ASSETS TO ASHES: WHEN SHORTCUTS DESTROY WEALTH

I recently attended an investment conclave in Ayodhya where, in a keynote speech, Acharya Mithilesh Nandini Sharan Ji vividly shared the story of Bhasmasura as a metaphor for what investors do.

- DHIRENDRA KUMAR

It was an unexpected but insightful connection, and it was the perfect metaphor for what I see happening to retail investors across India today.For those unfamiliar with the tale, Bhasmasura was a demon who desperately wanted divine powers. Impatient with the slow path of righteous living, he sought a shortcut through Lord Shiva, known for granting boons quickly to devoted supplicants.

To demonstrate his intense devotion, Bhasmasura performed severe penance. The particularly gruesome and striking detail that makes this story so relevant to modern investing is this: he cut pieces of flesh from his own body and offered them into the sacred fire, progressively mutilating himself in his relentless pursuit of divine favour. Pleased by this extreme and unwavering sacrifice, Shiva granted him a terrible boon—the power to turn anyone to ash by merely touching their head.

What happened next is instructive.

Bhasmasura immediately attempted to test this power on Shiva himself. Lord Vishnu intervened by assuming the form of Mohini, who tricked the demon into placing his hand on his own head during a dance. The boon worked perfectly, and Bhasmasura was reduced to ashes by his own power.