The Veda means knowledge. Simple. It is not some magic or something to do with the Gods or Rishis…it is just knowledge. However since it is so good, and all encompassing that we have been told it has been created by the Gods. Without getting into God and atheism let us see how we make mistakes in investing.  Any knowledge you accept is Veda, for the teachings of the Vedas are the original knowledge. In the conditioned state, our knowledge is subjected to many deficiencies. The difference between a conditioned soul and a liberated soul is that the conditioned soul has four kinds of defects. The first defect is that he must commit mistakes.
To err is human. This is one defect of the conditioned soul.

You cannot be a good investor or even an ordinary investor without making mistakes. However you should KNOW and understand your mistakes.  Learning from mistakes is a MUST.

Another defect is to be illusioned.

Illusion means to accept something which is not: maya. Maya means “what is not.” Everyone is accepting the body as the self. If you ask me what I am, I will say, “I am Subra; I am a man; I am this; I am that.” All these are bodily identifications. But I am not my body. This is illusion.

Similarly we have some illusions of investing. I will say ‘equity is always good’ – that is a bias. Some people might say ‘I have no money in equity, it is risky’ – again an illusion created by inadequate research and understanding of risk.

The third defect is the cheating propensity.

Everyone has the propensity to cheat others. Although a person is fool number one, he poses himself as very intelligent. While Investing he makes mistakes but does not know or accept. He does not even calculate his returns how will he know whether he is getting a good return or bad? Although it is already pointed out that he is in illusion and makes mistakes, he will theorize: “I think this is this, this is this.” But he does not even know his own position. He can even write books – but may not realize his OWN bias. That is his disease. That is cheating.

Lastly, our senses are imperfect. We are very proud of our eyes and other senses. Often, someone will challenge, “Can you show me that equity gets the best returns?”

But do you have the eyes to see returns? You will never see if you haven’t the eyes. Do you believe in God? Do you have the eyes to understand God? Similarly if you cannot understand average returns, standard deviation, equity vs debt returns comparison, LEARN all that. It is important do not just guess…’what should be’ see ‘what is’.

If immediately the room becomes dark, you cannot even see your hands. So what power do you have to see? We cannot, therefore, expect knowledge (Veda) with these imperfect senses. With all these deficiencies, in conditioned life we cannot give perfect knowledge to anyone. Nor are we ourselves perfect. Therefore we accept the Vedas as they are.