jabdakhata

Is Selflessness Practical? The selflessness of the business leader is also driven by another consideration. Any business model is a temporary endeavor. A temporary endeavor cannot result in a permanent or a lasting benefits, it can only cause a temporary outcome for all including the leader whose tenure is also temporary. Therefore for the sake of temporary gains if one puts ethics behind one would be having a long term personal integrity and reputation at stake. As Sri Krishna would have said in Gita -  akirtim chapi bhutani kathayishyanti te avyayam sambhavitasya chakirtir maranatatirichyate "People will say things of disrepute about you for eternity. Those who are of great repute, to them disrepute is worse than death" The leader who is selfless would never try to influence business outcome by following unrighteous means. In this case the leader is detached from the outcome and instead focuses on the means as well as compassionate enough to take into cons

Ethics through the prism of “Selflessness” Project Management Institute (PMI) definition of ethics says that Ethics is the discipline of  “how to do it best.”   In Bhagavad Gita we surprisingly find a similarity  – “Work without attachment and desire is the art of doing things in the most efficient way”. By definition, the three components of ethics are: (a) Disposition - one's, customary manner of emotional response or temperament; (b) Character – moral strength, integrity, and fortitude; and (c) Attitude – a state of mind or feeling with regard to some matter. One or more of them are needed to comply with ethical norms and ensure successful business outcome and character is undoubtedly the most important one. But how are these components, esp. that of character, cultivated and inculcated? As discussed earlier, the key drivers behind unethical behaviors are fear, greed, weak monitoring (environmental) and passion. If we critically analyze we’ll find that all of them

Ethics is the backbone of leadership and forms one of the cornerstone of the philosophy behind good management. Ethics is not something which is rigidly defined. It has got a fairly flexible boundary and different project situations and even different cultural norms permit different ethical behavior. Therefore is there any thumb rule by which we can ensure ethical behavior under all circumstances? One of the key pillars in leadership is ethics and integrity. If we critically examine the term ethics in leadership context we find that it’s a term that is not very rigidly defined. It deals with the ideal behavior under different situations. Codes of ethics vary greatly in terms of the types of the activities and actions they cover and the degree of enforcement.   Wherever there is a conflict of interest there is a question of ethics and integrity. Broadly the key drivers for ethical problems are threefold – Fear, Greed and Passion. The first one is well known, fear is basically pres

It was left to Guru Nanaka and others to work out the philosophy of Vedanta on a practical level, but their work did not get universal acceptance. Instead they became sectarian and hence the broadness of the ideal did not get the necessary visibility. We’re fortunate to get a few selfless souls in the seventeenth and eighteenth century like Rani Bhavani in Bengal, Ahalya Bai Holkar in Maharastra and other exceptional people who took up service of living gods. But they were too few. Masses in general were submerged in great degree of ignorance and the advent of the new age found reaction in the form of social reform movements. Such reform movements wanted to cut the very roots, rather than cleansing the shrubs and growths around them. Uprooting the gigantic social tree was a Herculean tasks and hence these movements could not gain much traction, although they did help in paving the way for what was to come. Opening the gates of free and rational thinking was necessary before peop

Service to mankind as a gesture of compassion is a hallmark of Christianity. The service is provided because this is what according to Christianity is expected of mankind by the father in the heaven. The service and compassion would also bring people closer to heaven and to Christ.  This was also the characteristics of Buddhism.  The notable difference between the two approaches is that Buddhists took up service merely for the sake of compassion and not for any heavenly rewards. However the concept of Seva that was formulated by Vedantic ideology and that was promoted by Swami Vivekananda in particular and few other great men in general, is very different from the concept of service. In ancient India “ishta purti” activities were undertaken as a sacrifice, in general desiring heaven by householders and royal sages. However there are instances where sages performed activities of services for the sake of it, because it was a social norm and best practice, because it was expected of the

A lot of people on internet claims themselves to be liberal and yet I find that they are for or against some opinion or the other. That let me to think, what does the term liberal truly mean? Are all these folks “liberal” as the publicly claim themselves to be? Can we be liberal and yet unwilling to accept something? It does sound like an oxymoron. Liberalism by it very definition should mean respect for all, even hostile opinions and ideologies. The term Liberal is used in a very liberal sense. It should ideally mean an all-encompassing, all subscribing ideology that excludes none, has contempt for none and that is vast enough to assimilate and absorb even the meanest and vilest into its fold. That definition would certainly not fit our armchair liberals who are fighting a perceived battle with so called “intolerants”, “jingoist”, “nationalists” and others who do not share their opinion. It certainly does not mean those who use different yardsticks for judging one set of people

