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Management Lessons from Gita

September 1998

In India, we do not lack in the spirit, in the ideas, in the institution, or in the intelligence, but the subject of management is hidden in our various scriptures and books which we have to bring to light. Scriptures say, Go to the teacher when you have a problem; if the teacher is not available, go to the books; if books are not available, go to the team and discuss; if the team is not there, go to SELF. In my case I got the book first and then went to the teacher. Many revelations came to me but the root was Gita.

MANAGEMENT METHODS
1. Turn-around Management: in the beginning, Arjuna says in Gita: I do not know what is right. So, I have come to you. Please show me the path and tell me which way to go. But at the end of Gita, Arjuna says: Achyuta, my delusion is gone and my memory is reestablished because of your grace. I am now stable and my doubts are gone. I shall act on your advice. Knowledge from Gita made him turn around. The turn around first occurs in the mind. The Punjab Petro Chemicals Ltd. was in a Rs. Three crore loss. We said that we will create positive ways to tackle the situation, and we turned around the company in six months. Transformation Management: Arjuna said to Krishna that he will not fight, and sat down dejected. The last verse in Gita gives the vision of Sanjaya. But what happened after the Gita. I went beyond Gita. I opened Mahabharata, the next chapter says: Tato dhananjayam drushtva banagandivadharinam | Punareva mahanadam visrujanta maharathaha || Dhananjaya stood steady on the ground with bow and arrow in hand. He lifted his arms ready to fight. Warriors and heroes applauded that sight. That is what is transformational management. 3. Empowerment: We talk about Empowerment, but that alone is not sufficient. The difference between empowerment and delegation is: in delegation, you call a person and tell him what to do, give him the authority to decide as to how to do; whereas in empowerment, you let him decide what to do and how to do. But before allowing empowerment, you have to do one more thing. Iti te gnanamakhyatam guhyadguhyataram maya | Vimrushyaitadasheshena yathechchhasi tatha kuru || I have shown you everything, so now you analyse these and decide for yourself as to what to do. However, you have to give such freedom only to those who have the divine qualities: Daivi sampadvimokshaya nibandhaya suri mata | If you say to somebody that he has divine qualities, he becomes divine. When somebody is not well and if you tell him, you look wonderful, he will say, yes, I am alright. The difference between the
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transcendental leader and the transformational leader is that the former commissions freedom beforehand and brings out the divine qualities, while the latter only empowers. So transcendental is before transformational.

LEARNING ORGANISATIONS
Tadviddhi pranipatena priprasnena sevaya | Upadekshyanti te gnanam gnaninastatvadarshinah || Krishna says that a guru (teacher) should have three essential qualities Knowledge, Experience and Communication ability. Healthy organizations require internal trainers who are experienced (practical), knowledgeable and who can communicate. Similarly, the three qualities of learners are Humility, Service and Enquiry (questioning). Your colleague, and sometimes even your junior is your trainer. We talked about empowering leader. Who empowers him ? The leaders leader empowers him. I empowered him which means somebody is required to give something. An Emerging Leader and not an Empowering Leader rises to the occasion when situation demands. Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati Bharata | Abhyutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srujamyaham || Krishna says: Whenever, wherever the right is harmed, whenever, wherever wrong has happened, when the right is down and wrong is up, then Bharata, I recreate myself. Empowering means, the leader has to energise: Emerging means the leader has to recreate himself. So, be an Emerging Leader. Can we take responsibility for the country, our community or at least our city today ? So, beyond your limited things, if you can take responsibility, you rise and become Lord Krishna. Then Lord Krishna can be at every place. Vision: There are seven visions. Of these, main are: Normal view (when Duryodhana sees people physically). Analytical view (Arjuna analyses who is on this side, etc.). Emotional view (when Arjuna does not see generals and warriors but sees uncles, grandfather and brothers). Equality view: I would like to elaborate on this. If you can see others in you and you in others; you realize all are equal. Gita says that it is true at physical level. In your eyes I am there, and in my eyes all of you are there. Similarly, in my mind you are there and vice versa. In your intellect Gita is there, and in Gitas mind we are there, and so in my intellect you are there. It is possible that at the eye level you are in me and I am in you, but at the soul level, how much more we are there ? That is why it is said, look everybody in your heart. If you want to reach at the level I am in you, you are in me you have to do four things: actually when the animal grew into a man four things occurred: hands became free, heels became stronger, head got expanded, and heart became larger. Now, all of you please raise your hands. OK. Now raise them still further. When I first asked you to raise your hands you did your normal work. Second time, you raised it further, which meant that you used that hidden potential in you. So we can raise our hands more to do better work, we can raise our heels a little bit and become taller, we can raise our heads and give better ideas, and we can expand our heart to give better love. If you do that, you will have achieved four yogas. Let us go back to ancient history. The country was in great turmoil, government was without morals, educational standards were low, cheating was on the increase, fights were common sight, and that was the time sage Vyasa wrote Mahabharata.

