Foreword

This Book, by the eminent and exceptional and outstanding civil servant T. N. Seshan, IAS [Retd], and the unequivocally legendary academic Bala Balachandran, who has built up Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai into a reputed institution in an incredibly short span of time, along with their competent associate Nixon Fernando, is ably designed to be a landmark work in the management literature of the 21st century.

Yogyathwa is a significant new word freshly minted by the authors to cover the unique concept of yoga as articulated in the Indian heritage of tradition and literature, scripture and culture for more than seven thousand years. It is certainly not one more of the umpteen words of jargon that clutter management literature today. Yoga at the most elementary level means union and inherent harmony. This in itself confers strength and insures against any possibility of internal conflict, waste and the resulting weakness. In short it is synonymous with POWER.

This concept of Yoga or Yogyathwa has been articulated by many thinkers and spiritual teachers in Indian heritage covering a very wide spectrum of life. In other words, it is a Meta concept. It is not confined to one specific or limited area of life. It is a way of life itself. The authors have tried to highlight how the concept of Yogyathwa can be equally effective in tackling the problems of any organisation or situation today and provide simple and powerful access to great leadership.

As mentioned earlier, Yoga represents union or collection of forces and principles. This power of the union is more than that of the power of uniformity. Swami Aurobindo pointed this out specifically and said that what we should aim for is unity and not uniformity. Dictators like Hitler chose the path of imposing uniformity and consequently failed in the long run. On the contrary, this power of unity is what it is because unity arises when people buy into a concept and take ownership.

The book covers this unique aspect of Yogyathwa very well and explores it simultaneously with the Bhagavad Gita as its pivot. Bhagavad Gita has rightly been called as the quintessence of the Vedas, Upanishads and Vedanta. In this exercise, the authors cover the entire spectrum of business management and all types of organisations, as well as the entire spectrum of public life and governance. The classic frame of reference, for this exercise is the conversation between Yudishtra, Krishna and Bhishma in the Shanthiparva of the Mahabharatha, one of the two great epics of India. The other of course is the Ramayana. The whole issue of Raja Dharma, Apat Dharma and Moksha Dharma are discussed in this episode. These conversations provide a basis for the concept of Yogyathwa as elaborated in this book.

So, where does ‘Management’ enter the picture? The declared objective of Great Lakes Institute of Management is ‘GLOBAL MINDSET INDIAN ROOTS’. This book articulates this concept very powerfully by invoking the concept of Yogyathwa as the basic unifying principle. As I see it, Power is the keystone word of the whole book. The ultimate message of this book comes through, when the concept of Yogyathwa is demonstrated to be the sheer force of alignment or the focus resulting in strength of the union. ‘Power’ in isolation really is quite useless unless it is ‘managed’ in the right way.

There is yet an important third element, namely, the ethical principle. The ultimate professionalism comes from a unique mix of skill, competence and ethics. Detachment from the results and performing one’s duty competently is the central message of the Gita. Such a powerful combination is, in the ultimate analysis, simply, because there remains no doubt about the course of action. After all, the entire Bhagavad Gita is an exercise in finding a way out in dilemmatic situations where heated arguments on either course of action persist and in choosing that course of action where the concept of ethics reigns supreme; and this has been provided for in this book. The essence of this Yogyathwa is reiterated in this present book, and the book also explores it through various exercises which have been systematically articulated in its chapters. At the end of course, any student who has been exposed to this book, would not only have understood the concepts but also have imbibed the values. He will pass the ultimate test. He will be able to walk the talk, when it comes to the principle of Yogyathwa and raise head as a powerful and an ethically successful leader.

The essence of yoga has been distilled by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, which in turn is considered as a unique document. And it is not surprising that each of the 18 chapters of the Gita has been described individually as a yoga.

The concept of yoga can be applied in different areas, and from the management point of view the focus is generally on the 2nd Chapter of the Gita, which in turn talks about Karma Yoga. The Indian Administrative Service, which is the premier service for governance in the country, has taken their motto from this chapter of Gita – yoga karma kaushalam – efficiency in work is yoga. Sprinkled throughout the Bhagavad Gita are instances of the principles of effective leadership and management. At least some of them are worth recording here.

The last sloka of the Gita not only focuses on the need for professional competence but also the need for observing the right way of conduct or dharma.

