In an age of short attention spans, burnout, and constant change, the Bhagavad Gita reminds us to focus on purpose over pressure, mindfulness over multitasking, and values over velocity.

1. The Core Principles: Desireless Work & Clear Reasoning
2. The ‘Third Eye’ of Reason
3. Understanding Human Behaviour: The Three Gunas and the Sthitpragnya
4. Frustration, Conflict, and Communication
5. Wisdom and Action: The Krishna-Arjuna Synergy
6. Personal Motivation and Ethical Leadership
7. Bhagavad Gita: More Than a Religious Text
8. Practical Applications in the Corporate World
9. The Victory Chariot of Rama: A Metaphor for Administration
10. Bhagavad Gita, from different perspectives

Religion has never been my mainstay. But I am always curious about ancient scriptures, the knowledge and the relevance in today’s times. I’ve read the Bhagavad Gita (often called the Celestial Song) many times to understand the philosophy and discover principles that aid a beautiful life in the current era.

My introduction to the Bhagavad Gita beyond the religious context goes way back to 2000. I worked for a training and management magazine and one of the cover stories was on management lessons from the Gita. I spoke to various management experts, writers, coaches, trainers, and practitioners to understand how the Bhagavad Gita was a tool for the corporate world.

Here are some fascinating aspects that I wrote about after conducting these interviews, highlighting the timeless wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita and contemporary behavioural theories.

The Core Principles: Desireless Work & Clear Reasoning

Focus on effort, not outcome.

At the heart of the Gita lies one of its most transformative ideas — Nishkama Karma, or action without attachment to results.

“You have the right to perform your duty, but not to the fruits thereof.” — Bhagavad Gita 2.47

This isn’t about avoiding goals. It’s about maintaining clarity and peace amid uncertainty. Modern behavioural science agrees: attachment to outcomes breeds anxiety, burnout, and disappointment. Focusing on the process fosters creativity and long-term success.

The ‘Third Eye’ of Reason

The Gita’s emphasis on Gyan, reason and clarity, mirrors the concept of the “third eye.” This isn’t mystical but a metaphor for clear, unbiased intellect.

In management terms, this translates into strategic thinking, conflict resolution, and sound decision-making. A leader with an “open third eye” acts with wisdom, not impulse, balancing heart and head.

According to medical science, the ‘third eye’ is the pineal gland, which secretes melatonin. This hormone regulates sleep patterns and can also protect against neurodegeneration, which is the progressive loss of function of neurons. Neurodegeneration is present in conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. There’s still research being done on the pineal gland.

Understanding Human Behaviour: The Three Gunas and the Sthitpragnya

Sigmund Freud’s dynamic personality theory, with its Id, Ego, and Superego, finds a striking echo in the Gita’s concept of the three gunas: Tamas, Sattwa, and Rajas.

• Tamas: Represents ignorance and inertia (akin to the Id’s primal urges).
• Rajas: Represents passion and activity (aligned with the Ego’s drive).
• Sattwa: Represents purity and balance (comparable to the Superego’s moral compass).

The Gita describes a “sthitpragnya”, a person of firm mind, as one who has achieved balance between these three gunas. This equilibrium is crucial for effective management, allowing for stable decision-making and ethical conduct.

Frustration, Conflict, and Communication

Bhagavad Gita also addresses the psychological impact of unfulfilled desire, linking it directly to anger and downfall.

• Psychological Parallel: This aligns perfectly with the “frustration-aggression hypothesis”. Also known as the frustration–aggression–displacement theory, this aggression theory was proposed by John Dollard, Neal Miller, Leonard Doob, Orval Mowrer, and Robert Sears in 1939. It was further developed by Neal Miller in 1941 and Leonard Berkowitz in 1989. The theory says that aggression is the result of blocking, or frustrating, a person’s efforts to attain a goal.
• Decision-Making: Kurt Lewin’s decision-making dilemma can be seen through the Gita’s lens of choosing between shukla (white), krishna (dark), and mishrit karma (mixed actions) – pure, impure, or mixed ethical choices.
• Communication & Ego States: The Gita’s three yogas – karma (action), bhakti (devotion), and gyan (knowledge) – resonate with Eric Berne’s Parent, Adult, and Child ego states.
  • Bhakti Yoga (Child Ego): Unconditional devotion and trust, essential for team cohesion.
  • Gyan Yoga (Adult Ego): Reasoning and accumulated knowledge, vital for analytical problem-solving and collective betterment.
  • Karma Yoga (Parent Ego): The “do’s and don’ts,” providing ethical guidelines and structure for action. A balanced blend of these yogas fosters a well-rounded and effective personality.

Wisdom and Action: The Krishna-Arjuna Synergy

Perhaps the most potent message for management lies in the Gita’s last verse: the combination of Yogeswara Krishna (Wisdom) and Partho Dhanurdhara (Action) leads to prosperity and victory.

• Management Implication: This symbolizes the indispensable synergy between strategic thinking, profound knowledge (Krishna), and decisive, skilled execution (Arjuna). True success, bringing both material wealth and inner peace, arises when wisdom informs action and action is guided by wisdom.

Personal Motivation and Ethical Leadership

Motivational trainer late Promod Batra (1936-2016) emphasized self-motivation as a prerequisite for motivating others. His interpretations of mythological events, like Draupadi’s actions preventing war, highlighted the importance of rational thought, apology, and avoiding ego-driven conflict.

