Business to the Buddha

Tag: Bhagwat Gita

  • Illusion of control







    I was watching Kung Fu Panda. In one discussion Master Shi Fu and Master Oogway are talking. Watch the video below Illusion of control

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li9wgw0a2QI]

    This video is interesting, it talks about the “illusion’ of control we’ve in our mind. Actually, for a couple of months I’ve been thinking – am I controlling my life? Am I in control of the project I have in my hand? I remembered my MBA days – at times, I used to be authoritative with my group (confession, I may be wrong though). I remember Ashar (he blogs here) and I discussing about being on top of the deadlines. Ashar is very diligent, committed and punctual guy, I always enjoyed working with him in a team.

    So I always tried to be on top my deadlines, work etc. At occasion this control of being on top of deadlines and control of everything related to me seemed an illusion. This began with few questions and few things I slowly connected later.

    As a kid I had heard about Jaora in MP (there is a tomb of a Sufi saint there), had heard about possession and the other world. Recently, I came to know about Meera Datar Dargah and witness firsthand what we watch in movies (e.g. Vidya Balan in Bhool Bhulaiya). This is called possession (demonic possession), and under this influence a person loses his control on him/her self. When I saw that I asked myself – are we in control in our life? Lately, I got to know about Hazarat Gazali’s Dargah near RC Church. At the Dargah I met Taufik bhai, a very simple, devoted and pious person. Though I want to talk to him but he is generally very busy. Does something else (the other world) dictate us? The question remained – are we in control in our life?

    Next thing that made me think about control was astrology. One of my friends father is an astrologer – he predicted about Harshvardhan Navathe would win in KBC (Ref old Mid-Day news). Do stars dictate us? So the question remains – are we in control?

    I was getting puzzled, kept on doing my work and thinking also. One night, just out of the blue, I started watching Kung Fu Panda. I have watched this movie many a times so forwarded stuff I didn’t want to see again. Suddenly I reached the part of the movie where Master Oogway talks about ‘Illusion of control’. I stopped there, switched off computer and slept (it was already 1:20AM next day I had office). Somehow, I thought that I got a direction for answer, if not answer. I somehow could connect the dialog of Master Oogway of illusion of control to the Geeta (Karmanye Vadhikaraste…)

    कर्मणयेवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
    मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि।   2.47 – more on this by another blogger here

    My inference was this -1.  forget about control, 2. even the illusion of control and 3. do you work! Well 4. forget about the result too.

    There have been some connections made but few dots have opened Pandora’s box because we have many questions on – possession, astrology etc.

    Disclaimer – Author only knows about paranormal activities, demonic possession or astrology, but is no way an expert to provide inputs etc.

  • …because there are only means!







    On Saturday I read a twitt of Paulo Coelho – renowned author – “A warrior of the light knows that the ends do not justify the means. Because there are no ends, there are only means”. I inferred from the statement that – means are values on which we base and live our life. Some time back I had written on integrity as one value for organization and individuals. Another article I glanced through in Outlook India – “How Not To Court The Law” by Uttam Sengupta. At the end of the article Mr Ranjan Mondal commented – “…where is our Ethics in law?”

    Recently, I happened to meet and discuss the same with Mr Abhaynath Mishra. He is a trainer, consultant and is extensively working on value system of individuals and organizations.  He said, sustainability of an organization is based on values and ethics it follows. In short run there may be loss but the long run success of an organization is assured by the belief and sticking to the values. Also, I had a few telecon with my MBA Professor Ms Mala Kapadia – we too discussed on Values and Business. Mala Ma’am suggested “…somewhere I feel interpretation of Bhagwat Gita too has been wrong, in saying that war for Dharma is justified.”

    I asked this question to myself – do ends justify means? and What are the values business follow, do the businesses really follow these, values? I stopped at a very good question – where is ethics? We seldom talk about it in debates, in our closed rooms and perhaps in boardrooms. Ethics are there in closed door – safe, not touched by anyone! In practice – well, we practice everything except ethics because for a long time we have imbibed lessons such as “ends justify the means.” Now is the time when we – as a community – are questioning the means used to achieve goals, ethics in business and values of individuals. The reason to ask such questions is the problems we face today – recession, political unrest and other personal problems. The biggest identified cause for these problems is  ‘greed’. The problems can be resolved when we learn what Paulo Coelho twitted recently – ends do not justify the means. Because there are no ends, there are only means. Be ethical …because there are only means!