Sustainable Management Practices through Ancient Indian Wisdom

Introduction

The world is once again at the “eye of a storm”. In the recent years we have already witnessed a

series of failures of some of the most successful corporations across the globe and exposure of

revered leaders in corporate scandals. There is revelation of financial malpractices, mass

uprisings in Greece for the debt-crisis or “Occupy Wall-street” campaigns being held at various

parts of the developed world simultaneously.

Corporate senior management, management consultants, renowned economists, educators, etc

one after the other is still not able to find a concrete solution for coping up with this increasing

uncertainty in the global business scenario. They are still trying the old way of “control, control,

control” and “justify, justify, justify” which is of no use. It is only leading this world to more

“selfishness” in the international relations where disparity, both in economic and social terms,

between the nations is increasing.

All this leads us to ask one central question:

“Are the existing models of modern management capable enough to cope up with this current

global management crisis? Are the existing modern management practices enough to bring back

sustainability in the global economy?”

The answer to the above questions lies in integrating ancient wisdom in the existing modern

management frameworks. We argue that ancient Indian wisdom which has a heritage of being

more than 3500 years old and which teaches something more “eternal” and timeless could be a

guiding light for bringing more certainty and sustainability in our business practices. In this

pursuit, we would cope up with uncertainty at the various levels of management by following the

“Jnan path” or the “path of Knowledge” which consists of a series of “knowledge-processes” for

linking up the individual consciousness (Self or Atman) to the Universal Self (Brahman or

universal consciouness) as depicted in the figure below.

Figure 1: The Six fold path of Knowledge & Levels of Management (Source: Author)

Leadership &

Trust

Business Ecosystems

Global Management

Individual Self

(Self)

Universal Self

(SELF)

Knowledge

Creation

Knowledge

Acquisition

Knowledge

Transfer

Knowledge

Sharing

Open Innovation

Spiritual

Congruence

Creation of a Uniform World - order

Managing Self

Jnana

Path

Though ancient Indian wisdom is extremely rich and contains hundreds of different scriptures

based on the teachings of innumerable sages, philosophers and rulers, we are going to focus on

the following five scriptures most relevant in the context of management –

Period Scripture Description Most important idea

1500-1000 BC Veda

Oldest scriptures of India. It consists of

four canonical collections or samhitas

viz., Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva

The Truth is One but

only said in different

ways by different people.

1000-600 BC Upanishads

Philosophical texts considered to be an

early source of Hinduism. Consists of

more than 200 texts.

The grand

interconnectedness

between living and non-

living. Individual

consciousness is no

different from the

Universal consciousness

200 BC – 200 AD Bhagavad

Gita

An eternal song in the form of a poem

which reveals important lessons on

ethics through a dialogue between Lord

Krishna and the warrior Arjuna who is

at the midst of a great dilemma of his

life.

Desire-less action is

superior to work with

selfish desire; Salvation

attained through work is

superior to that attained

through renunciation of

work, etc.

100 BCE - 500

AD

Patanjali

Yoga

aphorisms

Consists of 196 aphorisms showing a

way of personal discipline for

integrating the mind, body and soul.

Ignorance and Ego as the

afflictions of human

mind.

249 BCE - 100

AD Arthashastra

An ancient Indian treatise on statecraft

and economic policy written by

Kautilya who was later identified as

Chanakya, the teacher of the first

Maurya emperor, Chandragupta.

A king (or leader) should

be a Rajarishi (a king

who is wise like a sage)

Managing Self

According to the great sage Patanjali, the first affliction of human mind is ignorance (Avidya).

Ignorance is a state of self-forgetfulness that is borne of our naturally distorted, material

perception. In ignorance we see and accept the unreal as real and the real as unreal. Our

perception of the physical starts overriding our awareness of the subtler, spiritual dimensions of

existence and consciousness. We forget who we are. We forget that we are a spiritual being

living in a human body to have a human experience (Shuddhaanandaa, 2003)

It is only through mindfulness and spiritual discipline that we can acquire wisdom. It is only

through our experiences that the myth is shattered in our mind. Knowledge is created and

acquired in the process and we realize our true Self. It is only when we overcome the mental

inhibitions created by our own illusions and free our mind entangled in our projected thoughts,

ideas and concepts that we finally connect with the cosmic mind. Only then we can overcome

our state of Ignorance and become wise by realizing the truth that our individual consciousness

(Atman) is not separate from the organizational and universal consciousness (Brahman).

