ANCIENT INDIAN MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES ( SERIES ONE ) VIDUROPADESA

ANCIENT INDIAN MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES ( SERIES ONE ) VIDUROPADESA

Hundreds of ancient Indian management books are available even today in the printed form. Most important among them are Bhagavath Gita, Yoga Vaasishta, Sukra neetisaara, Bhartruhari’s upadesa sataka, Chanakya neetisaara, Bhishmopadesa, Bharatopadesa, Lakshamnopadesa, hundreds of Subhashitas, dialogues/advise given by the gurus /Rushies in Ramayana and Mahabharata…and so on. These books and many other books of the same quality explain the management messages adoptable and adaptable for the 21st century. Here, we present few messages from Viduropadesa in the same order as it is given in his book. These messages are given by Vidura, to Dhrutharaashtra, when the latter was terribly confused whether to support his son Duryodhana who was practicing all adharma or support Dharmaputra who was the embodiment of dharma. At the junction of this confusion and self analyses Dhrutha raashtra invited his brother Vidura for consolation and for a solution to over come the problems. The messages given by Vidura to Dhrutharaashtra is known as Viduropadesha, which is the part of Mahabharatha, the great epic of Bharath.....

1. A scholar/ manager should have spiritual knowledge, devotion towards work, patience , endurance, moral strength.
2. He should use the moral strength for protecting dharmic values; devotion towards work should be used for earning money and controlling luxurious expectations and the spiritual knowledge should be used for detachment.
3. The scholar should follow dharma and never practice adharma.
4. He should have faith in god and concentration towards work.
5. He should not get angry nor get excited / nor show the ego /nor be childish. He should not be a spent thrift and should not think ‘I am great and respectable’.
6. Should take other’s advise/ opinion before undertaking /doing a work.
7. He should not disclose everything about a work before it is completed.
8. Heat, cold, fear, happiness, unhappiness, luxury, poverty, etc., should not affect him positively or negatively.
9. He should not focus too much on the negatives or positives.
10. He should focus mainly on the work (Karma) / mission only.
11. A scholar/manager should use his wisdom for dharmic mission and also for prosperity in a dharmic way.
12. He should get away/ relieved from a luxurious / extravaganza in his life.
13. Expect what he deserves and whole heartedly work to achieve the goal (expectations).
14. Never ignore anything nor consider as silly; take seriously the work.
15. Try to listen as much as possible from all sources
16. Try to learn quickly and systematically
17. Never start any work without a deep understanding about the work.
18. Never interfere with others work without his consent.
19. Never talk in between without the consent of the speaker.
20. Never expect which you will not get; never feel sad on what you lost for ever and keep stability during crisis.
21. A manager should use powerful and attractive words during discussions
22. He should be in a position to convince others easily.
23. His words should reflect his wisdom and should be capable for interpreting the rules positively.
24. He should become a model for others in words and deeds.
25. His knowledge + experience + wisdom + action should work complementary to each other
26. His qualification, method of action and attitudes should also compliment each other.
27. He should never become crazy for money but should earn that through hard work.
28. Never give up any mission undertaken without completing it, however difficult may that be.
29. Never interfere with other’s work if it does not come under your purview . Treat the friends with the same dignity they show to you and never be over polite to those who do not respect / love you and never give up any good friends
30. Do not show affection / love to those who do not reciprocate and never try to fight with strong and powerful people.
32. Never try to impress by showing that an enemy is your friend
33. Never ill treat your good friends and never do bad against them / others.
34. Never try to project yourself, never doubt others (for everything).
35. Do the work undertaken within specific time limit
36. Respect the parents and forefathers, keep faith in the divine power and also try to make good friends.
37. Never enter into a house without invitation, never try to answer to a question without asking and never try to put trust on those who are not trustworthy.
38. Criticizing others for doing something and doing the same thing by self is foolishness.
39. Knowing well that self is incapable of doing something and then getting angry on others is foolishness.
40. Without knowing our own limitations and without doing any work / strain, trying to grab wealth of others is foolish.
41. Never advise those who do not deserve/ seek your guidance.
41. Expect nothing from a miser and from a useless fellow.
42. Try to follow the footsteps of highly educated, hardworking man who makes money in a dharmic way.
43. Share the food and money with others for making friendship.
44. Remember that many people do heinous work and others suffer.
45. Many a times those who create problems escape from the punishment.
46. The arrow shot from a bow may or may not kill but the intellectual power shot from an intelligent man can even uproot a nation.
47. A poison and an arrow may kill only to whom it was given/shot, the advise of a manager can destroy the whole system, including the manager himself.
48. Never eat tasty food alone, never analyze a serious matter alone, never go for a long tour alone, never walk away from a group of people sleeping together.
49. For Ship is needed for crossing the ocean similarly truth is needed for solving the problems.
50. Only one criticism / blame may have to be faced by a manager having good patience. That is ‘the manager is a coward’’ he will not have to face any other blame because patience is a great quality which attracts many

