CHAPTER 18

Usefulness of the Theories/Models to a Leader in Practical Life

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Sense as to where the passion to live heroic lives arose.
2. See how the basic discovery of the Supreme self lead to a series of beliefs and choices.
3. See how the knowers of the higher truths influenced, designed and inspired the lives of their followers.

Suzerains Please Note

If one has had the opportunity to be a suzerain in any capacity be it big or small, and if one wished to execute that job properly then surely he would do well in investigating how the knowers of the inspiration of ‘dharma’ used the same to great practical effect.

Each Generation of Humans has a Right to Choose How It Lives

‘This is our time’ (this statement is true at all times—and is always made in the present). Looking backward there have been times when people realized that they had a choice and used the best possible principles to live their lives. But there were other times too when people just let it drift and did not use the principles or used it in a half-baked manner.

Down the millennia, some generations have also misused these principles to play mischief and tried to use it for personal benefit. And such generations bore the fruit of such negligence; those that ignored the principles of higher living eventually faced the consequences and witnessed forces that messed up their societies and their lives.

But then the very same principles have also been used to establish successful kingdoms (kingdoms are truly successful only when the rank and file of the nation too is content).

The choice therefore is in the hands of the present generation. To make a mark in history as a generation that used the highest of principles to live exalted lives or to waste it all down the drain. The principles are there … it is for the leader of the present generation to use it to elevate himself, his family, his organization, his nation and the world … .

Even if the suzerain is bothered just about running a small organization, understanding of these eternal principles give him strong directions to take up in his quest for successfully shouldering his responsibilities. Therefore, it is instructive to look backwards and pay attention to the ways of the wise; to watch how they thought and how they acted …

The Start Point has Always been Awareness, Understanding and Belief

Irrespective of the time and age when the eternal principles manifested in society, the thing common in them is that positive actions begin with the discovery that life, in the inspired way of the ‘supreme self’ is far more superior than living the limited lives of individuals (which has been equated to have happened out of ignorance). Having crossed this landmark or tipping point in the journey of inner discovery, it becomes second nature for the leader to coax, advise, inspire and facilitate his fellow beings (and the institutions he has influence over) to move in the same direction. This has indeed been the characteristic of heroism in all of history. Whether it has struggles for freedom, struggles to preserve freedom, attempts to uphold justice, initiatives to transform nations, and the outstanding work of all kinds … the leadership in all of this has invariably crossed the tipping point and into various manifestations of the same idea—exalted and selfless living.

Self-realization or highest-self-expression therefore becomes the most important thing for the leader. And as Jesus Christ puts it, this attraction for the divine ‘is like the person who has come to know of a rare jewel and wants to possess it, he sells all his other possessions, in order that he may buy that precious jewel.’ And most certainly, when one finds that this is the highest, then the other things become relatively insignificant.

In a way it can be said that this represents the realization of the power of the Common Soul. Understanding its virtues and gifts, the leader revels in it and brings it forth for others to benefit from.

Some Important Aspects of How the Learning was Applied in Society

Dharma: Making God Central to Their Lives

A lot of wisdom contained in the ancient Indian scriptures is presented for a common man’s understanding through the narration of legends, incidents and stories. And here is a narration that throws light on how dharma works:

Lord Krishna (God-on-earth) and Arjuna (friend and a warrior prince) were resting in a forest. Maya, an Asura (mythical demon, probably a deified version of an individual from a variety of indigenous persons) approached them at that time and expressed gratitude to Arjuna for having saved his life in an earlier incident. He requested Arjuna to ask for something in return.

Arjuna would have none of it; according to his ‘dharma’ (he had the duties of the warrior) it was his duty to help those in distress who in turn sought his help. Since he had merely done his duty he could not take anything in return as compensation.

At the same time it was Maya’s duty to give something in return as a mark of gratitude, but now Arjuna was not taking anything in return. Both were in a fix.

To resolve the problem Arjuna suggested that Maya may do something that lord Krishna asked of him. Maya agreed and so the ball landed in Lord Krishna’s court. Lord Krishna in turn suggested to Maya that Arjuna and his family, the Pandavas, did not have a proper place to stay, ‘why not build a house for them?’ And Maya happily built for them a magnificent palace, without rival … .

What does this narration convey?

The clue to it lies in the fact that Lord Krishna is acknowledged in the Indian pantheon of gods and goddesses to have realized his ‘Supreme Self’— he is known to be in constant touch with the Common Soul. As such, he represented God on earth—always doing the will of God; or better still harboured no individual will … So the exchange between Arjuna and Maya was being anchored centred around him—the supreme self; the lesson conveyed is that ‘God’ must be placed in the middle … .

Both of them, Maya and Arjuna, by following their dharma, are in fact working for the supreme self and it is the ‘supreme self’ that is giving to them in return—Dharma gave protection for Maya and Lord Krishna gave Arjuna a place to stay. And in the process both are taken care of. The focus is on giving—all people give to God and God gives them what they need.