Even in our management model, we propose to begin with Self Management. Managing Self is

of utmost importance in our journey from the lower truth to higher truth, darkness and ignorance

to light and wisdom, from fear of death to deathlessness or immortality. What really stops us

from this higher truth is our ego.

In simple terms, ego is the principle of differentiation of oneself from others; it rests on the

feeling of otherness (Singh, 2011). Ego is the conditioned state of our mind and emotions in

which we identify ourselves with our false existence. It is the shadow of our real existence, our

real Self (Shuddhaanandaa, 2003).

According to great sage Patanjali, ego (Ashmita) is the second affliction of human mind which

has its foundation in ignorance. Some of the words which were associated with the most

successful and revered companies are talent, excellence, power, consistently exceeding customer

expectations (satisfying their needs), etc. Let us now look at the negative effect of Ego on

positive feelings and attributes of an individual or organization (Krishna, 2010):

Love + Ego → Attachment, Possessiveness

Wish + Ego → Desire, Addiction

Power + Ego → Domination, Exploitation

Humility + Ego → Inferiority

Talent + Ego → Pride, Vanity, Arrogance

Excellence + Ego → Rivalry

Thought + Ego → Fear, Anxiety

Need + Ego → Greed

But when the same companies failed miserably, management consultants, experts and senior

management people started giving a lot of economic reasons for their downfall. But what might

have gone wrong in these organizations can’t be just economic reasons but it could have been

wrong management decisions based on greed, lust, exploitation, rivalry, pride or vanity, etc.

And as we can see from the table above, the fundamental reason for such negative consequences

could be their ego which led to false vanity and hubris pride. Ego acts like a screen which blinds

even the most knowledgeable and intellectual person and makes him take the wrong decision.

Making a wrong decision is basically an intellectual failure. Mind creates the decision

alternatives but it is our intellect which decides which one to choose. It is only by anchoring to

one’s Self that the negative effects of ego can be overcome.

In Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says:

Yas tv atmaratir eva syad; atmatrptas ca manavah

Atmany eva ca samtustas; tasya karyam na vidyate.

(Bhagavad Gita, 3.17)

which means that he who realizes his Self is freed from sense of duty and works not out of a

sense of duty but because his very nature is to be in action spontaneously.

Further, Lord Krishna says that

nai’va tasya krtena’rtho; na’krtene’ha kascana

na ca ‘sya sarvabhutesu; kascid arthavyapasrayah. (Bhagavada Gita, 3.18)

which means that a person who is free from ego and is rooted in Self has no interest whatever to

gain by the actions that he has done and none to be gained by the actions he has not done. Such a

person undertakes desire-less action (Nishkama karma) for the welfare of the world.

It is to be cautioned that “free from ego” doesn’t mean to be in an egoless state. It means that we

are free from the inhibitions and negative effects of ego. Complete egoless state is also not

desirable in an organizational context. Ego is the main driving force in an organizational

structure because an employee comes to an organization with his dreams and aspirations. We

cannot motivate a person towards any goal if that person is in an egoless state. However, too

much of ego has its negative effect as we have discussed earlier.

So, does it mean that we cannot attain salvation or enlightenment as spiritual entities in an

organizational context? Can’t we complete our life-long journey from the ego to the egoless

stage by being in work or in an organization? Can we attain salvation through our work as a part

of the organization or is it only to be gained by renunciation of all works and leading an ascetic

life.

The answer lies in the Bhagavad Gita where Lord Krishna says:

samnyasah karmayogas ca nihsreyasakarav ubhau

tayos tu karmasamnyasat karmayogo visisyate.

(Bhagavad Gita, 5.2)

which means that the renunciation of works and their unselfish performance both lead to the

soul’s salvation. But of the two, the unselfish performance of works is better than their

renunciation. The true worker (karma-yogi) is also the true renouncer (nitya-samyasin) for he

neither loathes nor desires. Further, Lord Krishna says –

samkhyayogau prthag balah pravadanti na panditah

ekam apy asthitah samyag ubhayor vindate phalam.

(Bhagavad Gita, 5.4)

which means that the ignorant speak of renunciation (samkhya) and practice of works (karma

yoga) as different, not the wise. Wise men know that they can apply themselves well to one to

get the fruits of both.