SCIENCE OF LIVING / VALUE BASED LIFE (Points to remember)

We are living here for a specified time only. How long we are living is less important, how we are living is more important. Preparation for living is not life, experience of living is the life. Right from the day of birth till the day of death, we are marching towards the last breath. This life should be useful for us and also all those who are connected with us. We should develop and progress every day. That progress should be all-round progress. I have to elevate myself, I should not denigrate myself, I should know that I am my close relative and also I, myself is my close enemy if I am not properly using me. When 'I' is replaced with all those who are connected with me like my family, my society, my nation, then I will get the correct message of the above lines.

For elevating myself, I should acquire information and that information is to be converted into knowledge, that knowledge should be converted into wisdom and wisdom to experience. The totality of the experience is our life.

For acquiring information. We should know that we can get only one quarter from our teachers and text books, one quarter has to be prepared by ourselves and the third quarter by discussing with others and the last one quarter during the process of living.
During the process of living we have to subject ourselves into the process of addition, deletion, modification and correction. Where ever we have to acquire knowledge addition of that should be done from all the sources. Whatever knowledge we have with us delete them if they have become obsolete. Where modification is to be done without failure subject to modification and wherever corrections are needed, we have to correct ourselves.

For performing the addition, deletion, modification and correction, we have to use the four processes of listening, watching, discussing, and thinking. Listen from all sources. Ten times reading is equal to once writing, ten times writing is equal to once listening, ten times listening is equal to once watching. Hence listen continuously whenever time permits and opportunities are available. Use the eyes for acquiring knowledge from many sources. Create opportunities for discussing and acquiring knowledge. Think and analyze whatever is listened/ watched / discussed .

Listen to positives and make others listen positives. Watch the positives and make others also watch the positives. Use the tongue properly for guiding/ directing / motivating/ appreciating / blessing and so on. Never use the tongue for denigrating /belittling / making fun of /degrading… anyone/ our colleagues /others.

Keep in the mind that there are good / bad, Success / failure, friends / enemies, appreciation / denigration in our life which we have to face. In short the life is a mixture of positives and negatives. Spent minimum ten minutes, every day for prayer (spirituality is the 4th pillar of psychology) for mental satisfaction and happiness.

Man, manage, management, management science are all related with the Sanskrit word Mana = mind:. All the positives and negatives are accumulated in the mind. Hence guide and control the mind..

The above four points on listening, watching, discussing and thinking are directly linked with the mind.

Three points discussed below are linked with the body. They are aahaara / food, achaara / ritual and karma / our work.

Eat satwic and good food, reduce/avoid non vegetarian food. Avoid liquor and smoking, avoid chewing pan. Drink minimum 6 – 8 glass water preferably between 6 to 8 am.
Practice /follow in our life few aachaaras which can give lot of benefits for our body like getting up early, a prayer in bed, touching the floor, taking bath in the morning, few minutes prayer, keeping the face towards east, never keeping the head towards north while sleeping….and so on

Karma. Do good to others, for every action there is an equal and opposition reaction. All good actions will be rewarded by the nature and that is the rule of the nature.
Build a strong family relation. Five points connected with the family (father, mother, wife, husband and children) for maintaining an excellent relation with our parents we should become a model for our own children. Maintaining good relation with partners which the children will practice in their life too, by seeing our life. What you would like your children should become, that we have to become ourselves and demonstrate to them.
They will never be proud to say that they are the son /daughter of a drunkard or they will never have to say that their father used to take bribe. When we expect our children grow with all good qualities and dharmic values , it is our dharma to see that we practice the good and ideal values in our life. I am sure you never expect your son becoming a drunkard . What we are not practicing in our life, we cannot expect them from our subordinates or from our children. Spent minimum half an our with family members during dinner /lunch or tea or at any time everyday..

