Article by M.P. Bhattathiri, Retied Chief Technical Examiner to the Government of Kerela, Radhanivas, Thaliyal, Karmana, Trivandrum, 695 002, Kerela, India [...]

 
Article by M.P. Bhattathiri, Retied Chief Technical Examiner to the Government of Kerela, Radhanivas, Thaliyal, Karmana, Trivandrum, 695 002, Kerela, India, may be published in your website and magazine after editing if necessary

The Holy Gita says, (13:27) "He alone sees truly who sees the Lord the same in every creature, who sees the Deathless in the hearts of all that die."

by M.P. Bhattathiri

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Mind is very restless, forceful and strong, O Krishna, it is more difficult to control the mind than to control the wind ~ Arjuna to Sri Krishna

Introduction

The Bhagavad Gita and the Holy Bible are among the world's most holy scriptures. More than half of humanity is guided by the light of these two books. Both these scriptures speak of the eternal wisdom and infinite love of God.Lord Jesus Christ said "let He who is chiefest among you be servant to all." Management and leadership founded upon this principle will always find a cadre of people willing to complete the task at hand.

One of the greatest contributions of India to the world is Holy Gita which is most the most famous, and definitely the most widely-read, sacred text of India after Holy Bible. Arjuna got mentally depressed when he saw his relatives with whom he has to fight. The Bhagavad Gita is preached in the battle field Kurukshetra by Lord Krishna to Arjuna as a counseling to do his duty while multitudes of men stood by waiting . It has got all the management tactics to achieve the mental equilibrium and to overcome any crisis situation. The Bhagavad Gita can be experienced as a powerful catalyst for transformation. Bhagavad gita means song of the Spirit, song of the Lord. The Holy Gita has become a secret driving force behind the unfoldment of one's life. In the days of doubt this divine book will support all spiritual search.This divine book will contribute to self reflection, finer feeling and deepen one's inner process. Then life in the world can become a real education—dynamic, full and joyful—no matter what the circumstance. May the wisdom of loving consciousness ever guide us on our journey. What makes the Holy Gita a practical psychology of transformation is that it offers us the tools to connect with our deepest intangible essence and we must learn to participate in the battle of life with right knowledge.

There is no theory to be internalized and applied in this psychology. Ancient practices spontaneously induce what each person needs as the individual and the universal coincide. The work proceeds through intellectual knowledge of the playing field(jnana yoga), emotional devotion to the ideal(bhakti yoga) and right action that includes both feeling and knowledge(karma yoga). With ongoing purification we approach wisdom. The Bhagavad Gita is a message addressed to each and every human individual to help him or her to solve the vexing problem of overcoming the present and progressing towards a bright future. Within its eighteen chapters is revealed a human drama. This is the experience of everyone in this world, the drama of the ascent of man from a state of utter dejection, sorrow and total breakdown and hopelessness to a state of perfect understanding, clarity, renewed strength and triumph.

Management has become a part and parcel of everyday life, be it at home, in the office or factory and in Government. In all organizations, where a group of human beings assemble for a common purpose, management principles come into play through the management of resources, finance and planning, priorities, policies and practice. Management is a systematic way of carrying out activities in any field of human effort.

Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their weaknesses irrelevant, says the Management Guru Peter Drucker. It creates harmony in working together - equilibrium in thoughts and actions, goals and achievements, plans and performance, products and markets. It resolves situations of scarcity, be they in the physical, technical or human fields, through maximum utilization with the minimum available processes to achieve the goal. Lack of management causes disorder, confusion, wastage, delay, destruction and even depression. Managing men, money and materials in the best possible way, according to circumstances and environment, is the most important and essential factor for a successful management.

"We're discovering that what we thought was fine, which was to be more efficient, harder working and richer, doesn't actually lead to the Nirvana we hoped for ... those who are making the most money are not sure it's worth it. Who wants to be rich in the graveyard? And those who aren't making any money think that the world doesn't make sense, because money is supposed to be the only thing worth having and they haven't got any."

“Tomorrow we are going to wake up in a world in which we all need to realise that we are condemned to freedom ... There is no escape. Institutions won't shoulder responsibility because they are in a state of confused flux. There is no church, no nation state, no market to rely on. There are no cut and dried values to use as escape tools ... we are faced with the prospect of taking charge of our own freedom ... responsibility for our own health, for our own education, for our own careers - responsibility for our own lives."

"The recent anti-capitalist protests indicate a growing frustration with the institutional arrangements currently in place. They also, largely, miss the point. Global market capitalism is not a political ideology. It is neither good or bad, right nor wrong - it just is."

Management guidelines from the Bhagavad Gita

There is an important distinction between effectiveness and efficiency in managing.

Effectiveness is doing the right things.
Efficiency is doing things right.
The general principles of effective management can be applied in every field, the differences being more in application than in principle. The Manager's functions can be summed up as:

Forming a vision
Planning the strategy to realise the vision.
Cultivating the art of leadership.
Establishing institutional excellence.
Building an innovative organisation.
Developing human resources.
Building teams and teamwork.
Delegation, motivation, and communication.
Reviewing performance and taking corrective steps when called for.
Thus, management is a process of aligning people and getting them committed to work for a common goal to the maximum social benefit - in search of excellence.

The critical question in all managers’ minds is how to be effective in their job. The answer to this fundamental question is found in the Bhagavad Gita, which repeatedly proclaims that “you must try to manage yourself.