A sample reading

A real reading on a sample dilemma, word for word as Sarathi wrote it, then followed step by step to its close. The dilemma, its one answer and how each step went are ours; every call, step and close is Sarathi’s. Yours arrives exactly like this, on your own words, and only you can see it.

Analyse my own dilemma
The sample dilemmaI am 31, a senior analyst at a bank on ₹24 lakh a year. A small company I admire has offered me a product role at ₹16 lakh, with stock that could be worth a lot or nothing. I have wanted to build products for six years. My wife and I planned to buy a flat next year on my salary. In March I am up for promotion to ₹30 lakh, in work I find dull. The offer expires Friday. Do I take the pay cut?
SarathiOne thing first.

One question first

Does your wife support taking the role, or does she want you to wait for the promotion?

You said: My wife says the flat can wait a year, but not three, and that the call is mine.

SarathiThat's enough to decide on. Here is the call.
Higher Path

The Right Action

With your wife saying the flat can wait a year, the role you have wanted for six years looks worth taking before the offer expires Friday.

First step

You: Before Friday, ask the company in writing for the stock terms and any review point on salary.

The exact first sentence to say“Before I accept, could you share the stock terms and when salary would next be reviewed?”

On your own reading, an I’ll do this. Hold me to it. button sits here. Tap it and the step stays open until you mark it done, at your pace.

Why this option

Your wife said the flat can wait a year but not three, and the call is yours, so the joint plan bends rather than breaks. Six years of wanting product work against dull work at ₹30 lakh tilts toward the offer, provided the one-year limit holds.

The question behind it: “Can I follow what I have wanted for six years without making my wife pay for it?”

Based on what you wrote

You have wanted to build products for six years; the offer expires Friday but cuts your salary before your March promotion and the flat you planned.

This hinges on
What cushion for the pay cut?

Sarathi3 options. I lean to Take the product role.

The options

Sarathi leans here

Take the product role

Six years of wanting to build products, a company you admire, and your wife's word that the flat can wait a year make this the window you have been waiting for.

If you do this: Your income drops by ₹8 lakh a year and the flat likely moves back a year; the stock could be worth a lot or nothing.

Cost: ₹8 lakh a year, a delayed flat, and the March promotion.

Costly to undo
First step

You: Before Friday, ask the company in writing for the stock terms and any review point on salary.

The exact first sentence“Before I accept, could you share the stock terms and when salary would next be reviewed?”

Stay for the March promotion

₹30 lakh keeps the flat plan on its original timeline and removes the bet on stock that could be worth nothing.

If you do this: The flat stays on track; the work you find dull continues, and the pull toward product work stays unresolved.

Cost: Another stretch in dull work and possibly this particular offer.

Costly to undo
First step

You: Tell the company by Friday that you are declining, and ask whether you could stay in touch.

The exact first sentence“I've decided to stay where I am for now, but I'd like to keep in touch.”

Negotiate the offer before Friday

The gap between ₹16 lakh and ₹24 lakh is what squeezes the flat; narrowing it, or adding more stock, could make the one-year delay easier to hold.

If you do this: The company may move, hold firm, or cool on you; either way you decide with better numbers.

Cost: A little goodwill and some of the days before Friday.

Reversible
First step

You: Write to the company today asking whether the salary or stock can be raised.

The exact first sentence“I'm keen on this role; is there room to move on salary or stock given the cut I'd be taking?”

Why

Where this stands

You are a senior analyst on ₹24 lakh with a product role offered at ₹16 lakh plus uncertain stock, and the offer expires Friday. You have wanted to build products for six years, and the March promotion to ₹30 lakh is in work you find dull. Your wife says the flat can wait a year but not three, and the call is yours.

The closest verse we found

अर्जुन उवाच संन्यासं कर्मणां कृष्ण पुनर्योगं च शंससि। यच्छ्रेय एतयोरेकं तन्मे ब्रूहि सुनिश्चितम्।।5.1।।

arjuna uvācha sannyāsaṁ karmaṇāṁ kṛiṣhṇa punar yogaṁ cha śhansasi yach chhreya etayor ekaṁ tan me brūhi su-niśhchitam

Renunciation of actions Thou praisest, O Krishna, and then also yoga. Of the two which one is the better? That tell me conclusively.

