Selfless Action

Deluded by identification with the ego,
a person thinks "I am the doer".

Performing all actions for my sake,
completely absorbed in the Self,
and without expectations, fight!
But stay free from the fever of the ego.
Lord Krishna, Bhagavad Gita

I was sitting today in our investment meeting next to an analyst who had exactly the opposite view of mine. "That's odd", I thought. "Most of the times when this happens I sit on the symbolic other side of the room." Then another investor spoke, who happened to sit on the other side, but he portrayed the investment case that I am currently embracing. I did what I always do in those situations, I reminded myself of the initials of the two colleagues and concluded that they both have powerful spiritual names (that is,  the ones that I assigned to them based on their initials.) I also consider them both my friends. My conclusion was that I am in exactly the same situation as Arjun was when he had to fight his friends and relatives in the Bhagavad Gita. You do what you have to do, you take sides based on what the Tao tells you to, but victory or loss, alliance or conflict, you are not really emotionally involved with any of the outcomes. It is a nice feeling to have; you feel incredibly free.