That is why in the communities developed around the idea of supreme self the concept of dharma is used … people are advised to ‘do their dharma’ or to ‘uphold dharma’—this is the doing part. And on the receiving end it is said that ‘Dharma is the greatest benefactor’ (Adi Sankara); meaning that it is not people who give but rather it is the system that delivers—dharma gives.

Therefore, at the heart of the matter, individualism is sacrificed and God is placed these instead; this is one of the basic precepts of ‘dharma’ as we have seen earlier. It is the practical spiritual representation of this idea of ‘dharma’—encouraging people to do their work for the sake of God, trusting that God will take care of them in return … .

Now if we dilute the object of our adoration ‘God’ and ‘supreme self’, to something more palatable to the agnostic and the atheist, like ‘common human will’, ‘humanity’, ‘social good’, ‘togetherness’, ‘selflessness’, ‘impersonal’ and such other terms, it roughly points out in the same direction.

So the moral of the story that we just considered is that, people must look for their contentment in life by focusing on the ‘impersonal’ rather than look for it in ‘personal aggrandizement’. Through this alone can dharma be established and through this the graces can be enjoyed by both the upholder of dharma and the society itself. The leaders in society must therefore know that the best way to motivate their people is to encourage them to work for others. It is the best thing for society and it is the best thing for the people who are being advised to work thus …

Nuances of the Two-fold Path in Which They Believed

There are several ideas that come under this head. These were beliefs that found practical application in the lives of the ancient Indians.

Material Equality is Not Required For someone who has seen that the Common Soul is both powerful and the same in everyone; who has seen that it is of greater worth than everything else in the world; who has seen that de-focusing from it is the cause of all misery in the world; who knows for sure that only the person who is in contact with the Common Soul is truly living; who is sure that the rest are spending most of their time ‘waiting’ in the jail of their ‘desires’ … for him waiting to own a car or to own a plane means one and the same thing—waiting. He would rather be free from desire (if I have it fine, if I don’t have it fine … ), for that itself is life for him. For him the difference of being free from desires or being imprisoned in them is more important than the difference of emerging out of having or not having a car, or the difference between owning a car and owning a private jet. For such a person ‘material equality is not a great priority’ there are other things far more important … .

The Supreme Self Must be Promoted as the Highest Goal for Everyone This automatically emerges when one knows that the supreme soul is the best. The one who is aware would want his children, his extended family, his tribe, his friends, anyone who cares to listen to him to pursue the same. Therefore, in all the lessons he transmits to them, in all the rituals he introduces, in all the traditions he passes down he will keep passing on the message that nothing is of greater worth than being at home with the supreme self.

Everybody Need Not Understand Now that the most precious of things is to connect with the Common Soul, does it mean that everyone must be made to study about it? The answer is that it is not necessary—more so since it is a difficult path to take—advantageous for leadership though. There are alternatives that can be practiced.

The Two Fold Path Those who could be spared by society to completely focus on studies were suggested to move forward on the path of knowledge. The others were given other yogas to practice as part and parcel of their roles in society.

The Destination is the Same Irrespective of what path one takes, everyone reaches the same point, therefore even the road taken is not important … living each moment of one’s life in Yogyathwa is far more valuable than spending years learning about Yogyathwa and not living it … and therefore Yogyathwa (through non-academics) was also practiced by those who were on the path of knowledge.

Leader Sets the Highest Example The belief that the Common Soul is the most valuable thing and that material things do not matter was brought into action by the leaders who took to minimalist material existence voluntarily. Being convinced that all material things were not important, nor were things of status, and knowing that they lost nothing, they simply designed a life for themselves that was based on receiving alms from the others in society.

Take to Yoga Was Their Advise

We saw that one of the components of the two fold path were yogas that were not based on knowledge. The wise wanted to inspire the general population to take to these other yogas. Therefore, an important lesson that most of the ancient teachers passed on to society was that all individuals must take to yoga—or Yogyathwa. They suggested a variety of ways and we can take a brief look at the most prominent ones.

Gyan Yoga The yoga related to learning. As the person learnt more about himself and understood what it all meant, it gradually made him gravitate towards what he truly was—it made him discover that he ‘was’ the Common Soul and that he must ‘be’ the Common Soul in his interactions in the world … it is the process of dispelling of ignorance through observing the truth about oneself

Karma Yoga Recommended for those who are at their respective duties in society. It consists of proper attitude and approach to the work one does, so that one is single mindedly focused on it. This focus, coupled with the fact that one is working at a job recommended by the supreme self and it eventually leads to uniting with the highest self. This yoga is explained in detail in Appendix A.

