International Referred Research Journal, April, 2011. ISSN- 0974-2832 RNI-RAJBIL 2009/29954.VoL.

III *ISSUE-27

Research PaperSanskrit

IMPORTANCE OF 'BHAGAVAD GITA' in MANAGEMENT.

* Dr.Rohini Bhatt
The greatest contribution for the mankind of the world is from INDIA as India gave the greatest holy book, 'The Bhagavad Gita'.Managing a man effectively, one can say, is management. Management has become a part of everyday life be it at home, office, factory, company or any educational institution where ever a number of people involved in discharging their duties. It is a systemic way of interaction relationship or interpersonal relationship.In the first chapter position of Arjun is a typical situation which may come in a life of a human. The Bhagavad Gita expounded thousands of years ago by Lord Sri Krishna and through his inspiring words raised the level of Arjun's mind to the state of righteous action. Arjuna said: My dear Krsna, seeing my friends and relatives present before me in such a fighting spirit, I feel the limbs of my body quivering and my mouth drying up. My whole body is trembling, and my hair is standing on end. My bow Gandiva is slipping from my hand, and my skin is burning. I am now unable to stand here any longer. I am forgetting myself, and my mind is reeling. I foresee only evil, O! killer of the Kesi demon. I do not see how any good can come from killing my own kinsmen in this battle, nor can I, my dear Krsna, desire any subsequent victory, kingdom, or happiness. O! Govinda, of what avail to us are kingdoms, happiness or even life itself when all those for whom we may desire them are now arrayed in this battlefield? O !Madhusudana, when teachers, fathers, sons, grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law and all relatives are ready to give up their lives and properties and are standing before me, then why should I wish to kill them, though I may survive? O! maintainer of all creatures, I am not prepared to fight with them even in exchange for the three worlds, let alone this earth. 1( Ch 1/ 28-35) The Supreme Person [Bhagavan] said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the progressive values of life. They do not lead to higher planets, but to infamy. O !son of Prtha, do not yield to this degrading impotence. It does not become you. Give up such petty April, 2011 weakness of heart and arise, O! chastiser of the enemy. 2(Ch 2/ 2-3) Management is a process in search of excellence to align people and get them committed to their work for a common goal to the maximum social-mankind advantages. One of the most important criteria to be successful is the attitude of a man towards any work. Attitude with committeement leads to success. One works with the expectation of fruits-results. One should not mortgage to the present commitment to uncertain future. You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty. Be steadfast in yoga,O !Arjuna. Perform your duty and abandon all attachment to success or failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga.3(Ch 2/47,2/48) But he who performs his prescribed duty only because it ought to be done, and renounces all attachment to the fruit--his renunciation is of the nature of goodness, O !Arjuna.Those who are situated in the mode of goodness, who neither hate inauspicious work nor are attached to auspicious work, have no doubts about work. It is indeed impossible for an embodied being to give up all activities. Therefore it is said that he who renounces the fruits of action is one who has truly renounced. For one who is not renounced, the threefold fruits of action-desirable, undesirable and mixed--accrue after death. But those who are in the renounced order of life have no such results to suffer or enjoy.4(Ch 18/9-12) It is very well simplified for a common man that the result of every action depends on the approach and state of mind. Any work done with good motive will result in good reward where evil motive will result in evil reward. The work must be done with the detachment because most of the cases work dose not give desired result due various psychological elements like ego. Ego spoil the work ego quite often gives birth to 'Asuri ' work culture One needs 'Daiv work culture ' to perform better. O! mighty-armed Arjuna, learn from Me of the five fac-

* Smt.A.S.Chaudhary Mahila Arts & Home Science College,Arvind Bag, MEHSANA

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International Referred Research Journal, April, 2011. ISSN- 0974-2832 RNI-RAJBIL 2009/29954.VoL.III *ISSUE-27

tors which bring about the accomplishment of all action. These are declared in sankhya philosophy to be the place of action, the performer, the senses, the endeavor, and ultimately the Supersoul. One who is not motivated by false ego, whose intelligence is not entangled, though he kills men in this world, is not the slayer. Nor is he bound by his actions. 5(Ch 18/ 14-17) Theory of non-attachment to the result of work, very well explained through verses in brief one can say - As the result of sincere effort put in by an individual is a success, the entire credit should not be by the doer only similarly when such efforts are resulted in a failure then blame should not be to the doer. This means one need to balance the attitude of arrogance and excessive despondency, self pity and de-motivation.According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me. And, although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable. There is no work that affects Me; nor do I aspire for the fruits of action. One who understands this truth about Me also does not become entangled in the fruitive reactions of work. All the liberated souls in ancient times acted with this understanding and so attained liberation. Therefore, as the ancients, you should perform your duty in this divine consciousness. The intricacies of action are very hard to understand. Therefore one should know properly what action is, what forbidden action is, and what inaction is. One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is intelligent among men, and he is in the transcendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities. 6 (Ch 4/ 13,14,15,17,18)The leadership qualities for which Shri Krishna says that whatever the master piece of work of excellence the commoners follows. The visionary leader will have dynamism and strength which flows from an inspired and spontaneous motivation to help others. All men are forced to act helplessly according to the impulses born of the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment.Perform your prescribed duty, for action is better than inaction. A man cannot even maintain his physical body without work.Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.7(Ch 3/ 5,8,21) In short Shri Krishna in these verses of ch-10, says "I am the strength of those who are devoid of personal desire & attachment ,O Arjun, I am the legitimate desire in those, who are not opposed to righteousness"Know that all beautiful, glorious, and mighty creations spring from but a spark of My SH O D H SA M IK S H A A U

