On Hindustan Unilever Limited, Risk, Environment and Taittiriya Upanishad

(For Dhruv, the batman – Part V)

Since RISK remained unknown even after an analysis of the mind by the psychologists, and as the effects of the Unknown was scaring a lot of people, a special set of scientists were called upon to unravel the mystery of RISK. These scientists were called philosophers. They were known to have studied the subject of causes or “causation” for a long time. In fact, you may have heard of your Arun (Periappa or Chitappa (?)), as a PhD – a title which is expanded as Doctor of Philosophy.
Dhruv beta, when you grow older, and complete your studies many will ask you if you have done a PhD, at such a time please remember to tell them this – “Correlation or correspondence does not mean Causation” – for this is what a PhD understands after doing a huge number of Pranayams.
Difficult(?), well , the Taittiriyam gets increasingly difficult at this point because it needs to balance logic and nature. But in essence the above statement on causation was the first salvo fired by the philosophers at Taittiriyam , renewing their argument with the history of thought behind them.
The Doctors were very methodical and had approached the problem thus – The Mind appears to be located in the brain, so let us study the brain closely. By doing pranayama, they found that the brain pauses, ever so briefly, when prana is controlled. But at the same time it was not known how long it pauses! They needed another body to count the time for which the brain had paused. They also observed that this other body should also be equally adept at pranayama so that they could synchronise their clocks! This exercise repeated amongst themselves lead to no conclusion on the nature of the duration for which the brain had paused when prana was controlled. But, being smart observers, they said, “We can positively draw one conclusion and that is when prana is not controlled the brain acts like the Mind, which in turn is like the Monkey”
Pray , why is the Mind (Manas) like a monkey? Because (they were experts at causation so they could use this word appropriately) the mind creates artificial things like money, oxygen, tricuspid valve, fractal, and then plays in this artificial world. It also goes round and round without knowing RISK, which is the reason for its existence. The logic of the Doctors was that the psychologists created something called mind to get knowledge so that they could understand risk, or make enough money to get unlimited energy and this could used to dispose hazardous waste like plastic, instead it was going about making more hazardous waste, like nuclear power plants, etc.
With this thinking, gathered over years, the doctors perfected the art of pranayama, controlled the mind. The controlled mind is called Buddhi. Now with the controlled Manas, they asked Buddhi, “ What is RISK?” Buddhi said, “ Please try to remember”. Now that the manas was controlled, it said, “So that I can know the environmental pollution caused by a plastic wrapping over a piece of soap”. The buddhi counseled, “Oh, that is easy, listen to your elders, do as they say, study a subject called science, do pranayama, and you will get the answer”. The controlled manas, “ Buddhi, do not behave like a monkey, I did not control you for nothing!”Answer Me! (Dear Dhruv, It is my heartfelt opinion that one of the bodhisattvas (or Buddhas) had this conversation during his deep meditation) Buddhi answered,"Whatever is Unknown is RISK.” The controlled manas, “ What is Unknown?” Buddhi,"Whatever is Unknowable is Unknown”. The controlled manas, "What is Unknowable?” Buddhi, “ I am Unknowable”. The controlled manas, “What is I?”. Buddhi, “…..” (Silence)
Thus, the Taittiriyam speaks of the next sheath called the GYNANAMAYA Kosha, the sheath, which contains the Buddhi. The PhD’s breathed a sigh of relief, “Phew, This was one hell of a pranayam, they said!” The Taittiriyam corrected, “this was just one pranayam!”. Amidst, all the joy, of understanding what the real problem was, RISK remained unknown, as the search for “I” began in IBM under the title of “consciousness”. The psychologists continued with their profession by calling the “I” as Ego, but not knowing if it was in the mind, the brain, or running around somewhere in the system they called the body. All philosophers diverted their attention to fields called epistemology, propounding theories called Infallibilism, Intelligent Design, etc. Dhruv beta, never be afraid of words! Listen carefully to the Taittiriyam, “Beyond the Silence of the Unknown is a place where there is No RISK”. The Lux soap is dissolved completely, it is time for a new Lux soap, read on, the Taittiriyam has more to say.