friends ran an illegal scam of a company from the Bahamas with zero corporate governance, a non-existent finance team, and zero transparency.

The question I am asking you today is not how you can run a scam company. There are plenty of those around the world.

The real question is, how do you get the best investors in the world to invest in the scam?
Do you know that to secure VC funding from some top firms, you must go through multiple interviews where they examine every aspect of your business and your life with a microscope before making any decision? How did these guys approve and continue funding a business where the following activities were happening?

• Employees submitted payment requests over chat, and a random manager would approve them. 
• A CEO can take a billion-dollar personal loan from the sister company of the original company. 
• FTX kept no records of meetings, and the founders made most decisions over chat. 
• FTX did not know how much cash they had in the bank and could not even list employees on their payroll. 
• The executives and parents of the founder spent 300 million on properties in the Bahamas.

Think of the number of documents you presented to get a Visa or a small bank loan. Now compare it to the situation I just laid out before you. This company managed to con institutional investors out of billions of dollars while pretending to do legitimate business. How can the supposedly smartest people in the industry make such mistakes?

The answer is two-fold. Greed and Ego.

Everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon when something appears to have a rocketship growth. Greed is a compelling motivator. The price of missing out in silicon valley is far worse than losing money in a scam.

Secondly, your ego is at an all-time high once you achieve moderate success in a field. You never want to admit you don’t know about something. Crypto-currency itself is a highly complex offering. Now you create a cryptocurrency derivate exchange, and automatically 99.9% of the world’s population cannot understand anything about it. Then, you create complex financial instruments built on the exchange to bamboozle the remaining people. As long as everyone drinks the Kool-Aid of growth, people develop explanations for why and how it works. Start asking basic accounting and legal questions, and the house of cards collapses. None of the smartest people in the world want to admit they are dumb enough to ask basic questions. This gives people like Sam Bankman Fried a license to run a scam and get away with it.

If you think this case is an exception, watch this video of Theranos, where Elizabeth Holmes wore a Steve Jobs turtleneck and conned the smartest people across various industries, which comprised the Theranos board.

If you want another example, look at the architects who recommend the open office plan. After companies spent billions of dollars and forced everyone to work in agile offices, these guys came back with a recommendation that it does not work. Basically, someone does something. If it sounds good, others jump on board. No one wants to miss out, so everyone jumps on it. Then, suddenly it’s not on trend, and we have to return to the old office structure again.

So the next time some celebrity tries to hawk products on your face, walk away, buddy. Remember, they don’t know anything more than you do about almost everything in life.

Spiritual Lessons from Narada’s Journey

I want to start this section by thanking my Guru, Om Swami. Most weeks, I struggle to find a spiritual story to connect to business. I ask him in my heart, and somehow magically, something manifests for me. So if you find any value in these posts, it’s simply his grace.

The spiritual path is called “the razor’s edge” (kṣurasya dhārā) in the Katha Upanishad (1.3.14). That’s because every step we take on the path is fraught with potential risks. When you start doing meditation and Sadhana, you go through various experiences, some of which are bound to confound you. Unless you are extremely vigilant, you make the same mistake as Narada. Instead of attributing them to the grace of your guru, you attribute them to yourself or something else, which has the potential of spiraling down a destructive path.

The other risk you run on the spiritual path is mistaking momentary success for permanent achievements. You need constant vigilance when it comes to basic human tendencies such as lust and anger. It’s said that a young man once visited a saint and said that the saint carries a reputation for being free from lust. The saint told him to come back when he was on his deathbed. A few years later, the saint summoned the man and confirmed that he was indeed free from lust. When questioned about why he waited till his last breath, the saint said that as long as you have a body, you can never say anything with certainty. The only exception is when you are Jeevan Mukhta (liberated saint).

What is the point of sharing any spiritual experience if this is the case? Yes, it motivates others, but how can you share it when you don’t know it’s permanent? Also, how do you even know it’s genuine until your guru confirms it? That’s why my guru Om Swami explicitly states that a disciple should always share his experience only with his guru. The spiritual journey is a delicate business, and it’s best if you walk for the sheer joy of walking the path.

The final lesson is also about Narada’s resilience. After being embarrassed in front of the whole world, Narada does not hide under a rock for his entire life. He continues to travel the world and spread the name of Sri Hari. That’s why he plays such a key role in Mahabharata as a catalyst unleashed by Lord Krishna.

References for Story:

https://vedantasociety.net/blog/the-razors-edge-1

http://www.bhagavatam-katha.com/narada-muni-narada-and-the-daughter-of-king-silnidhi/