In a purely organizational context, a company needs to hire people not just with the right set of

skills but also who is more rooted to his Self. Companies should now look beyond IQ or EQ as

measures of hiring and should also devise a system for measuring the Spiritual Quotient or SQ of

a prospective employee which should be able to give the employer an idea about how strongly

the person is anchored to his Self, whether the person has an inner drive for desire-less action,

etc

Many organizations recruit B-school graduates as management trainees. The trainees are the

most important in the process of knowledge creation because they bring in completely new sets

of ideas which could interact with the existing ideas or knowledge frameworks of the company

to create completely new ideas or perspectives. The orientation of these trainees towards the

organization’s processes and its culture as well as appropriate mentorship of these new recruits is

of paramount importance for facilitating the appropriate circumstances for the creation of new

sets of knowledge. Mentorship is basically a process of knowledge acquisition for the new

recruit as the new employee gains wisdom from the experience of his / her mentor. Appropriate

management training and mentorship programs for new hires help the organization to align the

individual consciousness of these new hires to the more important organizational consciousness

and finally enhance their self-esteem when they feel a sense of purpose towards achieving the

organizational goals and creating a bigger positive impact in the organization. It is only when

employees realize that their individual consciousness is no different from the universal

consciousness that performance becomes a cliché and they strive for excellence. This is

consistent with the notion of Aham Brahmasmi or I am (Atman or individual Self) the Universal

Self (Brahman).

The notion of Aham Brahmasmi also contains within it the significant difference in approach

between modern management and ancient Indian wisdom. Modern management, which has its

origin with the theory of scientific management proposed by F W Taylor, speaks of division of

labor and striving for performance or efficiency as its basis. On the contrary, ancient Indian

wisdom always speaks of Unity even in diversity and striving for excellence in all human

endeavors.

In addition to the trainees, appropriate training and development programs should also be

periodically organized for the experienced and old employees to ensure that they remain

conscious as well as aligned to the organization’s vision and mission. Well chalked-out training

and development programs play a significant role in organizations striving for excellence,

whether it is Google or Power Grid Corporation.

Finally, there should be appropriate appraisal systems as well as equitable compensation

structures to prevent any unhealthy rivalry among colleagues and facilitating a more cooperative

work environment where everyone has an incentive to help others in jointly achieving the

broader organizational goals. In such an environment, negative effects of ego will be completely

dispersed and there would be more cohesiveness among the workers. They would have a sense of

unity towards achieving the organization’s vision and creating that “bigger impact” in

performance.

Inter-connectedness for trust and ethical leadership

Knowledge transfer is the flow of information across the various levels of the organizational

hierarchy. This information is more of a day-to-day nature. We have management information

systems and data warehouses which cater to this requirement of providing access to relevant

information to the various levels of organizational hierarchy. Moreover, knowledge transfer can

also be looked upon as a part of the inter-employee helping facilitated by the existing

communication networks within the organization. It could be through intra-nets, emails,

meetings, etc.

Knowledge sharing is the sharing of wisdom and competitive information between the various

divisions and business units of an organization. Here instead of maintaining competitive rivalry

between them, SBUs cooperate with each other towards attaining the broader organizational goal

and staying ahead of the competition by always helping each other through sharing valuable

experience and wisdom to deal with the challenges and uncertainties in the competitive

landscape of the industry.

Knowledge sharing and inter-employee helping are important ethical issues to organizations

because organizational competitive position and effectiveness can be substantially undermined

due to the lack of such sharing and helping (Lin 2006). Whereas knowledge sharing enables the

sharing of relevant experiences and information between organizational members, inter-

employee helping allows individuals to complement one another with mutual assistance in

operations (Siemsen et al. 2007).

Doing your job in an information vacuum is tedious and uninspiring; there’s no reason to look

for innovative solutions if you can’t see the larger impact. People can contribute more effectively

when they understand how their work fits with the organization’s mission and strategy (Spreitzer

and Porath, 2012).

Knowledge transfer and sharing through all these formal or informal communication networks is

ultimately making this idea of interconnectedness so much preached by the ancient Indian sages

and scriptures a reality. The internets, emails, social networks, Skype, etc all make us realize the

fact of interconnectedness through technology. Due to ICT (information and communication

technologies), organizations can work upon maintaining a greater degree of transparency within

the organization and its employees which would ultimately lead to an organizational culture

where employees have a sense of trust and cohesiveness among themselves. Information is no-

one’s exclusive possession in such an open book environment within an organization.

