Right Livelihood

Except the criminal enterprises prohibited by law, all professions are deemed as right ways of earning a livelihood. 

But on closer inspection, an entirely unpalatable truth emerges. Many professions appear as amoral at best, if not quite dishonest. A noted lawyer has stated of a case that an equally good case can be made out for either side. What about Justice & Truth in this case?

Advertising & Salesmanship are other professions where mendacity is an essential asset. It is doubtful if one can make a good livelihood in these careers if one scrupulously speaks the truth. Horse dealing in earlier times & used car dealing in the present time can hardly be remunerative if the dealer is to be true to his word.

Stock brokering has lost its lustre because of big bull operatives like Harshad Mehta & Ketan Parekh. Even the giants of investment banking have come under the cloud of unethical practices.

Prior to the entry of Corporates into the medical care system, one would visit doctors hoping for effective & economic cures, where the patient's health would be the top priority. Now, with the Corporate Chain of Super Speciality Hospitals, the ARPOB (Average Revenue Per Occupied Bed) & BOR (Bed Occupancy Rate) have taken over as the priority concerns, to enable the health care units to stay economically viable.

Other establishments feeding the concerns about the body are beauty parlours & gyms. One wonders whether people were not attractive & fit before the advent of these. A misuse of a gym, followed by the needless death of a film star, has done nothing to lessen this craze. Instances are also cited of damage to health because of questionable treatments in beauty parlours.

Last, but not least, is the ever-magnetic field of politics. A prominent politician has asserted that it is impossible to survive without factoring in institutional corruption.

Can these ways be considered as earning a right livelihood?

Use of CPM for Achieving Life Goals

Many bemoan the lack of time for activities in which they are interested. Critical Path Method, used in Project Management, can be used to address this issue.

The way is this. The (optional?) activities one likes can be sandwiched between essential activities in CPM. For example, an exercise activity (like walking to fetch groceries) can precede an essential activity like preparing or eating a meal. So that if one doesn't walk, one doesn't eat!

A very busy surgeon would play a vigorous game of squash after duty, before going home. So if he doesn't play, he can't go home!

If a person is fond of practising music, he/she should arrange their schedule, so that they can't leave for work without their morning riyaz. There is an apocryphal story of the legendary teacher Ustad Allauddin Khan denying food to his disciples unless they practiced enough!

Similarly with reading/writing. The ubiquitous Sudha Murthy had a creative urge to write, but no free time in her hectic day. So she decided just to get up an hour earlier so that she wrote before her day began. Similarly an avid reader can pledge to go to bed only after reading at least 100 pages!

The trick is to internalise activities of interest into one's daily inescapable routine so that one cannot pass a day without doing them.

Of course, it cannot be emphasized enough that this internalising interest into routine is possible only if one has EXCEPTIONAL FOCUS & MENTAL DISCIPLINE.

Qualifications & Education are NOT synonymous

"Educational Qualifications" is a phrase which is very common. But the two words may even be part of an Oxymoron. Qualifications are acquired, not for knowledge's sake, but to acquire a job, wealth & status. Education, however is a life-long process of absorbing knowledge & culture. A qualified person will pull down his/her shutters after attaining a position, showing no further interest in anything. An educated person, typically keeps an open growing mind, especially in the conscientious subjects of politics & religion, instead of becoming dogmatic.

An example will suffice. A qualified man who has studied Newton to get a degree & position, may totally shut his mind & even persecute Einstein's followers because Newton said light travels in a straight line & Einstein proved they can also bend!

God forbid when these people with just their qualifications also acquire power over their hapless fellow beings, behaving like the tyrants of old! That is quite likely to happen as they do not have the humaneness that true education & culture can bring.