• Batra’s Principles (Gleaned from the Gita):
  • Say the right thing at the right time.
  • Adapt your attitude with changing times.
  • Don’t hide shortcomings that could become detrimental.

Management experts also underline the fact that “being a good human being is the pre-requisite for becoming a good manager.” They point out the dominance of the rajasik guna (passion/greed) in figures like Duryodhana, linking it to modern-day perpetrators of scams.

Ethical leadership, reducing imbalances of “asura sampat” (greed, envy, anger) and increasing “daivi sampat” (compassion, sincerity), is crucial for effectiveness in work and life.

Bhagavad Gita: More Than a Religious Text

Many young professionals view the Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita purely as religious texts or dramatic stories. However, experts feel that this is a superficial reading.

• Universal Principles: The Gita, though rooted in a Sanskrit text, offers universal principles applicable to any science, past, present, or future. Its lessons on transformational leadership, detaching from results, and proactive engagement are profoundly relevant.
• Vedic Management: A few management institutions even integrated “Vedic Management,” which includes yoga, meditation, and practical managerial principles from the Gita, with positive results in student performance.

Practical Applications in the Corporate World

The Gita’s philosophy extends to various aspects of modern business:

• Nishkama Karma (Action without Attachment to Results): While some interpret this as an “escape route” from accountability, Gita exponents clarify that actions are directed to definite goals, both short and long term. The emphasis is on the effort and the process, not solely the outcome.
  • Effort-Result Matrix: Trainers highlight the importance of focusing on quadrants representing high effort, regardless of immediate results, promoting sustained dedication.
• The Problem-Solving Approach: The Gita advocates a three-tiered approach to problem-solving, which resonates with modern strategic thinking:

• Disengagement: Viewing the problem from a transcendent zone, beyond immediate emotions and reason.
• Higher Wisdom: Connecting with a “supreme source of infinite wisdom” (company ethics, mission, vision).
• Application: Applying this knowledge to resolve the crisis, shifting from egocentric to cosmic-centric approaches (“what’s good for the team?”).
• The Pandavas as Virtues: Some trainers reinterpret the Pandavas as virtues of a leader:
  • Yudhishtara: Calm, unbiased, just.
  • Bhim: Aggressive, appetite for work.
  • Arjuna: Powerful, sharp-eyed, skilled.
  • Nakul and Sahdev: Mindful and listening to the team.
  • Krishna: Your mind control appeal.
  • Draupadi: Your emotional system. This offers a powerful framework for self-assessment and leadership development.

The Victory Chariot of Rama: A Metaphor for Administration

Going further, the Ramayana also offers profound management lessons, such as the depiction of Rama’s “victory chariot.”

• Components of Success:
  • Wheels: Valour and fortitude.
  • Banners: Truthfulness and good conduct.
  • Horses: Strength, discretion, self-control, benevolence, joined by cords of forgiveness, compassion, and evenness of mind.
  • Driver: Adoration of God (or a higher purpose).
  • Shield: Dispassion.
  • Sword: Contentment. This intricate metaphor illustrates the holistic qualities required for success in any endeavor, particularly in leadership.

In short, the Bhagavad Gita and other ancient scriptures offer a rich tapestry of psychological and managerial insights. With a layered interpretation, they provide a blueprint for ethical leadership, effective decision-making, and personal mastery, principles that remain relevant in today’s corporate landscape.  

Bhagavad Gita, from different perspectives

1. Literary and Philosophical Context

The Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue consisting of 700 verses and is a chapter within the much larger ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata.

• Epic Poetry/Literature: Written in Sanskrit, this is embedded as an episode in the Mahabharata, combining historical elements, moral philosophy, mythology, and legend.
• Philosophical Treatise: The text is essentially a protracted discourse on moral philosophy and spirituality between Arjuna (the warrior) and Krishna (his charioteer, revealed as an avatar of Vishnu). Its core purpose is to address profound questions about dharma (duty), karma (action), moksha (liberation), and the nature of the Self.

2. Traditional and Religious Classification

• Scripture/Sacred Text (Smṛti): Within Hinduism, the Gita is one of the most prominent sacred texts. It is often referred to as the “song of the Lord” and is central to the Vedanta and Vaishnava traditions.
• Non-Fiction Perspective: Many devout Hindus and scholars traditionally regard the events of the Mahabharata, including the dialogue of the Gita, as a factual account of a historical war and real spiritual revelation. In a broader sense, texts like the Gita, the Bible, or the Quran, are often categorized under non-fiction in library systems simply because they are sacred, religious, or philosophical works, not deliberately made-up prose stories (i.e., novels).

3. Modern Interpretation

• Allegory/Metaphor: Many modern Indian and Western scholars, thinkers, and management gurus (as seen in the original text) interpret the setting of the battlefield as an allegory for the internal struggles and moral conflicts of human life. From this perspective, the literal events of gods and demons walking the earth are less important than the psychological and ethical lessons being taught.
• Fiction in a Modern Sense: If you apply a very strict, modern literary definition, where “non-fiction” means verifiable historical fact and “fiction” means any created narrative, the Gita would lean toward the latter because it features divine characters and metaphysical events that cannot be empirically proven as literal history.

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