R.T.Sakthidaran

Recently, one of my friends Dr. San Murugesan referred me a blog post by Prof. Vijay Govindarajan with a title, “Modern Strategy and Hinduism: Finding Parallels” in Harvard Business Review which he found interesting. I read that article with all the comments for two reasons:

1. the site was referred by my friend
2. the site is part of Harward Business Review, a world leader for business and management articles

Other than that, I do not find much value in the article. My thinking is partly touched by Mahesh who said “Ancient religions teach you detachment and to shed sense of doership in order to reach the ultimate goal of human existence. ……. Ancient religions were never meant to be practiced to attain business goals in the first place. The idea itself is self-contradictory”. I think he would like to deal it in depth but that would be an article of not business interest!

The other comment by Sri Lanka share my thoughts partly when it says, “In today’s world what we need for management to apply from religion is how a organization can preserve needy in market it operates. How that can the organization destruct unwanted and create a basic life for the society and needy. Not a society where 1000s of poor homeless live next to SUPER RICH company owners’ palaces. GOD Loves ethics not exploitation in the name of STRATEGY”.

My views on Hinduism is like this. First of all, Hinduism is a way of living or culture, encapsulating all aspects of life. Nothing is left uncovered and it is to be applied in toto, not in parts. One has to accept certain basic and first concept before proceeding further. Like:

1. There is ParamAtmA – Supreme God (external)
2. All of us are AtmA – Aham Brahmasmi (I am God) (I am part of that Supreme God)
3. Self realization is the goal of life. (Realizing that I am part of the Supreme God and so also others)

All other principles are derived from the above. I will give two examples. One from the life of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhiji achieved self-realization in his early life. He believed that every human being equal (as they are all the God’s children) they can not be discriminated against each other. He wanted the South African whites to realize that they are ‘Atma’s so also the blacks. He fought for the black as he saw God in them and fought with non-violence as he believed the whites are also Gods. He drew the attention and admiration of the whole world. He was the most successful leader who could pull the masses with out an ad or campaign. When he walked, the whole country walked behind him to collect handful of salt. When he said no foreign clothes, there were fire of foreign cloths in every part of India. He was the unpaid CEO of India with no commission, bonus, allowances, perks. He took from the society that he needed to survive and gave his whole body and soul to the country. He wore only that much cloth that the last and poorest Indian could afford. For a leader of this type, the corporate goal of getting freedom for India had to be a success. Even Gandhiji’s aim was not just getting British out and get freedom but to establish ‘Ram Rajya’ where the realization of God is everyone’s goal. Helping others, treating with equality, rendering justice, punishing the criminal and other aspects of governance takes totally a new turn once you adopt the basic concept of Hinduism.

The other example is a modern Swami Ramdev of Patanjali Yog Peet, Haridwar. Swami Ramdev is another person who has attained self-realization that he is part of the Supreme God and so also others. Once, he has attained this realization it becomes easy for him to see the evils and suffering of the society. He was unable to live in caves practicing yog when he realized that majority of the Indians and even people in the whole world are suffering from diseases. He observed that most of the earnings of the people went for medical treatment and the agony that they were suffering made him come out of the caves and teach yog for health. He and his disciple Acharya Balakrishnan went from place to place not just to teach yog but make the people realize the God. They started teaching the Hinduism concepts to people while they themselves practiced them. Swami Ramdev like Gandhi chose to wear two pieces of cloth and eat bare minimum. His teaching helped people get rid of High Blood Pressure, CHD, diabetes, and so on. People started flocking his camps in tens of thousands at early morning 5 A.M. Donations poured. In less than 2 years almost Rs 1000 Crore ($250 millions) collected and spent for establishing rest houses, health centers and herbal medicines manufacturing units. This CEO does not take commission, bonus, perks etc. He is happy to see people realizing God in themselves. He is happy to see that people are getting rid of diseases. When he prescribes yog and herbs for sexual disorders, he makes it clear that it is not for indulging in sex for pleasure but to have enough off-springs for the family.

Swamy Ramdev Ji

Now, find out the leadership qualities in Swami Ramdev and that prescribed in Harvard teachings. Compare the business strategy that is taught and practiced in West to that of “Patanjali Yog Peet” and its various other units like “Divya Pharmacy” etc. You would not find the term profit, B-class and C-class executives in these units. You will not hear the terms like marketing, competition, compromising quality, brand image creation, transfer pricing, law, HNI (high net worth individuals), bribe, money laundering, manipulating accounts, moral and ethical problems. You will certainly hear the words like service, poor, peasants, rural, tribal, poverty, urban, health, development, growth, justice, mother, mother-land, God, etc.

So, applying Trimurti concept from Hinduism to Western Business concept in isolation can not bring big change either to the organization or the society in which it operates. Of course, it is one of the basic functions in any organization. There is nothing new in it. Maintenance (consolidation), innovation (creation) and destruction (product or process waste elimination) is part of any organization whether it is a family or business. Instead of trying to find parallels to a small activity in Hinduism, the learned professors in West be Indian or others should try to understand the Hinduism in totality. It is like TQM concept. You should not apply Hinduism concept of work ethics to produce weapons of mass destruction for huge profit.

I welcome your comments and would certainly like to learn some thing new.

Jai Hind

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