BHAGVADGITA AND

MANAGEMENT
SK Giridhar
Organisational Expert
Motivational Speaker & Trainer
• Sri Bhagwadgita has been straight
from the Lord Sri Krishna and the
recipient directly was Sri Arjuna and
by ways of association Dhrutarashtra
and Sanjaya.
• One has to visit Sri Bhagwadgita like a
morning walk on the Seashores which
looks infinite; dip the self and a fingers
and feet on its shores and it shall be
only rare on earth who shall dive into it
totally to travel the length, width,
distances and dimensions of Sri
Bhagwadgita. That is the longest
journey perhaps of the Self.
• We perhaps can read a Sloka or a
word from a sloka and if we have
meditated on the word quite
comprehensively and also
conceptualized and seeded that
concept on the soil of inner soul; then
perhaps sprouting knowledge one
can write in these columns.
 Sloka 1 and Chapter 1.
Said and stated Dhruthrashtra to Sanjaya.

In management aspects: at least self and someone else is required. There has
to be a dialogue and communications: asking and knowing are two key
aspects of the management.

The address to Sanjaya is what the elder must do a respected junior. There is a
DharmaBhoomi: the field, the boundaries, the limits of operations; where
there are individuals, groups for defined objectives; there is a Kurukshetra;
Kshetra ; means the objects of a subject; normally management is done to
correct the deficiencies; to control the good parts; and ensure continual
improvements in the system; management is done to bring back the system
to intended accuracies, precisions and specifications.

In sloka 1, there is a word Yuddh- war. This word should not be taken straight
as War as the contemporarily it suggests. Life is a war: wherein we are
pouring our energies to make things happen and shape as per the intended
desires. And there is a curiosity. Each one is filled with curiosity. Top
management and we. What happened; who did; what has been achieved. So
in Sloka 1, curiosity takes birth:
• Hey Sanjaya: curiosity 1.

what has been done by my sons and sons

of Pandu: Curiosity two and three.

In sloka 1 : there are three curiosities.

Curiosity 4 : Participants having intended

desires for war.
• Any management process commences
from:

Curiosity: What to do this year; this month;

today; what has been achieved; and that
sort of role is played by almost everyone
on the hierarchy of organizational
structure.
• The word vairaagya does not mean renouncing
and living and hiding the self in the forest.
Vairaagya means a state in which a person
neither has raaga nor dwesha: nor attachment
nor detachment. In most simplified manner;
vairaagya means a person wearing the shoes of
NON-ATTACHMENT and now he walks
anywhere in the world and society; he is not
getting indulged or he is not having any asakti;
since he is now wearing the shoes of non-
attachment. A person having vairaagya does
give the best quality as his fundamental nature.
• An effective work culture is about vigorous and
arduous efforts in pursuit of given or chosen
tasks. Sri Krishna elaborates on two types of
work culture – "daivi sampat" or divine work
culture and "asuri sampat" or demonic work
culture.

• Daivi work culture ‐ involves fearlessness, purity,

self‐control, sacrifice, straightforwardness, self
denial,
calmness, absence of fault‐finding, absence of
greed, gentleness, modesty, absence of envy
and pride.
• Asuri work culture ‐ involves egoism, delusion,
personal desires, improper performance, work
not oriented towards service. Mere work ethic is
not enough. The hardened criminal exhibits an
excellent work ethic. What is needed is a work
ethic conditioned by ethics in work.

• It is in this light that the counsel, "yogah karmasu

kausalam" should be understood. "Kausalam"
means skill or technique of work which is an
indispensable component of a work ethic.
“Yogah" is defined in the Gita itself as "samatvam
yogah uchyate" meaning an unchanging
equipoise of mind (detachment.) Acting with an
equable mind is Yoga.
• By making the equable mind the bed‐rock of all
actions, the Gita evolved the goal of unification of
work ethic with ethics in work, for without ethical
process no mind can attain equipoise. The guru,Adi
Sankara Charya (born circa 800 AD),
says that the skill necessary in the performance of
one's duty is that of maintaining an evenness of
mind in face of success and failure. The calm mind
in the face of failure will lead to deeper
introspection and see clearly where the process
went wrong so that corrective steps could be taken
to avoid shortcomings in future.
• The principle of reducing our attachment to
personal gains from the work done is the Gita's
prescription for attaining equanimity. It has been
held that this principle leads to lack of incentive
for effort, striking at the very root of work ethic.
To the contrary, concentration on the task for its
own sake leads to the achievement of
excellence – and indeed to the true mental
happiness of the worker. Thus, while
commonplace theories of motivation may be
said to lead us to the bondage or extrinsic
rewards, the Gita's principle leads us to the
intrinsic rewards of mental, and indeed moral,
satisfaction.
"Karmanyeva adhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachanaMa
karmaphalahetur bhurma te sangostvakarmani."

Meaning-"Thy business is with the action only, never with its fruits;
so let not the fruits of action be thy motive, nor be thou to inaction
attached."

If you look at the statements of both the people and compare it to

the verse ,we notice that both the personalities are in some way or
the other following the verse of bhagavadgita.right?

Till now people use to study it for gaining spiritual knowledge but
now we are learning from the west that you can apply it in our
business as well. If it is relevent even after thousands of years i am
pretty sure that it will be relevent forever.we just have to wait and
watch in what all fields and areas we can apply this and find
success.
• “Whatever the excellent and best ones do, the
commoners follow,” says Sri Krishna in the Gita.
The visionary leader must be a missionary,
extremely practical, intensively dynamic and
capable of translating dreams into reality. This
dynamism and strength of a true leader flows
from an inspired and spontaneous motivation to
help others. “I am the strength of those who are
devoid of personal desire and attachment.
O Arjuna, I am the legitimate desire in
those, who are not opposed to righteousness,”
says Sri Krishna in the 10th Chapter of the
Gita.
• skgiridhar@gmail.com

• +91 9720 3938 34