splendor.8(Ch 7/11)The Bhagavad Gita ultimately says that it always the victory of truth, the right path, the Dharma- The ethical action,courage,strength and faith on one's own infinite power. For all man of action where Shri Krishna -in Bhagvad Gita says,"Yoga and Kshema "as he is with all-"who follows his (krishna's) ideals in all walks of life without losing faith in the ideal of Shri Krishna, lord provides him all that the follower needs-yoga and protect the follower what he has got-kshema But those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form--to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.9(Ch 9/22)The Bhagavad gita contains 700 shlokas of the total of 18 chapters. Most of the shlokas contain great ideas of management. They include planning, direction, communication, co-ordination, motivation, leadership etc. In entire holy book we find about one's own duty (mama dharma) and bounded duty (swadharma). All actions should be reinforced with dharmarighteousness. Any business requires ethics and values. Duties and responsibilities are of great important values for the successful management. It provides leadership advice in a number of general areas including the importance of maintaining one's proper role and duties, being proactive and acting with wisdom, working for the greater good and engaging in self sacrifice. 'Perfection is attained when each attends diligently to his duty.' The leader must maintain their values.'The wise man that has conquered his mind and is absorbed in the self is a lamp which does not flicker, since it stands sheltered from every will.' Brahmanas, ksatriyas, vaisyas and sudras are distinguished by their qualities of work, O !chastiser of the enemy, in accordance with the modes of nature. Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge, and religiousness--these are the qualities by which the brahmanas work. Heroism, power, determination, resourcefulness, courage in battle, generosity, and leadership are the qualities of work for the ksatriyas. Farming, cow protection and business are the qualities of work for the vaisyas, and for the sudras there is labor and service to others. By following his qualities of work, every man can become perfect. Now please hear from Me how this can be done. By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading, man can, in the performance of his own duty, attain perfection.10(ch.18/ 41-45) Modern management is more concerned with productivity and prosperity. These are achieved through 11 R M U L Y A N K A N

International Referred Research Journal, April, 2011. ISSN- 0974-2832 RNI-RAJBIL 2009/29954.VoL.III *ISSUE-27

planning, direction, motivation coordination etc. These actions are generally called management functions. Gita contains beautiful ideas about the principles of management. All verses are interpreted inducing immense interest to our modern managers. All these verses have their own reflections on management functions. It has the techniques to improve the knowledge, skill and education of the common man and make him more efficient and competent. It has the capacity to transform the productive potential into productivity. The jnana yoga, karma yoga,bhakti yoga etc. give a wealth of ideas about karma, dharma, swadharma, rights,duties, responsibilities, devotion to duty , selfless service, human welfare etc. Had it been timely traced out , it would have been a rich contribution to our Behavior. According to modern management principles, goal can be achieved through coordination of efforts. Bhagavad Gita also emphasizes this aspect emphasizing that prosperity (sreyas) can be attained through cooperation (parasparambhavayantha). If one does this natural duty with devotion and dedication, Gita says, one can attain not only growth and development, but success (vijayam), prosperity (sree) and progress. Spiri-

tuality is the energy behind every success. The new age technologies, no doubt, have given a new impetus to modern life. They have given the required order and speed to life. They have helped human efforts a lot. But never did it replace the human head, heart or hand. For all our achievements, human actions are highly essential. But we have to transform the casual aimless actions into conscious ones. In the modern times one has to convert efforts into endeavor, efficiency, effectiveness and finally into excellence. As Gita puts it efficiency in action (karmasukausala) is yoga (the ultimate perfection). Mind is the mechanism, which makes one transform the efforts into excellence. It changes according to the mood and motive. Computer cannot change the mood and motive of an idle mind. It can at best carry out the task assigned in a systematic manner at high speed. Bhagavad Gita and similar other ancient philosophy can activate an idle person into a spirited karma yogi. That is why such philosophies retain their privileged position even now. And that is the relevance of Gita in modern computer age.

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