On Hindustan Unilever Limited, Risk, Environment and Taittiriya Upanishad

(For Dhruv, the batman - Preamble)
As I proceeded to the bathroom today, with the intention of taking a shower(um) , (elders please pardon the pun), I noticed a newly packed cake of “Lux”, nestling comfortably in the soap case.
Not having used soap, due to certain idiosyncrasies, in a long time, I gave into the desire of indulging in a “Lux”urious bath. As I unpacked the cover, I noticed the plastic wrapper with the “face of a beautiful woman”, and the “Made from 100% Vegetable oils” – small print, the bio-degradable/recycled paper inner wrap, and finally the soap itself, which would dissolve in due course leading to consumption of another its kind.
Also, as I moved to the dustbin, to dispose the wrapping and the inner paper, thoughts ranging from environmental hazards posed by plastics, to computation of risk, to concepts of “sheaths” in the Taittiriya Upanishad occupied me.
I must admit that this was chiefly triggered by the need to separate disposable and non-disposable waste attempted by our housing colony recently.
The challenge was accentuated by the fact that these apparently unconnected thoughts needed to be cogently put together in an article or series of articles, if these were to see the light of the day in a well-followed blog like Jignyaasaa.
The readers spanned a spectrum from Dhruv, the batman, on the one hand, to learned members of Hindustan Unilever Limited, on the other, including a smattering of friends like Battula Moshe Chaudhary.
With the brief clear in my mind, I got down to compose this series, which took a good part of 8 hours (for the record), including the typing on MS Word, so friends bear with me if I post this in parts.
Well, Dhruv beta, (I must admit that I have taken a liking to this mode of addressing by ALV, who ought to be calling you “Potha” or “Nathi”, if he relates to you,more through Suresh or through Madhuri) it is customary to start with a statement from our sacred texts.
Therefore as a preamble I write - “Every person, man or woman, divides the whole of existence, into two parts, using his or her own mind (called manas, buddhi and chit). One is called the Environment (sthula shariram) and other is called the Self (sukshma shariram).”

How does this preamble relate to economics, risk and the Lux soap? Well, you have to read the next part.