KARMA, DHRAMA, LEADERSHIP

KARMA, DHRAMA, LEADERSHIP and BHAGWAN SHRI KRISHNA

The whole import or essence of the topic is to explore and understand the CONCEPTS involved behind every term of the topic. KARMA, DHRAMA, LEADERSHIP and BHAGWAN SHRI KRISHNA. We are going to see the concept of BHAGWAN SHRI KRISHNA.

Now let us get down to understand what the terms mean and from there the concepts that they convey.

The two words "karma" and "dharma" are both of Sanskrit origin. They are complementary in their meaning.

Karma-[karman] - "act, action, by extension it means the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction that govern all life. That’s why this term has heaped upon itself a hoard of connotations forming a carapace of meanings wherein the original essence of the term has been lost and along with it the concept that it represented also got masked. Every term in Sanskrit, especially used in specific contexts has immense intrinsic value.

Unfortunately,  we in our enthusiasm either to denounce their importance or announce their significance have injected our own interpretations, justification etc and have distorted them.

That’s why the term karma too conjures up a variety of images ethical-moral, psychological, metaphysical, mystical and mundane ranging from a rigid law of merciless retribution to deterministic fatalism and has been interpreted in terms of deterministic horizontal relationships. Karma therefore simply put is act or action that takes place both inevitably [happenings beyond our control and comprehension- to these we can only react wherein our attitude plays a part] or through intentional and involved voluntary initiation [action which we perform and herein we are in total control or at least comprehension of the factors that contribute to the action] in both types of deeds /cases Dharma is a complementary and both are interconnected.

In fact Karma and Dharma are like the horizontal and vertical planes of a staircase that contribute to the growth and emancipation of human beings. 

Even if Karma is understood in the narrow sense as fatalism Dharma is the freewill. So, correctly understood fate and freewill are like the horizontal and vertical planes of staircase that enable one to evolve.

How is Dharma complementary and interconnected to inevitable happenings and voluntary actions?

In the case of inevitable happenings Dharma manifests itself in the form of proper attitude based reactions to the happenings.

In the case of voluntary happenings Dharma requires us  to perform or act in the best interest of humanity as per the situation and as per the laws of universally applicable ethical and moral values.

So, probably Karma includes within its gamut only

Kind Appropriate Righteous Magnanimous Actions

That’s why the key to the spiritual life is the transmutation of karma into dharma.

The ultimate meaning of karma is to be identified with interconnectedness and interpenetration of all that exist out there.

They are ultimately, a network of multidimensional relationships. That’s why karma is both actions and their inevitable results. The cause and effect of all happenings as mentioned in the beginning the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction that governs all life.

Dharma, is performing the acts in the best ways possible and ensure thereby best results as well as put up the proper perspective and attitude oriented reactions to all happenings.

These explanations of Karma and Dharma clearly indicate that the concepts that these terms refer to  are the traits of paramount importance of leadership. 

We shall delineate further on these concepts later on and see how relevant and effective are they?

Now the other term in the topic.

Why BHAGWAN SHRI KRISHNA?

Google will boggle you with thousands of articles and entries on this subject.

If I am going to reproduce what has been already discussed by many I will be churning out another material that will be cached plagiarism culled from several sources.

Nor am I willing to get into a lengthy diatribe of describing what is corporate leadership and political leadership and why only through karma and dharma of BHAGAWAN SRI KRISHANKRISHNA- and all that bla bla.

Nor am I planning to offer any templates to any leadership.

True leadership is not experience-driven nor emotion oriented it emerges out of enlightenment born out of karma and dharma. 

Who else can be a better example of this type of leadership than BHAGWAN SRI KRISHNA.

LEADERSHIP cannot be formulated in advance. It emerges out of enlightened synergy of judgment, cooperation, and creativity relevant to specific context. 

Leadership too is measured by its effectiveness in the context. It is not the byproduct of analytical planning or pre -programming.

I am not trying to contemporize the concepts or percepts of KRISHNA for modern day management. 

If I do so then I will be belittling   KRISHNA’S teachings as products stocked in some attic of a museum and that as if I am resurrecting them with my intellect and breathing life in to them by con-temporizing them etc. No not at all.