Mary Louis Burke, also known as Sister Gargi, a nun of the Vedanta Society, who is better known for her painstaking labour of two decades on research and new discoveries on Swami Vivekananda in America and the consequent work in 6 volumes, once made a very important comment in her introduction to one of the editions of Swami Vivekananda, New Discoveries. She said that if India forgets the teachings of Vivekananda, she will do so at her own peril.  Incidentally the warning bugle was sounded a hundred years back by a noted revolutionary, Jatindranath Mukherjee, popularly called Bhagha Jatin. Jatindranath was one of the architects of an international conspiracy to wage an armed revolution against Britishrule taking the advantage of the first world war. He was one of the most dangerous men sought by British, but his activities were unknown and his audacious plan would have succeeded in rattling the empire had it not been for a treachery of a Chek spy in America. Jatin and his men did

Education has a lot of positive connotation in our mind. When a find a person to be educated we're psychologically reassured about the credibility of a person. Higher the educational qualifications, higher is a person's credibility, so much so, that a Masters degree holder or an MBA from reputed institutes, a doctorate in science or literature or engineering, occupies a very high place in our mind. They are very bright prospects in job markets, always on demand in various fields including matrimonial alliances, and are assumed to be of impeccable character. But is education synonymous with character?  Of late we see that there are many cases in which educated youth are engaged in activities which are condemnable in the strongest term, like assault on women, murder, terrorism, drug peddling, robbery and many such heinous crimes, which shakes our faith in the country's education system. It leads us to question as to are we creating demons or men from the system that we

More I read about the character Yudhisthira in Mahabharata, more I am amazed. Perhaps everybody should read the entire Mahabharata atleast once in life just to know intimately about these characters and gain something from them. Its true that Yudhisthira had his weaknesses. He was probably  not a great warrior, was a bit addicted to gambling, although to be fair to him he was merely performing the dharma of a kshatriya by responding to the challenges of Shakuni. Also in Mahabharata war he was a late bloomer. He was defeated and disgraced by Karna who let him go thinking of his promise to mother Kunti, and he vented his frustration on Arjuna. By the grace of Sri Krishna Yudhisthira survived Arjuna's foolhardiness. That was the only instance in the entire Mahabharata where we saw him losing his cool. That was also the only situation where he expressed candidly his fear regarding the outcome of war, esp. the many sleepless nights he spent thinking about how to defeat Karna. However

One of the greatest assertions of this age is Jato Mat Tato Path (As many thoughts so many ways). Once we begin to think deeply on the meaning of this apparently harmless statement made by Sri Ramakrishna one hundred and fifty years back one gets amazed by the significance that it conveys and the immense possibilities if one actually wants to actualize this statement. This one statement has the potential of reconciling all differences, ensuring world peace and universal brotherhood in social and spiritual realm. But this one also holds immense potential in material life. The key here is respecting every opinion and thought without evaluating them at their face value and judging them by their merits without any prejudice. In this way apparently irreconcilable problems become reconcilable, and differences cease to exist. All differences stem from ego and selfish interests or conflict of interest. When I have a different opinion from others I would definitely like to think that mine one

Swami Vivekananda stated in one lecture that the whole of creation is an undifferentiated mass of energy. There is no space for anything else outside the creation to be included in the creation. The entire creation will fall apart if an attempt is made to get any smallest particle from outside the creation (universe) to be put into the creation. The universe is like a pitcher filled to the brim and any mass not generated within creation, if placed within it will collapse the universe. This is because energy has filled the universe to its brim. Modern science proves that matter and energy are synonymous. Therefore universe is full of particles of matter and hence can be compared to one solidified mass. There cannot be any space left in a condensed solidified mass and any attempt to disrupt it will only result in its collapse. Circular Motion- Swamiji said that the linear motion is only apparently linear, but in actual practice all motions will take place in a perfect circle if the

Swamiji discoursed eloquently on the following topics which were basically scientific thoughts based on spirituality. 1. Theory of Continuity: Swamiji claimed that the entire creation is a continuity, without any gap. The gross matter viewed by us has a subtle component and that subtle becomes subtler. In this way the subtlemost components intertwine with each other and thus form a continuous mass which ensures that we are all connected with each other. There is no discontinuity anywhere in this universe.  We must remember that this theory was discussed much before quantum mechanics came in picture and there was not even faintest idea about Higg;s Boson, Quantum consciousness and so on. The inter connectivity at various planes is the reason of our empathy for others and compassion for others, as on a subtler plane we are connected with others and thus perceive their pain. The greater is the ability of a person to take her mind to the subtle plane, greater is the ability of perce

