Analysis on Ancient Indian Sagacity and Management Philosophy

Indian Scriptures reflect a judicious blend of Management, Spirituality and Religion when approached in that spirit. The Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita come in the forefront. Closely following them are Vidur, Bhisham and Chankaya with their management wisdom. The Bhagavad Gita is, in fact, the simplified philosophy of The Upanishads. Indian culture and philosophy reached its zenith courtesy The Upanishadic philosophy. The Bhagavad Gita is part of the Epic Mahabharata and this „divine song‟ is sung in the “Bhisham Parva” and comprises eighteen Chapters, from 25th to the 42nd. It is in the form of a dialogue between Lord Krishna and his disciple-cum-companion Arjuna. How Arjuna was taken from complete depression to ultimate victory in Mahabharata war should serve as a unique case in motivation. It will be of universal application irrespective of time and space. The uniqueness of The Bhagavad Gita lies in the fact that this discourse was not uttered in the seclusion of Himalayas and hence it was meant merely for the „renunciates‟, rather the entire dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjuna happened in the midst of battle-field.

The wisdom has become a subject of increasing scientific interest and inquiry over the past three decades, although the concept of wisdom is probably an ancient one (Ardelt, 2004; Baltes and Staudinger, 2000; Brugman, 2006; Robinson, 2005a). It has been suggested that modern conceptualization of wisdom and its domains is derived largely from concepts described in classical Greek philosophy (Brugman, 2006). Recent work, primarily in the fields of gerontology, psychology, and sociology, has focused largely on defining wisdom and identifying its domains. Indicative of the growing popularity of this topic, a recent article in the Sunday supplement of the New York Times was devoted to wisdom (Hall, 2007). We believe that the topic of wisdom should be of interest to the field of psychiatry too. This would include cross-cultural psychiatry as well as prevention and intervention in the area of successful aging. Vaillant (2002) considers wisdom to be an integral part of successful aging, although he believes that one need not be old to acquire/possess wisdom. Blazer (2006) has proposed that promotion of wisdom should be an important part of facilitating successful aging, although evidence-based techniques or tools culture-specific elements in our definition and understanding of this elusive concept, and thereby position ourselves to design possible “interventions” to help enhance wisdom in culturally appropriate ways. Hindu philosophy is considered to be among the oldest schools of philosophy (Flood, 1996). Its exact origins are difficult to trace as written Indian philosophy is believed to be predated by centuries of an oral tradition (Avari, 2007). The Vedas are the oldest of the ancient Hindu texts and have been dated to the second millennium BC (Witzel, 2003). These were written in Sanskrit; however, the oral Vedic tradition has been dated back as far as 10,000 BC.

PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT:

Times have changed and so have the way the modern manager looks at management. However, Fayol‟s contribution to modern management is priceless although these principles are rarely referred to today. The ones that are more important are: 1. Division of Work. With employees specializing in different fields the output increases because of increase in efficiency. 2. Authority. With authority comes responsibility. However, all managers need to have the authority to give orders to their team members. 3. Discipline. An organization must be disciplined in order that system can work. 4. Unity of Direction. As a corollary, there should be one manager for a team with a common objective. 5. Subordination of Individual Interests. The group objective should be more important than the interests of individuals within the group. 6. Order. The place of work should be clean and tidy besides being safe for employees. 7. Equity. It is incumbent on the manager to be fair to each of his employees balancing discipline with kindness. 8. Esprit de Corps. Team spirit is essential for the growth of an organization. 9. Unity of Command. Each employee should have only one supervisor, valid for one plan to function.

ANCIENT INDIAN SAGACITY:

Our country‟s rich traditions is go back thousands of years and search the ancient Indian scriptures that others. The true strength of Hinduism is based on dharma or the right way of living. There is no requirement of basing your life on a set of dogmas. This tradition of dharma evolved over thousands of years by the rishis. The primary scriptures are the Vedas and the Upanishads that are the oldest known scriptures in the world. The focal point of these scriptures is truth. For this reason the average Hindu today believes that though the ways are many, the truth is only one. Today when one looks around one finds that the life of an average Hindu revolves around dharma. It is dharma that in a way controls and guides every aspect of one‟s life whether it is the family or society, politics or business and art. The belief in every Hindu is that following the path of dharma ultimately leads to the innermost self-known as the atman and one‟s communion with Brahman after attaining moksha.

DHARMA AND KARMA

The basic belief among Hindus then is that one has to live out one‟s karma till moksha is obtained by taking repeated births or Samsara. During these births one has to follow the path of dharma although the scriptures do accept that there are different spiritual paths open to different people. The different paths can be those of devotion or bhakti, action or karma and knowledge or Gyan besides the belief in God or Bhagwan. It is also accepted that one‟s actions are free-willed. However, virtuous actions lead one closer to Brahman while actions that are evil lead the atman astray thereby making it more difficult to attain moksha, or freedom from rebirths.

VEDIC RESTRAINTS

According to Hindu scriptures there are 10 Vedic restraints or Yama and 10 Vedic practices or Niyama. The Vedic restraints include ahimsa and satya besides brahmcharya or divine conduct, daya and saucha or purity among others.

Gita exemplifies the cultural psychology of traditional India and makes sense there, and that its teachings are dependent on a theosophical tradition that is anchored in an ancient system of values, attitudes, and behavior that may be discrepant with the ethos of modern life and, especially the western culture. Indeed, as we mention earlier in this paper, the Gita could be viewed as primarily a religious text with a deep-rooted cultural resonance.

o Ardelt M. Wisdom as expert knowledge system: a critical review of a contemporary

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