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There are five organs in a human being while desires are manifold: Vyasa created an apparent fight between them. Ethics, Energy, Excellence, Ecology and Environment (the five Es) represent Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva respectively. These five things are supported by effectiveness and efficiency (Abhimanyu and Ghatotkach). They have courage in Dhristadyumna. The five traits viz, ethics, energy, excellence, ecology and environment have one common factor happiness represented by Draupadi. Pandavas originated from Pandu and Kunti (clarity and beauty), and on the other side there is blindness natural and artificial (Dhritarashtra and Gandhari). Ego and aggression are represented by Duryodhana and Duhshasana, and this ego and aggression gave rise to one hundred desires. Knowledge, compassion and duty, though on the ethical side are placed in the wrong side. And so they are looking at both sides as to what is to be done. The reaction and determination are represented by Ashwatthama, and Kuthavarma; the envy is Karna. These ethics, energy etc. are guided by wisdom which is Lord Krishna, while the ego, aggression and desires are supported by wickedness Shakuni. In between is helpless in ethos Vidura. Neutrality is represented by Balaram. Clarity and blindness are the sons of Vyasa, the author. Actually he is the visionary. The two sides of vision are seeing and non-seeing. So, he created this great epic; the fight is going on. The eighteen chapters of the Gita are a wonderful thing and now we will see its essence. At one place in Gita, the micro and the macro, the man and the universal are found in Krishnas Viswarupam. The Universe has also got four things: Body is the gross earth, Mind is the feeling, Intellect is the thought and the Self is the pure unknown, in determined. God is the prescription to all problems. If there is no growth, no sales, no quality, go to God. Group, Organisation, Direction is GOD. Every solution is in God. Now, if God is equal to self, world is equal to body, intellect equals light and mind equals nature. So the four aspects of the Universe are world, light, nature and God. The four aspects of man and the four aspects of the Universe are reflections of each other. When you say world and body are near, God and self are far. So, God and self as an entity is the largest, which is the entity, light and intellect, world and body. Continuous signals are sent from world to body (instinct), nature to mind (intuition), light to intellect (intelligence) and God to self (inspiration). If your organization has developed these four traits, then you are fully developed. What should we do to develop these traits ? Work (practice) will increase your instinct, love will increase your intuition, knowledge will increase your intelligence, and responsibility (consciousness) will improve your inspiration. So, result, relations, reasoning and responsibility come through these four things. When you increase these four traits there will be a corresponding increase in the other four and that will be your four Yogas of getting together.

TEACHER AND STUDENT

If you need a dedicated teacher, a dedicated student, dedicated parents, dedicated workmen, you must give love. If you offer love you will get dedication. It is not give and take, please note. Take and take is terrorism, take and give is government, give and take is business; offer and receive is what you have to do (Samarpan and Sweekar). By giving love only, you will get dedication but not work. If you want work, you must pay well. So, if you pay well and give love, you will get dedicated work. If you want knowledge or learning, you must share knowledge with your people; you should become their teacher. Love and dedication is mothers management; work and recognition is fathers management, while teachers management is to offer love and receive knowledge. But there is a problem in becoming a teacher. The teacher should know more than the students and therefore, he should continuously learn. Finally, if you want responsibility, give trust. So, offer trust, knowledge, recognition and love; and you will receive dedicated, responsible, knowledgeable worker. What then are these four ? They are nothing but four Yogas Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Gyana Yoga and Dhyana Yoga. With these you will get progress,

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development, growth and enrichment. Progress is horizontal like a boat on the river; development is vertical like a tree. Growth is three-dimensional. Organizations become bigger through responsibility.

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL MANAGEMENT

Internal management is Ashtanga Yoga. External management is in the eight offerings and receiving, I mentioned earlier love and dedication, work and recognition, knowledge and learning, trust and responsibility. These eight attributes are in the outer circle (world). Inside the circle, which is self, you have to do Ashtanga Yoga, which is very simple. These are right speech, right work, right earnings, right exercise, right reality, right meditation, right intention and right vision. With your intention and speech, you give love and people will give you dedication. With right work and right livelihood, you give recognition and they will give you the work (internal and external); with right reality and right exercises, you give knowledge while they will do the learning; with right intention and right vision, you give trust, and you will get responsibility. This way, you can be a Yogi internally. And externally, you can be an offerer, receiver and contributor.

WHAT WE SHOULD DO
I recommend the following things for the government and the managers: Ethics, Energy, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Excellence, Ecology, Environment. Gurus with their intelligence and wisdom are available not only to industrialists but to any citizen. Their wisdom should percolate. The five priority areas we must concentrate on are: ethics, energy, efficiency, effectiveness and excellence. If we do this, we will win. For that, teachers are required, books are required. We should have not only Western books but our own books. People should write because when you write, you do Samadhi i.e. single pointed concentration is there. Be a writer, a contributor. Try to learn, spread the ethical message of Gita of love and dedication, recognition and work, knowledge and learning, and trust and responsibility. If we can practise these four Yogas, then with the integrated personality of child, youth, adult and elder, we can manage chaos, clearing, order and complexity. We all are called Bharata. We Indians are tigers; all of you are tigers. I wish you all the best.

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