Informational asymmetries are significant reason within an organization which could not only

create frustrations and dissatisfaction among employees but may also promote an environment

where employees are more selfish and are only concerned about their own self interests. Ego

thrives and gets nurtured in such environments.

Such informational asymmetries should be broken not only through promoting an open book

policy within an organization but also there should be meetings conducted for sharing each

others perspectives for dealing with challenges, competitions, problems, etc. It is during such

meetings that senior management could not only identify the best practices of some of their

successful business units, but also identify areas where “ethics” may be sacrificed for the sake of

“performance”. Such issues must be immediately dealt with “firmness” and people should

together find a more “ethical” way of creating “performance”. Otherwise, people might get

misguided and we may unknowingly promote the wrong leadership which would ultimately

create situations of greater uncertainty threatening the sustainability of our businesses.

So, what is vital for creating sustainability in business is to promote ethical leadership and

fostering trust among the employees and business divisions. Ancient Indian Sage Chanakya who

gave one of the earliest doctrines of management to the world called Arthashastra said that a

leader (or king) should be a “Rajarishi” which literally means a king who is wise and virtuous

like a sage. According to Chanakya, a Rajarishi is one who:

Has self-control, having conquered the inimical temptation of the senses.

Cultivates the intellect by association with elders.

Keeps his eyes open through spies

Is ever active in promoting the security & welfare of the people.

Ensures the observance (by the people) of “dharma” by authority and example

Improves his own discipline by learning in all branches of knowledge

Endears himself to his people by enriching good to them.

“Rajarishi” paradigm was also followed by the Greek rulers when they had sought advice from

their great philosophers. We had Alexander the Great being advised by Aristotle. Plato declared

that only philosophers were fit to rule. So, we see that only by managing Self and acknowledging

the interconnectedness through knowledge transfer and knowledge sharing, that we can prevent

ourselves from ignorance and hence overcome the desires of our senses and work for the higher

cause (which in our case should be the organizational mission). In this way we can maintain

ethical leadership to steer ourselves through the highly uncertain business environment. Ethical

leadership also creates the right organizational climate for nurturing excellence among

employees and maintaining sustainability of business.

As Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita :

yad-yad acarati sreshthas; tad-tad eve’ taro janah

Sa yat pramanam kurute; lokas tad anuvartate. (Karma Yoga, 3.21)

which means that whatsoever a great man does, the same is done by others as well. Whatever

standards he sets, the world follows.

Open Innovation – a movement towards the Universal Consciousness

The sustainability of any business depends on profit. It has to continuously meet the myriad of

expectations of its various stakeholders – customers, shareholders, environment, etc – all which

are a part of an interactive ecosystem. Every organization is an “extended” enterprise. If really

need to consistently meet their expectations, we have to constantly innovate in terms of products,

technology and processes.

Traditionally, the system of innovation in an organization was a closed one where new ideas

were an exclusive domain of the internal R&D division. But with increasing customer

expectations, rapid technological obsolescence, and shorter product life cycles, companies need

to innovate faster which is not possible without engaging the stakeholders in the process of

innovation itself.

Open innovation systems unleash the power of the business ecosystem by engaging the various

stakeholders of the organization towards solving an innovation problem. Open Innovation

assumes that useful knowledge is widely distributed, and that even the most capable R&D

organizations must identify, connect to, and leverage external knowledge sources as a core

process in innovation (Chesbrough et al, 2006).

We argue that open innovation systems could be a movement towards aligning the organizational

consciousness towards the broader social consciousness and ultimately the universal

consciousness. Then, we can be source of doing good to the universe and then the universe will

respond by solving our herculean problems; whether it be reducing the turn-around time for a

production cycle or co-creating a product with the consumer or creating the most energy efficient

and environment-friendly systems for conducting business.

The great sage Patanjali in his Mahabhasya gives four stages through which knowledge becomes

relevant. The first is when we acquire it from our teacher, the second when we study it, third

when we teach it to others and four when we apply it. Real knowledge arises only when these

four stages are fulfilled.

The universal consciousness (Brahman) is the source of infinite knowledge. The individual

consciousness (Atman) of all of us creates a collective whole which is again part of the “whole”,

i.e. Brahman. The open innovation model that we talked about earlier basically helps an

organization to create that collective whole through the interconnectedness of the elements

within a business ecosystem and applying that collective knowledge towards solving a common

organizational problem. Also, the open innovation system helps the organization towards linking

the individual Self of the various stakeholders of the ecosystem to the broader organizational self

by engaging them towards a common purpose and then unleashing the power of the Universal

Self. As Radhakrishnan said in his commentary on the Upanishads :

“Atman is the principle of the individual consciousness…..Brahman the first principle of the

universe, is also known through the Atman, the inner self of the man.”

