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santosha

Wherever there is attachment, the clinging to the things of the world, you must know that it is all physical attraction between sets of particles of matter — something that attracts two bodies nearer and nearer all the time and, if they cannot get near enough, produces pain; but where there is real love, it does not rest on physical attachment at all. Such lovers may be a thousand miles away from one another, but their love will be all the same; it does not die, and will never produce any painful reaction. -Swami Vivekananda. Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Sanskrit and prestige go together in India. As soon as you have that, none dares say anything against you. That is the one secret; take that up. The whole universe, to use the ancient Advaitist's simile, is in a state of self-hypnotism. It is will that is the power. It is the man of strong will that throws, as it were, a halo round him and brings all other people to the same state of vibration as he has in his own mind. Such gigantic men do appear. And what is the idea? When a powerful individual appears, his personality infuses his thoughts into us, and many of us come to have the same thoughts, and thus we become powerful. Why is it that organizations are so powerful? Do not say organization is material. Why is it, to take a case in point, that forty millions of Englishmen rule three hundred millions of people here? What is the psychological explanation? These forty millions put their wills together and that means infinite power, and you three hundred millions have a will each separate from the other. Therefore to make a great future India, the whole secret lies in organization, accumulation of power, co-ordination of wills. - Swami Vivekananda. Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

santosha (Contentment) can be achieved through simplicity and building processes. The problem with modern life is that we are conintuously distracted by new things, new wants, and new experiences. The shastras say we need to do the opposite: reduce our want and needs.

As an entrepreneur this seems counterintuitive and paradoxical that I want to reduce my wants and desires. One of the problems that I have had is that I want to do it all. I was the guy who ended up with 10 different majors in college. In the end I studied History and that was an amazing decision that I was able to dive deep into. I also am the guy that wants to attempt every business idea out there. I attempted futures trading, crypto, real estate, and many other things that I was not equipped to do.

So I have learned to focus on:

  • Ventures. Build asset light, simple to explain businesses that: require minimal capital, can be run with outsourced teams, and are tech infrastructure focused.
  • Investments. Value investing in the style of Warren Buffett.