BG 5.1 — English: Annie Besant, via Wikisource (public_domain)

The closest verse, named as the closest. Never made up.

Why this verse, for youClosest found

Like the learner who wants one conclusive answer between two respectable paths, your "Do I take the pay cut?" sits between a dull promotion and a calling.

Where it points

This verse shows a mind asking for one conclusive answer after hearing two respectable paths praised. Your question carries that same state, with a dull promotion on one side and a calling on the other. Your facts do answer it: six years of wanting and a wife who says the flat can wait make "Take the product role" the path they favour.

If nothing changes

Letting Friday pass makes the decision for you: the offer lapses and you stay in work you find dull, without having chosen it.

Then, step by step, to the close

The same reading, followed to its end: each step marked done with how it went, and the next one written from that, until nothing was left to decide.

How each step went is ours, written for this sample like the dilemma. Every step and the close are Sarathi’s.

  1. Step 1 done

    You: Before Friday, ask the company in writing for the stock terms and any review point on salary.

    The exact first sentence to say“Before I accept, could you share the stock terms and when salary would next be reviewed?”

    Went as planned You wrote:I asked them for the stock terms in writing, and they sent them. My wife read them with me, and she still says the flat can wait a year.

Pro

Every step after the first is part of Pro: each one written from how the last one went, until the dilemma is closed.

  1. Step 2 done

    You: Write to the company accepting the product role in writing, now that you and your wife have read the stock terms together.

    The exact first sentence to say“Thank you for sending the stock terms; I have read them with my wife and I would like to accept the product role.”

    Went as planned You wrote:I accepted the offer before Friday. They agreed to review my salary after six months.
Closed

Nothing is left to decide. This one is closed.

What you decided

Take the product role you have wanted for six years, with the flat waiting a year as your wife agreed.

What you did

You asked the company for the stock terms in writing and read them with your wife, who still said the flat can wait a year. Then you accepted the offer in writing, and they agreed to a salary review.

Where it stands, in your words

I accepted the offer before Friday. They agreed to review my salary after six months.

Why it is closed

The question was whether to take the pay cut, and you have now accepted the offer before Friday, so the decision itself is made and answered.

Sleep peacefully.

The line you could share

“I've thought it through, and I'd like to set a one-year check on the flat together if I take this.”

KarmaLensBhagavad Gita 5.1

On your own reading, only this line and the verse ever travel. Your words never do.

The eight lenses, as they read this
DutySvadharma +1 Taking role pursues six-year calling while weighing joint flat plan
TruthSatya +2 Wife told and consulted; call made transparently
Non-harmAhimsa 0 Delays shared flat plan, cost shared with wife
DetachmentNishkama karma +1 Accepts uncertain stock outcome rather than guaranteed pay
Clean intentShaucha +2 Motive rooted in long-held wish, not impulse
RestraintSanyama — No restraint dimension engaged by the act itself
Welfare of allLokasangraha 0 Affects household welfare via delayed flat purchase
DiscernmentViveka +1 Deciding under Friday deadline with partial information
How this reading was made
  • AskedDoes your wife support taking the role, or does she want you to wait for the promotion? — you said: My wife says the flat can wait a year, but not three, and that the call is mine.
  • LensesEight lenses read the dilemma; the call rests on the ones in play.
  • The verseThe closest verse, chosen by reference from the curated Gita corpus and attached word for word; named as the closest, not a confirmed fit.
  • The callMade once, after the facts, with the first step.
Next steps

On your own reading

Decision Record (PDF)

The call, the first step, the options and the verse in one record you keep. Owner-only, dated, free.

Freeyours to keep

Pro

Every next step, until your dilemma is closed, and a Deep Reading on every option of your reading — “Explore this option in depth” under each one — plus Sarathi with no limit on the messages, five Walk With Me and three Councils a week.

₹1,499a month, after 14 days free

On your own reading the Council Reading is yours to take on any call; Sarathi keeps going where the free messages run out, every step after the first is written from how the last one went, and Walk With Me is offered once you hold the call, never before the call. All of it is included in Pro, with a 14-day free trial first.

Analyse my dilemma
See what Pro includes