In the previous episode, we had witnessed the commencement of the fifth “Adhyaaya” which is the “Sanyaasa Yoga”. Here, Bhagawan Krishna clearly demarcates between actual “Sanyaasa” and “Karma Sanyaasa”. He explains that a “Sanyaasin” is someone who actually renounces his / her entire “Grihastha-Ashramam” and goes to the forest to perform penance. However, a “Karma Sanyaasin” is someone who just renounces his / her “Karma” alone and nothing else, which is actually not a good practice at all. Through the sloka which we witnessed towards the end of the previous episode, Bhagawan Krishna highlights that a “Karma-Sanyaasin” is only interested in somehow escaping from his duties and is not really involved in the actual “Gnyaana Yoga” process that Bhagawan was earlier talking about. Hence, through this point, Bhagawan Krishna nudges Arjuna indirectly that there is no possibility for him to escape from the battlefield, and he has to fight the war, no matter whatever happens.
Continuing further thus, Bhagawan Krishna advises Arjuna – “Oh my dear Arjuna! I know that you’re a great warrior and you’re one of the best when it comes to the bow and arrow technique. You’ve specially obtained the “Gaandeepa” from the Devas and this is not easy to obtain for many others. Hence, you should use it in the right way possible. Hence, when you fight the war, you should keep aside your likes and dislikes. You should not fight the war just because you’ve to kill Duryodhana or anybody for that sake. Your sole motto should be to fight the war to establish “Dharma” in this world. Your personal instincts should not take over at any point in time. Oh Arjuna! I know that you had been hurt very badly by Duryodhana and Ducchaasana in the past when Draupati was manhandled in public. I’m sure you will have a lot of revenge mentality in you. However, you should keep your revenge mentality aside when you fight this war. This revenge mentality accounts to your likes and dislikes. Thus, if you’ve to perform your “Karma Yoga” properly, it is very important that you set aside all these worldly aspects!”
Saying thus, Bhagawan Krishna also explains how to perform the “Karma Yoga” even better. He says thus, “Oh Arjuna! When you commence performing your “Karma”, you should do so with the intention that all “Jeevatmas” in this world are equal. You should always be fair and equal with everyone, without seeing differences between them. In the previous second “Adhyaaya” I’ve clearly explained how the “Atman” and the “Deham” are two different entities. Even though the “Deham” might have enormous differences amongst people, the “Atman” that resides inside everyone is the same. Hence, you should always treat everyone equally and this is the start point of the entire “Karma Yoga”!
Now whatever Bhagawan Krishna has explained here as part of this episode, is sending a clear message to all of us – Firstly, when it comes to performing our actions, we should discard our likes and dislikes that might be associated with it. We might have our own preferences for many things in life. Just because we might like something, we might show more interest in it and just because we might completely dislike something, we might completely ignore it, which might also be a part of our duty. This is where we’ve to be careful and this is exactly what Bhagawan Krishna is pointing out. For instance, as I’m a professor in a university, I might like to teach one batch of students who are extremely studious and committed, but at the same time, there might be another batch wherein we might not find such people. Hence, just because I do not find committed students in a batch, should I stop teaching them altogether? The answer is “No”, isn’t it? This is where, we’ve to shun our likes and dislikes and irrespective of whether people are committed or not, I’ve to perform my duty as a professor to teach everyone properly to the best of my ability. Next, as per Bhagawan’s second pointer, as a professor, I should treat all my students in the class as equals, shouldn’t I? This is where fairness comes while performing our actions. When we teach students, we should make sure that all of them are given equal opportunities to express themselves, and also when it comes to evaluating their performance, we should be utterly fair to everyone. Even in the leadership perspective, the first and the most important quality of a great leader is to have fairness towards all employee’s in the organization. There should be no bias in the system, and if people start understanding that there are a few people who are favoured more than a few others, it would start creating rifts, isn’t it? Also, as a result, the trust factor between the leader and employee’s would greatly diminish, which would lead to talented employee’s quitting the organization.
Hence, these are the major management / leadership implications of what Bhagawan Krishna is explaining here, and for today, let us understand up to this point. We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 