The fact is that Krishna and his teachings are invaluable and timeless. 

The events in Krishna’s life can be calendared but we cannot confine the impact of his teachings to time and consign them as mythological or historical.

I am driven by certain convictions. I operate always with these convictions as the base in my sub consciousness i.e. First I observe and listen carefully to deposit and internalize what I observed in my mind space, the with the limited knowledge base analyze and associate, emotionalize and evaluate, reach out and research, understand and unite.

What are these convictions:-

First, is not to be hypocritical, because hypocrisy accumulates so much of artificiality that at some point of time we may forget our original self totally.

Second, to see how best we can synergize with relevant men and material to produce the best effects.

Third, while synergizing, try our level best to complement and cooperate without compromising   intrinsically important things.

Many may  wonder what is the purpose or relevance of all these preamble and personal philosophizing.

It is because these are the inevitable subjective elements or factors that will impact the approach to the topic.

Why Krishna? Because as a born Hindu and besides a person looking for philosophical vindications, practical solutions, scientific approaches and non compulsive principles applicable to different contexts and all these being prescribed by a person who has followed them in his life as was done by Krishna naturally I am fan of Krishna and therefore my perceptions and observations definitely have an impact of positive bias, this positive bias increases my enthusiasm and emotional involvement that I look forward and learn with love the teachings of Krishna.

I do not want to say hypocritically that the only spiritual teachings delinked from religion offer us wisdom, though it is unfortunate that many things are done in the name of religion and that do not mean all things that are either part of or were part of religion are to be avoided. We have enough wisdom and personal tastes, convictions, principles, convenience, contexts to make our own healthy and intelligent choice by filtering.

In fact religion is our inherited source of strength or weakness depending on whether we use it for soul searching or soul murder by smothering it with irrelevant rituals. In fact there is neither de- linked spiritualism nor distilled wisdom there are only distilled spirit and de- linked wisdom. As human beings we emerge through an institution called a specific family born to specific parents then blossom on our own after the initial incubation in the family with the help of our parents. 

However great we may grow, we cannot either disown or dismiss the role of our family. Similarly even the greatest saints who have grasped the totality of spiritualism cannot dismiss their basic incubation through religion. It is more so for ordinary mortals like me.

So, without inhibition and with positive biased love for lord Krishna as a Hindu I tried to understand the leadership traits and I have been amazed to find many.

I shall give one small and first example of manifestation of the leadership trait through karma and dharma displayed by Bhagwan shri Krishna at the beginning of Mahabarath war. Then, later on, elucidate the general principles of leadership and how Shri Krishna exhibited them?

1] To start with Krishna selects the most suitable candidate from among the Pandavas to execute his tasks he chose ARJUNA. WHY?

It was not only his expertise in archery but because he was the most learned manifesting his honest doubts but willing to learn. Krishna entertained all his doubts and delusions and did not force him out of them [dharma]

Then, gradually by sheer reasoning he  removed all of Arjuna’s  doubts and delusions. And once his doubts and delusions were removed Arjuna realized the importance of performing what was expected of him in the given situation.[karma]

As we explored in the beginning ‘The ultimate meaning of karma is to be identified with interconnectedness and interpenetration of all there is, because all there is, is a network of multidimensional relationships’. 

The inevitable fact of life is that it is part of the network of multidimensional relationships.

So, leadership involves linking everything and everyone involved in this multidimensional relationships; performing what is required at a given situation simultaneously convincing everyone else also to perform; taking responsibility and tackling responsibly of everyone and every situation without denying or defying the importance of any mode of human perception while  anticipating, acknowledging and being prepared for all types reactions.

LEADERSHIP IS

Linking  [synergizing]

Everyone’s [synthesizing based on interrelatedness]

Abilities/ Aspirations [inherent attributes and skills]

Dharmically [value based on wholesome perception]

Emotionally [compassionate attitude-feel at heart ]

Rationally [reason with head]

Soulfully [ realization of oneness in spirit and purpose-spiritually]

Highlighting the [ prioritizing]

Importance of [contextual relevance of]

Performance. [karma-activities based on all the above]