Conquer the enemy of self-distrust and doubt everything

Some unheard melodies: Management of life, living and the message of going ahead

Professor Thakur summarized the message of the Gita as “The image of someone going ahead with a balanced, harmonious expansion of oneself.” In his opinion “this is what makes the book global, anitya and enduring.” “Here is a book that talks about unity: “a dynamic togetherness of the sky and the earth, of Krishna and Partha”. This is the message of the Gita for the people of management today. “In the Geeta a prophetic voice speaks in an exuberant language for a harmonious expansion of one’s personality, not the one-sided expansion. It is a book that tells us not only to live – exist - but to become and to leave the Bill Gates of today far behind.”

The modern age is the Management Age. Management is the cry of today. “Does the Gita have anything to offer for the managers, directors and the business executives of today? The answer is “Yes”. One has to “manage” oneself first, otherwise a man is nothing but a bundle of undisciplined, unordered, undefined, unsophisticated talents. Referring to the lives of some of the great personalities like Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770), Harold Hart Crane (1899-1932), Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), Arthur Koestler (1905-1983), Jack London(1876-1916), Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) and Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), he said that these personalities, though incredible in their intellectual energy and caliber could not “manage” their lives well unfortunately and ended their precious lives abruptly and abnormally.

“Apart from the management of grief and joy in one’s life one should manage to come out of the “prisons of joys and sorrows”. Management, as a profession, is full of ups and downs of a very serious nature and here lies the true worth of the Gita for the managers. For not only its message will awaken the hidden potential in them but also enable them to comprehend the micro and macro contexts of the emotive and financial catastrophes they might suffer in their professional career”, he said.

The image of India: So old and yet so new

Geeta is “an energetic expression of that thing we call India. Here is a book that reflects the eternal spirit of India”. “India is not a geographical territory with 1 billion of human beings. India is a conviction, a realizable message, a philosophy. Where the earth and the sky meet that horizon is eternal India.” “For me trying to discover India is the Gita. It is a glimpse of eternal India, for me it is a discovery of India. I’ve never been apologetic about it. I’m rather proud of it.” He quoted Sri Aurobindo, Aldous Huxley and Albert Einstein to underline the “enduring value” of the Gita for the world today. He urged the audience to conquer the enemy of self-distrust and to doubt everything “ for doubts are at the very root of success” and to “project, organize and acquit oneself for doing is the mother of success. Don’t just ‘be’ – ‘become’ and achieve the impossible, awaken the hidden possibilities in you and become good managers.” “The Gita: A matchless metaphor for management” Anil K Prasad, Ph.D., Professor of English, Faculty of Arts, Ibb University. prasad@y.net.ye yementimes.com Current date: Sunday July 23, 2006