(Radhakrishnan, 1953)

In this way, the organization can maintain sustainability by constantly creating new innovations

and it through linking the individual to the broader universal self through open innovation

systems where knowledge can be shared and ideas could be generated anywhere in the whole

business ecosystem and not necessarily at the organization itself.

Spiritual Congruence - creating a uniform world order

Globalization is probably one of the most widely used economic terms. In an economic context,

globalization refers to the reduction and removal of barriers between national borders in order to

facilitate the flow of goods, capital, services and labor. The barriers could be in the form of

tariffs, quotas or other protectionist strategies.

However, in a true sense, it is about unification of cultures to form one single global culture. This

is an idea which is most neglected in the whole process of globalization nowadays. Some

renowned economists and scholars argue that globalization is actually increasing the economic

disparity with rich countries becoming richer and poor countries becoming poorer.

It is a coherent fact that globalization is plays a significant role in the growth and sustainability

of business. However, the whole purpose of globalization gets defeated if it is not “inclusive” in

nature. Globalization is not about indigo farming where you are depleting the resources of one

nation for sake of profit in another nation. It also is not about imposing our culture on other

nations or using predatory pricing strategies for completely killing competition in the host nation.

True globalization would be about embracing every culture and facilitating a healthy

acculturation process.

For making globalization more inclusive and facilitating a positive acculturation we suggest a

process which we term as “spiritual congruence”. Traditionally, organizations or institutions

have tried to approach new cultures in any of these two ways –

(i) “Superiority” approach – Here we try communicate that our products, values, cultures,

etc. could be superior to the host country’s culture, products, values, etc. We

extensively try to communicate especially to our target segment that what is “cool”

and what is “painful”. We extensively use media for propagating materialistic ideas

so that our product ideas over a period of time become more acceptable. Such an

approach only breeds hostility among certain sections of the society over a period of

time who could turn into activists and could be the biggest hindrance to your conduct

of business.

(ii) “Pragmatic” approach – You try to communicate that your products and offerings are

more suitable to their needs and as per their tastes and preferences. You respect their

culture and the intricacies that their culture holds. You also take a more customized

approach towards your marketing communication strategies.

However, both these ways somehow fail to bring complete “harmony” between the two cultures,

two nations. So, we recommend a third way which we call the “commonality” approach based on

Spiritual congruence.

Any culture comprises of some fundamental values based upon religion. It is needless to say that

religion has a significant influence on the society and its cultural values. Most of the institutions

till date have a pluralistic view of religions where they promote the idea of acknowledging the

individual differences between the various religions. Spiritual congruence is a complete change

in this perspective. Instead of identifying individual differences, it is about finding the

commonalities between the various religions. Every religion has certain common views and

perspectives on certain important virtues of humanity like righteousness, humility, peace, trust,

brotherhood, knowledge, ego, etc. Institutions, both social and economic, will have to play a

leading role towards facilitating this process of spiritual congruence for creating a global

environment which is more conducive for globalization. Healthy trade relations based on a

feeling of oneness could certainly go a long way towards making the process of globalization

more “inclusive” in nature and creating a uniform economic order across the world.

The idea of oneness is nothing new. The most ancient Indian scripture, the Rig Veda, thousands

of years old contained the most important idea of commonality –

Ekam satya viprah bahudha vadanti

(The Rig Veda, Book I, Hymn CLXIV, Verse 46)

which means that truth is one but sages call it by various names.

Further, one of the ancient Sanskrit prayers says –

“As different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea so,

O Lord, the different paths which people take through different tendencies, various though they

appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."

The answer to the process of Spiritual congruence could be attained from the Upanishad which

says:

Yasmin sarvai bhutany atmaivabhud vijnatah

Tatra ko mohah kah sokah ekatvam anupasyate

(Isa Upanishad, 1.7)

Which means that whoever sees all beings in Self and the Self in all beings, hates none. For one

who sees oneness everywhere, how can he have delusion or grief.

In a purely organizational context, the idea of oneness and spiritual congruence should be

promoted to have a ethical organizational culture globally based on virtues of truthfulness

(transparency), trust ( employer-employee, employee-employee and employee-stakeholder),

righteousness (justice, equity and honesty), sense of cooperation, etc.

