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Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati In today's competitive world, in addition to the oft quoted Intelligence Quotient and the now popular emotional quotient, there is an increasing need for what is now referred to as the Spiritual Quotient. To address this need for tomorrow's managers, S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research includes amidst its academic rigor the Gita-Shibir, a two-day workshop at an ashram in Kayavarohan, Baroda conducted by Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati. Swamiji's visit to the campus on Wednesday the 27th of August was a precursor to the actual Shibir sessions. Swamiji spoke at length on a vital aspect of spiritual quotient, that of Self-Management. He hinted at how in addition to maintaining objectivity in making decisions, there is an increasing need for managing one's self. Like in the battlefield at Kurukshetra, Arjuna was overcome with emotions at the prospect of battling his own brethren. Emotions can cloud one's judgement and it is critical for the manager of tomorrow to be objective in handling decisions. To achieve the above, Swamiji reiterated the importance of self-management. Self-Management indeed is the ability of an individual to control one's ambition, temptations and frustrations and indeed drive them and not be driven by them instead. When one is driven by his ambitions one may compromise one's own values and may use unfair means to achieve these goals. He quoted the Gita learnings, "Karmaneva dhika raste ma phaleshu kadachana" to emphasize that one should take responsibility for one's actions. This may not be easy to do, however, this is the central tenet of self-management. Only if one is accountable to himself/herself can one have respect for oneself (Self Respect), and as a result of this self-esteem, one indeed becomes sensitive to others around him, which for a manager is key in building inter-personal relations. Another key learning from the Vedas and Western philosophy that Swamiji quoted was, "God give me serenity to accept gracefully what I cannot change, Give me will and courage to change what I can and wisdom to know what I can change and cannot". He emphasized that one must work towards ones goals with passion and devotion however if indeed the outcome is not commensurate with one's expectations there must be no resentment and frustration, one must learn to accept the outcome gracefully. For the student and faculty community at SPJIMR, the Swamiji's visit presented a unique opportunity to reflect upon the timelessness of these teachings from the Bhagwad Gita, which are perennial, and as applicable in today's dog-eat-dog world of business as ages ago at Kurukshetra. Contributed by - |
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