WORK, BHAGAVAD GITA AND MANAGEMENT

Which is greater – ‘Karma’ (work) or ‘Buddhi’ (brain)? asks Arjun to Sri Krishna in the very first sloka of the third chapter of Bhagavad Gita. ‘Buddhi’ is derived from the Vedic Sanskrit root ‘Budh’, which literally means “to wake, be awake, observe, heed, attend, learn, become aware of, to know, be conscious again”. This word is extensively used in Vedic literature. In modern English usage, ‘buddhi’ is defined as “the faculty of intuitive discernment or direct spiritual awareness in the beliefs of Hinduism and Buddhism”. ‘Karma’ here means ‘nishkam karma’ or work for the excellence in work itself and without expecting any positive results or rewards from it. This seems to be far off from the principles of modern management as practiced now, almost all around the world. The basic question of where all these is leading us to, remains. A study done in the West around 1997 found that the average life span of Fortune 500 companies is hardly 40-50 years. One-third of companies listed in Fortune 500 in 1970 vanished by 1983, and 40% of all newly created companies last less than ten years. To quote from a study by IIM, Bangalore – managers in these organizations experience extreme stress, struggle for power and control, cynicism and a work environment that stifles human imagination/creativity, energy, and commitment. There is a severe disconnect between the quality of life at large and the work life. The sustainability of organizations and its relationship with the host environment is a big question. Managers and executives tend to agree that management as an area has not fundamentally progressed over the last few decades.

In the second chapter termed ‘Sankhoyog’, the Bhagavad Gita talks about the control of our senses in such a way that one does not get distracted and stay focused on the spiritual pursuit where one has the right over his work but has no right over the results that the work produces. The individual who achieves this level is the ideal worker irrespective of whether he is the CEO or an ordinary clerk in the organization structure. Dedication to God (in this case, Sri Krishna) is the only way as God alone will ensure success or failure – He alone will take care of the results produced by the work done by individuals. Work can be broadly divided into three major types. They are work as dictated by God or the scriptures, directionless work which is dependent on the whims and fancies of the individual and doing no work. Sri Krishna advised Arjun to work and not to shy away from his designated work – whatever the reason. His duty was to fight and fight against the mere physical forms of the people who were his close relatives. Since the soul is indestructible, it will not be a sin as Arjun has to move away from the state of no action to the state where he is only carrying out his duties. That was the only way for Arjun to gain freedom and get released from his worldly responsibilities that tie him down to his physical existence in this world. And he had to do it without the expectation of any results. This is because the moment an individual does a work specifically for obtaining a particular set of results, he gets intertwined with his senses and yet again attachment to the senses will take him away from his larger goals. The larger aim of a human life is to cut off the bindings of this physical existence which, through the senses, becomes an addiction for the individual.

Sri Krishna reminds Arjun that there are two types of people who go in for self-realization. One set of people take the route of philosophical knowledge-based discussions from the learnings of their accumulated experiences, while others try to attain self-realization through their devotion. The second route is what is known as ‘Buddhiyog’ and is the easier route. Additionally, this route does not have any faults and helps substantially in attaining freedom from the bindings of work. So, here, the philosophy and spiritual attainment becomes interdependent – the combined force is mostly successful in controlling the apparently irresistible temptations of the senses. Religion or spiritual pursuance without a proper philosophy is just uncontrolled emotion and often leads to blind dogmatism. Similarly, philosophy without a spiritual or even religious base is just mere speculation. First and foremost, what is to be realized is that the soul is perennially active. This soul must be guided away from the temptations of the senses and be dedicated to the much higher levels of spiritual pursuance. Individuals must know that under the influence of our senses, we must keep on working in our physical existence. These actions must be guided and focused on spiritual attainment. This then will be the nature of true motivation, probably self- motivation of individuals in existing work formats or organizations. Sri Krishna tells Arjun that the materialistic philosophy of life which says that one should earn money through untiring efforts and then enjoy the fruits of their labor through the satisfaction and satiation of their senses, is entirely wrong. People who follow that philosophy will invariably end up degrading themselves and continuously keep going down and down. According to him, human lives should be spent on attaining self-realization through Karmayog (work), Gyanyog (knowledge), and Bhaktiyog (faith). Individuals who are able to cleanse their souls through these and attain self-realization are above everything – they are no longer tied to any attachments or responsibilities. Arjun was also told that being a good man or adopting non-violence is his personal addiction. The highest form of work is to perform Nishkam Karma which is free of any addiction and free of any form of expectation of results.