Most of our perceptions are shaped in the long run based on both personal and professional

experiences. With oneness, both our personal and professional experiences are in harmony and

we have fewer conflicts of interests. Such a harmony will also be promoted on an inter-

organizational level within an industry and there would be less rivalry. We often see

organizations indulging in intense competitive rivalry within an industry until the conflict turns

into a zero-sum game where the whole industry suffers. It is only by promoting a sense of

cooperation among the industry players and avoiding situations of rivalry that the industry would

survive and everyone would be able to sustain their business.

Finally, duality, our sense of separation from the rest of creation, is always a misperception since

it implies that something exists other than God. There can be no other. "This grand preaching,

the oneness of things, making us one with everything that exists, is the great lesson to learn,"

said Swami Vivekananda a century ago. In an organizational context, acknowledgement of this

valuable lesson helps in a complete shift in attitude where organizations not only understand

their responsibility towards the nature (or environment) but also indulge in promoting

environment friendly systems and processes within their organization. This is consistent with the

triple-bottom line approach of maintaining sustainability. (http://veda.wikidot.com/sanatana-

dharma)

Uncertainty to Sustainability – from Avidya to Immortality

One of the most important quests for any business is to manage the uncertainty that so much

surrounds today the global economy and to constantly seek a path to sustainability. In pursuit of

attaining sustainability, organizations have a view that they need to control everything. This

whole exercise of controlling is actually futile because it breeds the negative aspects of ego

because we start separating ourselves from others in the process and become more and more

selfish. We keep on justifying the reasons for the failure in our futile attempts instead of trying to

change to accept our faults due to our wrong decisions.

The whole exercise of moving from uncertainty to sustainability is a journey from ignorance

(avidya) to immortality as given in the Upanishads. The Isa Upanishad says –

Andham tamah pravishanti ye vidyamupasate

Tato bhuya iv te tamo ya o vidyayang ratah.

(Isa Upanishad, Verse 9)

which means that the followers of delusion and ignorance enter into a blind darkness whereas

they enter into a greater darkness who devote themselves to knowledge alone. In the

interpretation of Sri Aurobindo: “They enter into some special state and accept it for whole,

mistaking exclusion in consciousness for transcendence of consciousness. They ignore by choice

of knowledge, as the others are ignorant by compulsion of error. Knowing all to transcend all is

the right path to Vidya” (Sri Aurobindo, 1971).

This is the situation exactly today in the global economy. Organizations in their pursuit of

knowledge and controlling all information have actually got stuck in a difficult situation where

they are completely unaware about their own ignorance. They think that by having all knowledge

and information they can attain complete sustainability. In the interpretation of Sri Aurobindo :

“But the consciousness of multiplicity separated from the true knowledge in the many of their

own essential oneness, - the viewpoint of the separate ego identifying itself with the divided form

and the limited action, - is a state of error and delusion (Sri Aurobindo, 1971).

To attain “immortality” the Isa Upanishad advises –

Vidyanchaavindyancha yasdvedobhyam sah

Avidyaa mrityun tirtva vidyaamritamashnute

(verse 11, Isa Upanishad)

which means that he who knows both ignorance (avidya) and knowledge (vidya) crosses death

through Ignorance and enjoys “immortality” through knowledge. Similarly, those organizations

who are not “blinded” with their selfishness and ego (about knowledge) of their ignorance,

ultimately attain sustainability where they cross their failures and attain “immortality” which for

an organization is sustainability. This happens through transformations in the organizational

structure, turnarounds in organizational processes, creating more efficient information networks,

etc. In short, its all about making the organizational “DNA” more adaptive so that it ultimately

attains “immortality” in a sense similar to what the ancient Indian wisdom preaches.

Conclusion

Finally, I would like to conclude with the following verse from the Kena Upanishad:

Pratibodha-viditam matam amrtatvam hi vindate

Atmana vindate viryam vidyaya vindate amrtam.

(Kena Upanishad, 2.4)

“When it is known through every state of cognition, it is rightly known, for by such knowledge

one attains life eternal; through one’s own self one gains power and through wisdom one gains

immortality.”

So, modern management is toothless without ancient Indian wisdom. It is only when we integrate

the ancient Indian wisdom into the modern management that it would become aware not just of

its ignorance but will transcend this current stage of crisis and emerge in a more resilient,

enlightened and sustainable form.

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Review, Jan-Feb 2012, pp 87-88.