Bhakti Yoga Recommended in general for all. It calls for devotion to a higher power, a Guru, a diety, God … It includes total surrender of the ego and therefore the clearing up of the channel to the Common Soul. It is said to be a path that is limited by the qualities of the object of devotion; due to which reason devotion to the formless (as in Islam) is strongly recommended—the formless has no limiting qualities.

Many Yogas Though the above three are considered the prominent yogas, there are supposed to be many more. Legend has it that Lord Krishna learnt 64 different yogas from 64 different masters in as many days. He was a master, so-to-say, at transcending.

Core Principle is Surrender In all of this, the journey of surrendering the ego is the core principle which is actually the same stuff replicated in various forms of yoga. Even in Christian teaching the same point is driven home—that the only way to the highest is that of surrendering the body identity … (and every aspect of individuality it represents) … ‘give up yourself … ‘

The Belief Led to Abnormal and Heroic Behaviour

It is like this: people are busy picking up pebbles in a forest. There are a lot of pebbles, some people have picked up many and therefore are rich and some have picked up only a few and are poor. But each person has a rare gem hidden in a secret pocket on his clothes … . So irrespective of how many pebbles a person may have—many or few—if he has spotted the rare gem in the hidden secret pocket then he is not bothered of the pebbles any more. There can be no one wealthier than one who has spotted the rare gem … . Here multiple rare gems don’t count; all that matters is whether the rare gem has been spotted or not … Therefore, seen from this perspective, the supreme self is considered as the great leveller—and those are that leaders who haven’t bothered about anything in life other than this gem … .

And as a standing testimony to this fact, there is historic evidence— besides scriptural evidence—to show that those who understood the importance of this, willingly gave up everything—and happily at that; such as these even faced death without fear. The most striking examples are Jesus Christ and Socrates, both of them even took to death as if to say that even the yearning for physical existence did not match the beauty and timelessness of Yogyathwa. Then there are fabled war heroes from across the world and across the ages who have displayed the same trait. Giving up life in an impulse or a mad rush or in a brain-washed state is not what is being mentioned here; instead this is about standing up for what is right, about having a life-song of a fabulous kind and having a bearing of graciousness, daring and mirth— ‘enjoy the earth’ as Bhagavad Gita puts it.

Great Passion was Visible in their Lives

Many individual, families, tribes, societies, nations have risen to such heights: Human history provides instances of examples where when this wisdom dawned on the people of a particular time, they rose to provide for themselves the stability and peace and achieved great prosperity for their citizens. It is strongly recommended that one must watch the movie ‘The Last Samurai’ and reflect upon the lifestyle of the Samurai in order to get a ‘feel’ of the intensity of the life of a tribe that is discussed there. The passion for living a ‘life’ in this context is far removed from either the sedentary couch potato consumerist lifestyle of today or the mad rat race for promised wealth … It is a cultural shock of sorts and therefore one may miss the point completely if not initiated into the passion and thinking of these people. And surely, the passion is not far removed from the intensity of the action heroes of today … not the reel-life ones, the real-life ones … . A life lived in heroism is far removed from a rat race spent after pleasure seeking and aggrandizement. The lives of all known achievers in the history of mankind reflect this. As the solider Captain Vikram Bhatra’s brother tells us ‘Vikram is not dead, he is still alive … soldiers never die … ’

In Conclusion

The reader must reflect over all these points. It is often argued that religion is the cause of all ills, that spiritualism is all fraud, etc. Indeed good things have been misused, but this is not what they were meant for. Such comments can definitely be used today as excuses to continue on a journey of waiting and struggling for one’s desires. But the best that have lived the earth show another way of going about it. The reader must read between the lines and taking leads from the way the heroes dealt with matters related to Yogyathwa. And surely there were examples like this in all cultures and in all civilizations. It is sensible to draw lessons from such as these on how to live life and lead others through it. All the points discussed in this chapter must act as guiding lights when one tries to institutionalize Yogyathwa and dharma in his life around him.

Case Studies

1. Use descriptive essays of the life of any of the indigenous groups of people from across the world and analyse them for the existence of principles that imitate Yogyathwa and dharma.
2. Use revolutionary material of various groups (including terrorist organizations) and analyse them for elements of Yogyathwa and dharma. Particularly analyse whether the disposition of the agents of change is yogic or ‘brainwashed’.

Exercises

1. Analysis: What are the qualities you would look for in the workers for your small organization? Of the list select the top three qualities you would look for and explain why they are so important.
2. Analysis: Pick up any three roles taken up by a man in society, one at a low income level, one at a middle income level and one at the high income level (at least one role from each of the sexes) in 250 words each, analyse how the roles are played today and find out if there can be a change when dharma becomes central to life.
3. Analysis: ‘Never trust a spiritual leader who does not know to dance’ what does this mean? Write it in 400 words.
4. Analysis: ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’: Based on the contents of the chapter discuss what Jesus Christ must have meant when he said this. (400 words)
5. Debate/discussion: Human rights and dharma are opposing concepts.