Where the Yogesvara Krishna (represents the divine vision) and Arjuna (the professional archer) combine together, there is wealth – sri, success – vijay and justice – niti. But this sloka requires further elaboration:

After all, Lord Krishna is seen as poorna purushotham. In other words, Vishnu (Lord Krishna is an ‘avatar’ of Vishnu) is the supreme God and he is the protector and creator of the universe. The book also refers to the concept of purusha and prakruti-Prakruti being nature and purusha representing not merely the male principle but the supreme principle of power. Lord Vishnu takes many avatars and these avatars are with a purpose. Whenever dharma is threatened, he comes to the world to restore dharma; more importantly to protect those who observe dharma and punish those who are practicing adharma.

is what he says in the Bhagavad Gita.

Among the avatars, Rama avatara and Krishna avatara are important. Krishna, as we saw earlier, is called poorna purushotam, whereas Rama represents the concept of mariyada purushotam. The concept of mariyada purushotam can, from the management point of view, be interpreted as perfection within the bounds of human limitations. While the Gita recognizes this— that as humans all of us are subjected to restrictions—it shows that it is possible to achieve perfection within this limitation. In fact, the essential message of Gita is that one should strive to observe dharma – righteous conduct and achieve perfection/competence in one’s skill. That is why we go back to the last sloka which we are examining—of the Bhagavad Gita. When Lord Krishna, representing poorna purushotam—which is perfection in itself—combines with a perfect professional like Arjuna; then there is success and wealth and above all justice.

Let us not forget that the entire Bhagavad Gita is presented to Arjuna, a competent professional, getting the best advice from the Lord himself. He receives it in the battle field when he is in a great sense of confusion, fighting emotions, and not knowing the right way to go. Lord Krishna reminds him that as a professional his focus should be on performing his dharma and duty and he should not be too concerned about the results, because if he were so focused on the results, then, to that extent he would not be able to perform the duty, or competently.

The basic message of the Gita brings out a number of relevant aspects that are timeless, which any person, who aspires to be a leader, in any field, has to bear in mind. This book rightly aims at this; it not only articulates the principles but also applies the most imaginative invocation and application of technology and pedagogy skills, the book tries to make the student community imbibe the rich values from it.

Mere bookish knowledge is of no use. In fact, even theoretical knowledge has been ridiculed. There are a number of stories attributed to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa out of which is a story about the Vedic pundit asking the boatman whether he had learnt the Vedas, and ultimately realizing that he was in danger of losing his own life because he did not know the simple practical skill of swimming. There are also numerous proverbs to this effect, likewise in Tamil that ‘a gourd drawn on paper will not be able to remove the hunger of a person’.

But how, then, can one imbibe values?

It is here that the entire mix of case studies, the interaction and exposure to role models and leaders along with their biographies becomes important. While we recognize that no two situations are similar, by a process of intellectual osmosis and repeated exercises and action research, one can still learn the values.

The ultimate test is in walking the talk. This book contains numerous examples of great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and a number of others. But in the context of yoga and application of that concept in difficult situations, did we have such leaders? The answer is a resounding YES.

In politics, based on my experience as a civil servant, two leaders come to my mind in the context of Yogyathwa. They are Chakravarthy Rajagopalachari, popularly known as Rajaji, a great leader in the freedom struggle and P. V. Narasimha Rao the former Prime Minister of India who introduced the economic liberalization policies in the 1990’s. They demonstrated the concept of powerful leadership through Yogyathwa.

The superb biography of P. V. Narasimha Rao by Vinay Sitapati titled ‘Half-lion’ published this year is a must read for any student learning the principles of Yogyathwa. P. V. N, had to physically operate in a politically weak situation and even, ignominy. Taking over the leadership of the country at a time when it was financially weak and almost bankrupt, he used the financial crisis as an opportunity to bring economic reforms and got the country out of the permit license raj era. And even when the crisis became manageable, he continued the thrust towards bringing in a liberal economy which would unleash the potent spirit of exercise of the will of the people. He was a unique person in that and a lifelong scholar and a person who was knowledgeable about the literature on Indian tradition at the deepest levels. He was able to invoke the values at an appropriate time and show how the combination of ethics and supreme skill in political management can lead to long term benefit in terms of good governance of the country.

C. Rajagopalachari, who was a colleague and fellow patriot along with Mahatma Gandhi, held high positions of authority including the position as the Governor General of India. In those early days, he had the foresight to develop a new party on the basis of market oriented liberalism; even when the Indian National Congress and its brand of socialism were all pervasive. He had not only imbibed the values of sanathana dharma but also throughout his life, demonstrated that Yogyathwa can enable a person to perform the leadership function effectively; irrespective of the formal position of authority one occupies that one can make a contribution and provide leadership.

Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi too represents perhaps in himself the very effective and appealing message of Yogyathwa. Thanks to his emergence as the Prime minister of India after the 2014 general elections, the reference to powerful leadership seems to be very appropriate. Today’s media, while describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, repeatedly invoke the concept of powerful leadership.

Yoga has many dimensions, and starting with the purely physical one of ashtanga yoga, which controls the body, the ancient Roman ideal of mensano in corporasano (latin for ‘Sound mind in a sound body’) was achieved in practice by our forefathers, by the unique development of yoga. Effectiveness of yoga as a very powerful tool for controlling the mind and disciplining oneself was superbly demonstrated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the United States in 2014. He strictly observed during his trip, the fasting required for the navratras. Nevertheless, there was no hint of any lack of energy, enthusiasm or vigour for his stunning performances in major events while addressing the NRI’s in the Madison Square Gardens and during the one-on-one interaction with President Obama.

This brings me to another happy aspect of this book; in a special way the timing of its publication is splendid! Yoga perhaps got the best recognition from 2014 when Narendra Modi achieved the tectonic shift in the political scene in India by achieving an electoral victory of majority in the Lok Sabha. The remarkable performance, on the political level, for a party like BJP, is a miracle; but this fantastic political achievement itself is another demonstration of the basic theme of this book which is focused on the effectiveness of yoga as leadership principle.

The benefits of yoga are today universally recognized and one of the many achievements of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi is for persuading the United Nations to readily accept observing 21st of June as International Yoga Day. This shows that the world has come to recognize the distinct contribution to human development made by India.

Victor Hugo said, ‘nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come’. So far as India’s unique contribution to the word Yoga or Yogyathwa is concerned it can definitely be said that this is an idea whose time has come. The authors deserve kudos for coming up with a right book at the right time; they must be congratulated for coming up with this new dimension to the management literature on the unique and vital subject of leadership.

There is another aspect of Yogyathwa which needs to be highlighted and which is not only mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita but also in other Indian heritage literature. This is the concept of the gunas. These are qualities of a person or the basic temperament or attitude to life. Lord Krishna identifies three basic gunas of people. These are rajo guna, tamo guna and sattva guna and explain how no person can escape behaving according to his guna. Yogyathwa can make a difference.

The concept of yoga can be looked at as a continuous interplay of different forces and an exercise in mastering, to begin with, oneself by disciplining the mind and the body. Self-discipline, in turn, is the triggering point for a virtuous cycle of behaviour and this internal consistency in itself gives tremendous strength. Wherever there have been contradictions internally, there have been disasters—in some extreme cases too like when the psychologists recognize it as multiple personality disorder. There is another aspect which is equally important to remember that mere skill and competence cannot save a person if there is lack of integrity. Integrity is partly equal to that of dharma; and Yogyathwa, as a construct, brings together all the elements relating to skill, the type of people concerned, the need for adjusting action to the situation and all the time achieving a balance between competence and the right values.

It is interesting that the questions of success and failure or hate and love have all been resolved and the concept of respecting all lives and basic principles of Yogyathwa are not contained only in the Bhagavad Gita, which in turn is the quintessence of all the Upanishads and the Vedas. Vedanta itself is beautifully condensed by Prof. Parthasarathy who says it means Atmano mokshartham jagat hitaya cha. When an individual is concerned, he must strive for liberation or perfection, and when it comes to a society, the society should try to do the best it can for the world. In fact, Paropakaram Idam Shareeram is foreword xxix for the welfare of others. The concept of social capital and corporate social responsibility all arises from this basic message of the yoga for treating the entire world as one family – Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

Keeping an open mind and considering that there could be other points of view, it is very important as emphasized in the Rig Veda, Aa no Bhadrraha Kritavo yantu Vishvata. An inherently leading and healthy respect for all points of view has been a unique Indian concept thanks to the long living tradition that dates back to more than 7000 years during the time of Ramayana, which is also reflected in this book.

With the focus on Yogyathwa as the core theme, and reflecting the message of India’s heritage of thinking, the authors have through this book, created a forum where the integaration of Indian roots and global vision, becomes a living reality for every student.

I congratulate the authors once again and I am sure this book will be a landmark in the Management literature of the 21st century.

Chennai
17.07.2016

N. VITTAL, IAS (Rtd.)
Former Chief Vigilance Commissioner of India