You are the average of the 5 people you hang around with the most. I like to think that I hang around with people who are very smart and yet very humble. One such friend (the same guy who wrote the 50th blog) had the following to say in response to my previous blog on Niti and Nyaya.

A bit about him: He lives in Bangalore and has a full time job. Yet he spends a lot of his free time listening to conference calls about companies. He has built up a huge mental database of who said what in which call, which company is expanding capacity, which company is hiring sales people etc. all in the hope of finding the next big thing. There is a story about Charlie Munger about how he was about to lose his vision and therefore he prepared for blindness by learning Braille. (Thankfully he didn’t fully lose his vision). This friend, was diagnosed with migraine and was advise to not look at a screen and take a break from work. So he put a wet cloth over his eyes and listened to several conference calls to make the most of the downtime. Charlie Munger would be proud of him for showing no self pity and making the most of the hand he was dealt.

I am reproducing his response for everyone’s benefit here, with his permission.

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Vikas, your previous blog on Niti and Nyaya got me thinking on looking at Warren & Charlie’s life
through the lens of Four Purusharths of Hinduism. Well, what are the Four Purusharths of Hinduism?

• Dharma – Pursuing natural traits for the greatest good of self and society at large.
• Artha – Collecting all necessary resources and not just money, to be mobilized when needed, to fulfill Dharma.
• Kama – Nurturing a strong ambition to pursue Artha, to fulfill Dharma. It is wrong to think of Kama as only sex.
• Moksha – Freedom from bondage that comes from fulfillment of the above three.

Now, we might think this is bordering on philosophy and perhaps even transgressing into that territory, and given that Charlie has openly acknowledged pragmatism as driving force of his life, why are we mapping tenets of Hinduism on the two eminent investors?

Because pattern recognition is a bi***. It forces us to look at the world and derive meaning out of it.And we see patterns of the Four Purusharths in the lives of these two gentlemen.

Dharma – A young Warren decides not to live in New York because Wall Street will always be
buzzing with activity which clouds his own judgment and thinking. A middled aged Charlie
decides to leave the legal profession because he would rather spend his time growing and
managing his money. In fact, the older Charlie when asked what’s his favorite industry, replied
‘My favorite industry is taking care of my own affairs. It’s fun. It’s creative. It’s the job life has
given me, and I think you should do the job well that life gives you’.

Well, this self-pursuit is noble but did the society at large benefit? Warren has donated all his
wealth to charity, with Bill Gates Foundation being the biggest beneficiary, for the work they do
on healthcare around the world. Charlie has donated a big sum to universities in California and
Michigan. The two folks are Dharmic, aren’t they?

Artha – Warren and Charlie have been compounding money for the last 60 years, with Warren
even longer! How did they fare? $1 invested with them 60 years ago, would now be worth
almost $1 million! Beyond money, Warren & Charlie have used their positions on several
company boards to take the ‘right’ decision for shareholders. The two gentlemen tick this Artha
box for sure.

Kama – Warren is 91 and Charlie is almost 98, and yet they are so competitive when it comes to the
investing world. They are motivated to continue, at an age where most people would be looking
forward to meeting their maker. They are learning machines and retain their mental agility. So
strong is their desire to continue doing what they do!

Moksha – Warren has often mentioned that he tap-dances to work. Charlie has spoken of how
giving up mental model thinking is akin to cutting your hands off. It is remarkable that the two
men, responsible for the livelihood of 300,000 employees and for $600 billion of investor’s
money, they lead such stress-free lives. If this is not Moksha, then what is?

So, in summary, Warren and Charlie are more Hindu than I am.

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Cheers!