Manibhai, Mendicants, and Minimalists
Manibhai’s Modest Wardrobe
The other day,
as we were reading the morning papers, my spouse asked, ‘Darling, how many
shirts do you have?’
‘No need to
buy more, I got enough.’
‘But how
many do you have?’ she persisted.
‘Haven’t counted,
but more than I need, I think.’
‘And suits?’
‘Maybe ten,
including the ones which no longer fit me but are hard to discard. But why this
sudden stock-taking? Anyway, you do the laundry, so you already know the
answer. Is it a trick question or an Alzheimer’s-test?’
‘Read this,’
she said and passed on Dainik Bhaskar, opened helpfully at page 12.
Manibhai, 81,
hung up his boots after a long and distinguished career on 30th September,
2023. He has only six shirts, three suits, and two pairs of shoes in his
wardrobe. He has donated three-fourths of his property to charity.
If you’re
yet to figure out who Manibhai is, you’re no keen follower of current affairs,
don’t read the morning dailies, and don’t watch 24*7 news on the TV or the
smartphone. You may be a serious-minded person contemplating ideas to change
the world and scorn to discuss people or personalities.
For lesser
mortals who track such inane but titillating stuff as - a celebrity marriage at
Oberoi, Udaipur, the ED/CBI/IT raids on notable and not-so-notable persons, a new
low in India-Canada relations; it is time to end the suspense.
Manibhai is none
other than Padma Vibhushan Anil Manibhai Naik who retired as Non-Executive
Chairman of Larsen & Toubro on 30th September, 2023. He has
donated to charity seventy-five percent of his net worth of 400 crs.
But why does
he have such a modest wardrobe? Possibly a personal lifestyle choice which
shouldn’t surprise the readers since Manibhai comes from the very state that
gave to India and the world Sabarmati ka Sant, who had only ten physical
possessions at the time of his death!
Why did
Gandhi choose an ascetic lifestyle? No surprise again, since he was deeply
influenced by the gospel of renunciation propounded and practiced by Mahavira,
Buddha, Shankara, and other sannyasis and fakirs.
‘There is
enough for everybody’s need, but not for everybody’s greed,’ he had said.
Mendicants
Siddharth Gautama
abdicated his kingdom, became Buddha, the Enlightened One, and set up Sangha, the
order of bhikshus and bhikshunis to spread his teachings and provide solace to
people from the many miseries of life. These mendicants owned nothing but their
robes and a begging bowl and would eat nothing other than the alms they
received for the day. Mahavira prescribed a more austere way of life for Jaina
sadhus and sadhvis, and one of his sects- Digambaras even renounced their
garments - the last vestiges of obsession with the corporal body. Shankara
celebrated the joy of freedom from possessions and attachments in Kaupina
Panchakam (Five Verses on Loincloth). The Naga sadhus, a branch of the
Dashanami sampradaya established by Adi Shankara also forsook their clothes.
Mendicancy has
an ancient and long legacy in India, but there were also the Charvakas who were
the opposites of mendicants. Charvaka, the high-priest of consumerism and
hedonism, famously said: yavat jivet sukham jivet, rinam kritva ghritam
pivet (Enjoy to the full so long as you are alive, savour the pleasures of
life even though you need credit for it).
Since global
capitalism (Profit is GOD, ‘Greed is Good’[i])
and consumerism (NEWER products, BETTER services, and MORE) ride on the back of
easy and plentiful credit (Venture Capital, Bank loans, mortgages, Visa,
Mastercard, EMIs, Buy Now Pay Later, and many more); MNCs should install a statue
of Charvak taller than the Charging Bull at Wall Street, New York to honor him as
their guiding spirit.
Minimalists
Who are they?
What do they preach and practice? If you wish to know more, there is a Netflix
documentary on it, but here is a quick summary by Bing AI:
“The
minimalist approach to life is about removing the unnecessary things in your
life and living with only what you need. It's not about living with scarcity,
but rather finding the most important things that bring you joy, happiness,
growth, and productivity through simplicity.”
So,
minimalism does not demand you to be a renunciant, but only a mindful person
who chooses to live with less.
It is a
personal choice. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, owns no house, and sleeps
in the spare bedroom of a friend; but Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest, lives in
Antillia – a 27-story building (6 stories are for the car park!) with four lakh square feet built-up area, and serviced
by six hundred household staff.
Buddha and Bing
Buddha
recommended the abandonment of all desires as a sure cure for all the miseries
of life and the adoption of the Eightfold Path. Since that is too lofty a goal
for me, I opted for a more pragmatic one.
How to begin
a minimalist life? I asked Bing AI, the tiny Buddha on my smartphone screen which
recommended four simple steps to start living a minimalist lifestyle:
1. Shift
your mindset: Embrace simplicity, intentionality, and freedom from material
possessions.
2. Identify
your values: Reflect on what truly matters to you and prioritize accordingly.
3. Declutter
and organize: Remove items that no longer serve a purpose and organize the
remaining ones.
4. Curate
your life: Simplify other areas of your life such as work, relationships,
finances, and mindset.
Not as easy
as it looks. ‘Freedom from material possessions’ is a formidable task, and I
may not make much progress there too soon. Maybe, I’ll jump to step 3 and fiercely
reduce:
· 50% of my wardrobe,
· 75% of books in my racks which I have
not touched for years, and
· 95% of my ‘Personal Files’ which
include my ‘Self-Appraisal Reports’ since 1981, and decades-old TA Bill copies and
Service Records.
Spouse is
always willing to lend a helping hand. She has already given over to the
kabadis all the memorabilia (called smritiphalaks in chaste Hindi)
fondly gifted to me during farewell from a post or station – trophies and
medals, and golden-lettered scrolls eloquent on how as Collector in a certain
district I had done what none of my predecessors had ever done nor any
successor would ever be able to do (nothing dishonorable, I assure you)!
One Cheer
for Minimalism, since Three would be too many!
***
[i] In the Hollywood movie Wall Street
(1987), Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko gave a memorable speech:
"Greed,
for lack of a better word, is good…….Greed, in all of its forms; greed for
life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of
mankind."
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