There has been outrage in different forms over JNU incident. Some were outraged by what they perceived to be a curbing of "freedom of expression", some expressed outrage over anti nationalist spirit displayed, and others, over what they saw Government's high handedness and "intolerance". The intellectuals, media and some political parties belong to the first and third groups. Some politicians have already expressed their solidarity with the students. I am not going to argue here whether they were right or wrong. One thing is however very evident, that in communist thought process their can be no place for Nationalism and when communism mingles with communalism, the concoction becomes deadly. JNU has always been noted for communist sympathizers, some of its professors and academics were noted for their virulent and passionate opposition to anything to deal with the greatness and glory of nation because they either perceived it to be narrow mindedness to love on

This is a discourse between Vidura and Dhritarastra in Stree Parva, when the latter was much afflicted by hearing the sad news of the killings of all his sons and grandsons. Taken from Mahabharata of Krishna Dwiapyana Vyasa, translated by Kishari Mohan Ganguli, volume 7 - Stree Parva. A certain brahmana, living in the great world, found himself on one occasion in a large inaccessible forest teeming with beasts of prey. It abounded on every side with lions and other animals looking like elephants, all of which were engaged in roaring aloud. Such was the aspect of that forest that Yama himself would take fright at it. Beholding the forest, the heart of the brahmana became exceedingly agitated. His hair stood on end, and other signs of fear manifested themselves, O scorcher of foes! Entering it, he began to run hither and thither, casting his eyes on every  point of the compass for finding out somebody whose shelter he might seek.  Wishing to avoid those  terrible creatures, he ran in

Vyadha Gita was the name of an excellent piece of wisdom appearing in Mahabharata, Vana parva, that was given by a vyadha (fowler) to a Brahmin who went to learn from him as requested by a housewife.age Markandeya had narrated to Yudhisthira and other Pandavas, in front of Krishna, this story. The story also appears, albeit briefly in one of the lectures of Swami Vivekananda. The story goes like this. There was one Brahmin named Kaushika who after being well versed in Vedas acquired some special power. One day he was meditating under a tree and a crane sitting on the top of that tree and its dropping fell on the Brahmin, who instantly looked up and the crane fell dead. The Brahmin was astonished by the display of this power and also was sad that he killed a creature through his anger. He reproached himself and went to beg in a nearby village. There he begged for alms from a housewife who was busy serving her husband. she told him to wait and served her husband to her heart's cont

Swami Vivekananda's letter to a boy in Alwar has often cited by various sources, esp. the organizations that help others - "Be good and do good, that is the essence of all religions." Swamiji said this in specific context, to a boy who was interested in spiritual life and yet who was groping in darkness. It was person specific and was not general. A spiritual giant like Vivekananda knew very well that religion and spirituality extends far beyond the Western popular notion of being good and doing good. Those are good values no doubt for the beginners, but with certain advancement, being good and doing good does not seem to suffice. Being good does not ensure mental peace, doing good does not conquer ego and doing good with an eye on results is counter  productive. Worldview accepts everything with a utility. If there is utility then the action is accepted, else it is rejected. Without utility there is no meaning or significance attached to the action. Of course from a

Mahendranath Dutta, who was swami Vivekananda's own brother, has given a very vivid description of Swami Vivekananda's stay in London in 1896. During this time for sometime Mahendranath as well as Swami Saradananda stayed with Vivekananda in a rented house along with Goodwin, and the experience of living so closely with Vivekananda has been recorded succinctly. we therefore not only get the greatness of Vivekananda as a towering and blazing spirituality personified, but also his human side, his jokes, his childish pranks and above all his kindness and compassion towards all fellow beings. The lectures or the parlour talks went unrecorded for some reason and probably was recorded by Goodwin but a lot of documents were lost after Goodwin's death. Hence many of these lectures, esp. the ones on science and spirituality, have not been found. So it is a treat to read them in the book by Mahendranath, where he has presented these lectures in summary form and also have provided

The mother Durga had made a proclamation in Durga Saptashati. She said to the gods, " Ittham yada yada vadha danavottha bhavishwati tada tadarvatiraham kariswami arisamsayam " - Whenever and wherever evil forces raise their heads and create obstacles, then and there I appear and destroy them. This is similar to the famous and oft repeated verses in Gita - "yada yada hi dharmasya..." Durga is found as reference in many ancient texts and elsewhere around the world. In Cyprus there was an ancient goddess names Virgo whose image depicted a female riding a lion and killing a demon. It is believed that Egyptian goddesses like Isis have their origin in the worship of eternal feminine. The same goes with Astarte or Ishtar who was the goddess of fertility and was worshiped but almost all ancient races like Assyrians, Egyptians, Phoenicians and had lion as one of the symbols. Scholars argue that the worship of the goddess arose from worshiping mother earth for a bountiful