Spent minimum 3 % time, energy and monthly income for the society . What we are getting from the society, a small part of that is to be given back to the society. Never expect any return or reward from the social service. It is our offering to our fellow country men of our motherland. Do your best for the poor, needy, old aged, sick and hungry people without expecting anything (name and fame) in return. Sacrifice alone can give bountiful of happiness.
A day will come that we will also become old /aged /sick/….. All whatever we have done today should not become a cause for sorrow /worry for tomorrow. So render as much help as possible to others. Never harass others. People are good. Many a times the system make them bad. Good and bad are there in every thing include in ourselves. Everything good has something bad in it. Every bad has something good in it. Nothing is absolutely good or bad.. Our society always prayed lokaa: samasthaa sukhino bhavanthu, sarve bhavanthu sukhina: and so on. We always were interested in the happiness of others. That is our culture.
India is a great nation which could withstand many positives and negatives without crumbling down. We are the proud children of that nation. We are given many comforts, we have to see that we undertake this work as a mission. Our nation expects many thing from us in return. We belong to high class society. But all the comforts and benefits we get are from the people directly or indirectly .

Our nation and your department are well reputed and you are all the members of a powerful financial system of this country. Understand the past of India, the present of India and future of India. Do the best to make today's India a great nation and one of the greatest nations in future. We can do lot of good. Changing others may be difficult. But changing ourselves will not be difficult at all. 'I' has only one letter 'we' has two letters, 'they' has four letters . So changing 'I' is easy. Create revolutionary changes inside and it will reflect as evolutionary change outside. Create violent changes inside it will reflect as silent change outside. Continue the process of changing for 18 days it will become a habit and continue for 41 days it will become slowly part of our culture.

Never create chances for repenting today on what you said and did yesterday. After retirement from service you will become like any other common man. Then you will definitely have more time to think and analyze. At that time if you analyze your deeds and words of the past, it should not give a negative result in your mind. By that time you are too late to correct yourself .

Getting an appointment (job) in your office for you should not become a disappointment for others. How long you are working as an officer is less important than how you are working as an officer. Changing the world is none of our business, but changing ourselves and our colleagues is our dharma. Others doing adharma is not a justification for our doing adharma.
I am sure your mission of serving the people and our motherland will definitely fetch happiness and contentment to you. Powerful people show their power but not utilizing the power. The capacity of leader can be assessed by analyzing how the things go in his absence. Like that the capacity of a powerful officer can be assessed by analyzing how the things go without his using the power given to him. We should remember that we are only tools to implement the rules and not super powers. When we commit big mistakes, how can we expect that others should not commit any mistakes.
My Prayer for each and everyone for your aayu arogya soukhyam = long long happy and prosperous life..

MESSAGE OF LORD McCAULEY

EVERY INDIAN SHOULD KNOW THIS MESSAGE OF LORD McCAULEY

Lord McCauley’s speech in British Parliament on 2nd February, 1835 for converting India to a land suitable for them to rule and make Indians the British slaves : “I have traveled the length and breadth of India and there I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation”

LET US BREAK THE CLUTCHES PUT ON US BY THE FOREIGN RULERS!

Until 1947 Aug. 15th the foreign rulers of this country destroyed our culture and heritage. After 1947 Aug 15th our own rulers are destroying our self- respect and glorious culture national values. Even after 60 years of independence, the 1080 million Indians are ignorant about India and Indian heritage. They are even ignorant that they are ignorant about India. We do not have any shame to belittle and denigrate our country and culture. We, even make fun of our values, heritage, culture and laugh on ourselves. We support others when they denigrate and make fun of ourselves. Some of our thinkers, intellectuals, rulers, politicians and scientists are continue to play the cruel role in these negative activities. Some of the politicians reap by dividing us, like the British rulers did. Both the foreign and Indian rulers were/are successful in the heinous activities. We always talk about values and value based education !Can we import them ? If yes, from where can we import these values ? Do you think that they are available for importing as capsules ? Look into the progress made by Japan ! A country which got resurrected from the ashes after two atom bomb explosions! How could they achieve this great position in the world .Each and every Japanese child took the pledge that he/she will build a modern Japan from the ashes using science and technology, without killing their great heritage, culture and values. The patriotism and nationalism were their roads for progress, value based life was their driving force, perfect unity was their vehicle, dedication and punctuality were their qualifications, glory of their motherland was their ultimate destination. The land of volcanoes achieved what they wanted to achieve. Now, the world is saluting Japan for their quality and efficiency. Can we not follow them ? Better late than never! We may be Christians, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, leftists, rightists or middlistists… If there is a will and sound patriotism nothing else is important. We are Indians that is important. Let us take the inspiration from India . Let us all together build a proud India by inculcating self respect and patriotism in our mind. As our President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam put the mission, let us all focus our karma and dharma towards taking our maathru bhoomi, karma bhoomi, jnaana bhoomi, yajna bhoomi to vikasitha dharma bhoomi by 2020 or before that.

