BW Communities

A Holistic Approach

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[Excellence in work comes from doing one's dharma, a path not easy to follow. The primary reason attributed to this is a "cluttered" mind, distracted by desire for rewards, greed or selfishness; and not working with the complete self, which is adharma. It is suggested practice of pranayama, meditation and yoga integrates mind so that it obtains clarity of dharma and can remain focused on its execution. It is posited when people follow dharma there is yagna that benefits all. Anything less, according to Vedas, leads to negative outcomes. Is the Vedic prescription easy to follow? Prima facie, it is not. Present day Indian youth have experienced their parents' struggle while bringing them up in resource-scarce India of past. The proverbial limited pie syndrome inculcates values of competitiveness emanating from deep insecurity, which the young would have implicitly imbibed while growing up. It is but natural for them to desire material, position and power rewards "very soon" now that modern India has the miraculous capability of offering these opportunities to the educated youth. Is it wrong to desire? Why is it a barrier to execution of dharma? What is the metaphysics of desire? For answers, we can turn to Vedic cosmogony. According to Prashnopanishad, creation (universe) is the result of cosmic desire. The absolute-conscious Brahman (subsistence) becomes source and originator of creation when stirred with awareness of its fullness and not wishing to possess its fullness, loses itself to second, third and many more, giving rise to creation. As is the macro, so is the micro, and we see in nature, the willingness to not possess its perfection for itself, and give away as bounties (food, warmth, shade, etc.) which others enjoy. According to Sri Aurobindo, nature of cosmic desire is not an economic activity of satisfaction of  "wants", but is an aesthetic activity, which cannot be what it is without self manifestation. The law behind creation is complete self-giving called yajna and creation works like gigantic cosmic yajna (Rig Veda 10:90). Human beings are capable of experiencing fullness and doing their dharma in the spirit of yajna. But for most individuals, the drag of past and pull of future leaves the self sundered, and actions performed in the present are from an incomplete state of being. The reason: the unique human endowment called mind (manas) — the cognitive capacity that acts like a double-edged sword because it is both the cause of bondage and also the cause of freedom from bondage. Manas creates desire. Also the motivation to develop is to acquire objects of desire and is quick to present another image (vikalpa) to chase in a never-ending cycle. Vedas consider this as natural human condition and prescribe the fourfold human values purusartha: kama, artha, dharma and moksa for satisfaction of "complete human being". Kama is conscious satisfaction of sensual desires, artha is acquiring economic and other means to fulfil kama, while dharma regulates the two so that fulfilment is complete and liberates (moksa). Adi Sankara says that while enjoying pleasures, we ought to also protect ourselves against them through dharma. Even a hedonist will not abandon dharma even though he uses it to fulfil kama; because dharma saves from excess in indulgence that reduces enjoyment and leads to dissipation. Dharma does not detract from enjoyment, rather allows for holistic fulfilment. Modern human beings have stopped fulfilling purusartha and thereby remain eternally dissatisfied. Possessions, position and power cannot be equated with satisfaction. The complete trajectory that desire unfolds involves not just subjective wanting, but also objects of desire, right efforts and means (artha and dharma) for acquiring, and finally conscious enjoyment (bhoga). As a rule, we neither enjoy the work we have, our possessions, nor relationships, not even food. We are perpetually chasing increasingly-alluring images of self — always unhappy with the present and in hope of better future. This is the dark side of "perpetual progress", which drives us like a hamster on rat wheel. WHO projections on world health say that by 2020, depression will be the number one killer in women; and violence will rank third as risk factor for mortality in males. Both are forms of mental instability and these forebodings pose a serious challenge to organisations, which depend on human capital for sustenance. Purusartha is a concept culled from India's knowledge traditions — the Vedas and HR can creatively design suitable strategies for its employees around it. Organisations will have to create space for employees for "conscious enjoyment "of work and reward. Find out if people are holistically fulfilled and not consumed entirely by organisations to stretch targets. Organisations may have to slow their growth, only to sustain high performance brought about by fulfilled individuals who give themselves freely to the organisation. Dr Mala Sinha is associate professor, Asian Perspectives in Power and Leadership; Business Ethics at the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University (This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 02-01-2012)