“Mine more important than Me”: Our property – Our Identity

By Shashikanth  Narasimhiah

As a rule we are all obsessed with real estate and property purchase. I have not gone through the motions of a party or get-togetheror even a religious event without touching on the subject of property prices, and home loans at least briefly.For most of us, life’s one of the first major venture would be to purchase a residential property. We go to great lengths to purchase the first one, save furiously, give up on many other pleasures and pastimes and even compromise relationships and aim at paying it off and then aim at expanding the portfolio with several more purchases. We knock-down a perfectly liveable property and build a brand new swanky residence in its place despite a hefty loan. We invite friends and relatives and give them a grand tour of the place not forgetting to explain to them the most intricate details of the new home. Many of us don’t give up even after we are 60. And many of us expand our portfolio on an international scale with properties in several countries. And after all of this, many of us try and accumulate more and attribute that to our Children’s’ future and security!!

Many of our forefathers lived with just one small place, and many could not afford even that and stayed in a rented place and as a joint family. While the primary reason of investing in property for life-security is understandable, it is no secret that many go far and beyond the needs of such security requirements – whether it is the number of properties and/or the proportion of property we live in. What motivates us to do this? Why does our love for property go far and beyond our life’s requirements? Why do even celebrities such as Aishwarya, Ambanis, Amitabh, SRK, Tendulkar etc invest in palatial homes far and beyond their requirements?

Property literally means “Kshetra” which in turn means farm – a man-made space created by domesticating nature. We turn forests into estates/farms and then into properties and mark out our boundaries and territories and claim ownership of it.

Let us re-visit the past and see if we can find a meaning to this.Here is a thought:“Mine more important than Me” – so says Devdutt Pattanaik.

In our society “Mine” is more important than “Me”. It is not today’s society we are referring to, we can go all the way back to Dwapara Yuga and before to get a sense of it. In Mahabharata – Kouravas were not prepared to give up “even an inch” (or land equal to a needle hole) of the area to Pandavas. Similarly in Ramayana – Kaikeyi sends her step son to the forest for the love of kingdom for her own son. Then, Lakshmana draws a line (rekha) around Sita’s hut and defines Ram’s territory or Kshetra. Within that Kshetra Sita is Ram’s wife, outside she is just another woman making the Kshetra or “property” an artificial construction and not a natural phenomenon.

Both Arjuna and Karna are talented archers. Karna has a distinct advantage of being born with celestial armour and earrings that cling to his body like flesh. But society respects Arjuna more than Karna why? – Because Arjuna is seen as a prince of the Kuru clan and legal heir of Hastinapur while Karna is seen as a charioteer’s son even after he is made a warrior and King by Duryodhana who admires his talent with the bow.

In Mahabharata so much value is assigned to the external (Narayani) that neither Arjuna nor Karna look within (Narayana) for their identity. Arjuna derives his identity from the estate Indra-Prasta among other things. Karna derives his identity from his talent, but tries to earn new titles such as Duryodhana’s friend and estates (Anga). Therefore identity is based on what they have (Aham) and not what they are (Atma). Without their titles and estates, the Pandavas had no value. The purpose of their life was to get it back from the Kouravas and the purpose of Kouravas  was to deny that to the Pandavas.

Similarly, in purana the asuras seek boons from Bramha which is material nourishment not emotional or intellectual nourishment. They seek “His” and not “Him”. Krishna while delivering the Bhagavad Gita speaks of Keshetra before tri-guNa.

If what I am is what I own, then I cling to what I have to “secure” my value in the world. The property we own defines our identity. Property nourishes us physically and psychologically. With property, we feel entitled. The property also grants us immortality since we can bequeath it to the family which is considered our very own. If one tells us that our true identity is somewhere within us, intangible and immeasurable that would seem far-fetched as it can never be “proven” and can only be “believed”. Animals fight because the survival of their body depends on it. Humans fight because survival of their identity (Aham) depends on it. Insecurity (Bhaya) fuels desire for more and so acquiring more becomes the purpose of life. We get angry (Krodha) when we don’t get them, become greedy (Lobha) when we get them, we get attached (Moha) to them, we become intoxicated (Mada) because we possess them, we feel jealous (Assoya) of those who have more and stingy (Matsarya) around those who have less.

Society values people more as proprietors than as residents because property is visible and measurable. Therefore Mine becomes more important than Me– as illustrated above, even celebrities who already have phenomenal identity attached to them are no exception!!The former is tangible and measurable and even outlasts death!! The gaze shifts from inside to the outside.

Property and Proprietors exist only in culture (sanskriti) and not nature (prakruti) which is a divide between culture and nature.To conclude, GuNa determines our personality, Karma determines our life, but Kshetra (Property) determines our identity. Therefore, there is a deeper meaning as to why we all invest in properties than just security. Don’t you think?