COURTESY:Indian Institute of Scientific Heritage(IISH)

സ്നേഹം ജീവിതത്തിന്റെ കേന്ദ്ര ബിന്ദു : അമ്മ

Love is the centre point of Life : Amma

27th September,2008. Amritapuri

Amma began her 55th Birthday Address by saying that the point of religious and cultural festivals was to help human beings gain peace of mind. Amma lamented that in general this wasn’t happening. The culprit Amma said was man’s obsessive focus on money. “While meditating on money and luxuries, we forget to live,” Amma said. “We forget the very love that lends life to life.”

Amma went on to say that life is an opportunity provided by God for humans to grow and expand. “That which brings order, purity and meaning to life is man’s thoughts and actions,” Amma said. “Unfortunately, the only meaning we attribute to life today is as an opportunity to make money. In order to achieve this end, the human intellect is ready to accept any means. No wonder values are deteriorating!”

Amma then explained how spirituality is not opposed to earning money or fulfilling desires, but that one should always maintain a balanced outlook. “Wealth and the ‘human-ness’ are two sides of a scale. We need to make sure that they remain balanced,” Amma said. “That is the reason why our saints and seers stressed that the pursuit of artha and kama—money and pleasure—should never come at the expense of dharma.”

Speaking about deterioration of values in society, Amma said that a change was very much needed.

However she said that the needed change was primarily internal—changing our negativities into positive qualities. “If we are not ready to change, Nature, or God, will take up the task,” Amma said. “God will never allow wickedness to overgrow and suffocate virtue. The need of the hour is to cultivate a society of good-hearted individuals.”

With regards to education, Amma said that we need to take up efforts to instil values in our children at a young age. “In the name of competition, children should not develop feelings of hatred and revenge,” Amma said. “We need to teach them to love one another. We should fill the syllabuses of our colleges and schools with lessons about love and compassion. This will help put an end to the exploitation of the sorrows and miseries of the downtrodden. War and violent clashes will lessen and we will be able to realize the dream of world peace—at least to some extent. When mutual love grows, Nature also will become peaceful.”

Amma said that true happiness can only come through understanding our own mind. “As long as we are determined to remain in the prisons created by our own mental weaknesses, nothing can save us,” Amma said. “If we don’t have the permission and blessing of our own mind, regardless of what we possess we won’t be happy.”

Amma explained that attaining happiness was, in truth, not such a difficult task. All it takes, she said, is love. “Love is the bindu—the centre-point of life,” Amma said. “We should perform all our actions, remaining focused in this centre-point. Only then will we be able to both experience love for ourselves and share it with others. Today we’ve managed to transform life into something about everything but love. It is for this reason that human beings everywhere are disappearing and in their place human-machines are taking birth. Somehow we’ve managed to turn love—the one thing that is in fact the closest to us—into the most distant.”

Amma ended her satsang by sharing the heart-touching story of a family who’d recently come for her darshan. The husband had been rendered crippled by a stroke. The wife was trying to support everyone by working as a house maid. They were hopelessly in debt. “Children, remember, this is just one example,” Amma said. “There are millions of people suffering like this in the world. On one hand, so many people in this world live ostentatious lives, drinking, partying and throwing away their wealth. Many perform cruel actions and think only of themselves. At the same time, there are so many who can’t obtain even a single meal a day. While we scurry around trying to fulfil all our desires and experience peace and happiness, do we think about these unfortunate people for even a moment? My children, you should think about them. You should be ready to do something for them.”