One of the major tasks of self-realized individuals is to teach ordinary people and set an example for them to follow. There was no need for Sri Krishna and Arjun to fight in the war in Kurukshetra, but they did so to demonstrate to their subjects that in extreme circumstances, violence may be resorted to, and it is acceptable behavior according to our scriptures. So, the leaders must live an exemplary life which is worthy of emulation by the ordinary folks or their subjects. Swami Vivekananda has the following to say: “Some people do the best work when led. Not everyone is born to lead. The best leader, however, is one who ‘leads like the baby’. The baby, though apparently depending on everyone, is the king of the household. At least, to my thinking, that is the secret …. “. So, it seems that extraordinary leaders are also self-realized individuals. However, it is a very difficult journey as well and most individuals will not reach that state of mind in their lifetime. Instead of going through this duality, it is possible to configure that the leader should at least be a cool and composed person – a complete personality. The requirements of true leadership are to attain equanimity, which flows automatically when the individual has attained an inner peace. Quality of leadership in organizations has a direct impact on the quality of management. The duality of individuals running organizations and that of the organizations themselves is the bane of the modern management system. In a diverse country like India, absence of quality leadership leads to formation of sub-groups – the so-called ‘camps’. This is a situation where the fruits of labor are directed towards a particular camp at the expense of the other camp which results in sub-optimal performance. Many managers/leaders fail to realize that life or activities or work itself is not just black and white. There are lots of shades of grey that are in between the two extreme end points of black and white. This holds good not only in business but in every other aspect of life including the socio-cultural and political landscape of our country. To a certain degree, this is a worldwide phenomenon having its effect on major areas like geo-politics and geostrategy as well.

Another important challenge of the modern organization is the concept of time. Related to this are the concepts of performance metrics and the unnatural expectations of a certain part of the stakeholders. While there is no denying that speed is important, giving quarterly guidance to analysts in Dalal/Wall Street is robbing the organizations of a very important part of organization development. This is that organizations are also becoming short-term oriented and are willing to compromise on the long-term vision of the firm – which, in reality, produces game changing results in terms of products and services that change the way we live and grow. So, the managers take the queue and become willing partners in taking short-cuts to shore up their own performance and make their way up the hierarchy. This is because of the well-entrenched perception in the corporate world that it is immediate performance which matters and not the long-term contribution to the organization. A manager trying to emphasize vision or displaying long -term orientation may be met with the observation that ‘in the long run, we are all dead’. So, the concept of time and the ever-rising greed in the system must be balanced between the short-term requirements and the long-term vision of the firm. Another important area, particularly in India, is the complete absence of any preparation for failures. Even mentioning this and talking about contingency plans may get a manager branded as a negative person – which is a big offense/crime in our organization set ups.

As discussed earlier, the four aspects of work according to Sri Krishna are:

1)      The doer has the right to work

2)      The doer has no control on outcomes/fruits of action

3)      The doer has no control on the root causes of the fruits of action

4)      There is no choice to revel in inaction.

If these principles are not followed, it will mean that the end becomes more important than the means. The automatic outcome is that process orientation gives way to result orientation. This is not a good development as some very well-known organizations have learned the hard way. Managers in this situation will tend to concentrate only on the future and ignore the present. This is also not a very desirable outcome. So, the principles of work as defined in Bhagavad Gita needs to be followed. Most managers in organizations should follow the following three concepts: detachment, procrastination, and conversion of love energy. While there is tremendous emphasis on ‘getting involved’ with the work at hand, the manager must be capable of sometimes removing himself mentally from the activity and take a long, hard view of what he is doing – from a distance. This kind of self-assessment from time to time will help the manager in course correction as and when required. This will also help in development of an individual perspective and viewpoint which will only help him to understand the work and people dynamics better. Once a person understands or gets the bigger picture, he can place his own work in the right perspective and then the processes is on a continuous improvement path. Detachment also ensures that the individual does not claim ownership of the results and are able to share the fruits of his labor with all team members. Procrastination at the workplace is not a good habit, but procrastination of consumption by an individual is a big help in the life cycle of an individual. Postponing consumption, especially conspicuous consumption, gives more energy and drive to an individual and increases his commitment to work. Putting off a purchase for future consumption makes the individual more achievement oriented and goal driven. It also brings in a long-term perspective for the individual which helps to develop a vision over a longer time frame. In a similar fashion, many great leaders in diverse fields have been known to practice abstinence and are able to convert the sexual or love energy into their work lives. It is a wonder of the human existence that like in the natural world, energy in one form can be stored and converted to other forms of energy. It is the same case and the same application of principles in the human life as well. Focusing all or most forms of energy in an individual to the work life is very much necessary for a productive life.

Sri Krishna asked Arjun to fight without thinking that he is the owner of anything. Arjun has no other option but to carry out the orders of his guru. Just like the bank teller counts lots of money every day without asking for ownership of even a single coin from that cash, Arjun also must carry out the orders without ownership of anything. Every individual has a love for God within him. This love is converted to lust or desire through the influence of our actions. Then non-fulfillment of our lust or desires give rise to anger in our hearts. This anger then turns into attraction or fascination. Under the influence of this attraction or fascination, human beings become bound and addicted to the senses and this material world permanently. So, our desires are our biggest enemy. The objective of every human life is to discover Brahma as Brahma is the originator of everything. So, if lust or desires can be converted to love of God, the individual will be set free. That is his duty in life – in whatever he does. The desires in our mind are our greatest enemy as it distracts our mind and buddhi. It creates an artificial cover over our minds which clouds everything and prevents us from thinking clearly. And, unfortunately, desires are never ending. Our senses are superior to the material life, but our mind is superior to our senses. Buddhi is superior to our mind and our soul is superior to buddhi. So, the human life is all about the soul and the goal of the soul is to ultimately merge with the ultimate soul, which is God. So, the individual will have to work in a way thinking that he is working for further purification of his soul and so he is superior to his own mind and buddhi. In the final count, man must succeed in controlling his senses as well as his mind and buddhi. Then only will he come close to self-realization through his own work, and his soul (and he himself) will achieve the desired state.

Satisfaction or self-actualization does not depend on hierarchy or position. A clerk may be more self-actualized than the CEO even though the lower order needs are not completely fulfilled in case of the clerk. This self-transcendence has a basket of qualities the most important of which is to place others, including the organization, before self. That is the secret of true commitment and very often, it makes a difference between success and failure in this world, especially in a corporate set-up. Fulfillment of self-interest will take one this far only – the achievement and satisfaction of self-transcendence is beyond words. It is like Tagore said: working for love is freedom in action. Sri Krishna said the following in Gita: "He who shares the wealth generated only after serving the people, through work done as a sacrifice for them, is freed from all sins. On the contrary those who earn wealth only for themselves, eat sins that lead to frustration and failure." As discussed earlier, equanimity and being neutral in all circumstances are the essential pre-requisites of a leader. The leader must imbibe in his team the capacity to take success and failure with equal poise and not get overly perturbed in case of failure. As Sophia Loren once said: Success introduces you to the world and failure introduces the world to you. Leaders/managers should also be very careful of giving false hopes to his team. J. R. R. Tolkien, in his book of epic fantasy ‘The Children of Hurin’ says that false hopes are more dangerous than fear. So, the concept of equanimity is the most important characteristic that an evolved manager must display.

The manager must also be aware of ‘daivi sampat’ or divine work culture and ‘asuri sampat’ or demonic work culture. According to some interpretations of Bhagavat Gita, divine work culture is all about self-control, purity, fearlessness, absence of greed, modesty, and absence of envy and pride. Demonic work culture is about misinterpretation and misunderstanding, egoism, improper performance, work not oriented towards service and fulfilment of personal desires. So, it is quite clear which side the dice rolls. Many people think that the teachings of Bhagavat Gita are completely opposed to the current practices of management as espoused by the western developed world. This is far from truth. The holy script is also about efficiencies in organizations and individual effectiveness and contributions to the development of people and processes in the organizations. However, there is one fundamental difference. The Bhagavat Gita tells us to shun materialism and conspicuous consumption – concepts which are very popular in the west. These concepts strike at the root of Bhagavad Gita as it believes that desires are not desirable and is a major impediment for a higher state of mind or the purification of the soul. That is why managers, especially in the Indian context, should place the organization and its people before self. Pursuing narrow self-interest alone will not get a manager very far. Helping others and making them happy is a code that needs to be embedded in individuals if the person wants to succeed in life. We may recall here that Sri Krishna told Arjun that no human being can remain without action even for a few moments. The natural law of life binds us to work at all times. According to the interpretations of Swami Mukundananda, those living being are superior who practice Karma Yoga and continue to work diligently to fulfill their responsibilities externally, but internally they are unattached to them. This also means that managers (and all workers) must focus and try to avoid distractions as much as possible. The power of concentration is an important power God has endowed on human beings and properly utilized, it may be of immense usefulness and benefit to all workers.