Business Sutra: A Very Indian Approach to Management (42 page)

Imagination is fluid, or saras. Our imagination of the world, hence ourselves, keeps changing all the time. It will change with context or with better observation. If in one context, we may see ourselves as heroes, in another, we may see ourselves as victims or martyrs. Initially, we may see the employer as a saviour; but over time, with more information, on closer inspection, we may see the employer as the oppressor and ourselves as the oppressed. From saras comes Saraswati, goddess of knowledge. Knowledge is fluid; springing from imagination, constantly shape shifting, with the potential to expand towards infinity.

In the Brahma Puran, brahmanda is referred to as Brahma's daughter, his creation. She is Shatarupa, she of many forms, a reminder of her fluid nature. In the Shiva Puran, Brahma is accused of having incestuous affection for his daughter. This must not be taken literally (as it often is). It is a metaphor for how every human being clings to his creation, his subjective reality, convinced it is objective reality. The child of this incestuous liaison is our identity, also assumed to be objective and fixed. Shiva attacks and beheads Brahma, hoping he will abandon this imagined identity that makes him dependent and needy, but Brahma resists.

We constantly seek an endorsement of our identity. We adore those who see us as we imagine ourselves. Nature refuses to do that. Nature does not care if one is a doorman or director, but an organization does. The social identity, however, ceases to matter when the context changes. A military general may be valued during a war but not so much in peace. A culture's endorsement of our identity is thus occasional, conditional and temporary. This fills us with the fear of invalidation, a uniquely human fear, the greatest of fears that makes every human being feel dreadful, miserable and invisible.

Some react to this invalidation by seeking escape: either in work, entertainment or alcohol. Others seek an adrenaline rush to feel alive, anything from extreme sports to gambling. Still others turn to gluttony and greed, perversions and pettiness, grabbing more wealth and power in a bid to punish nature or culture itself. These may be condemned in society as vices, but they are in fact the cry of victims of imagination, desperately seeking meaning.

Shatarupa—imagination that amplifies our fears—can also liberate us from fear, for she is also Saraswati. In order to transform we need to stop clinging to and controlling imagination, but allow her to flow. If Brahma allows Shatarupa to be Saraswati, the trap will turn into a teacher. Saraswati will enable Brahma to outgrow fear and become the self-reliant swayambhu, like the independent Shiva and the dependable Vishnu. This can happen only if the 'father' wills it so, that is, Brahma allows himself to become the 'child'.

Typically, a Brahma seeks Vidyalakshmi or that aspect of Saraswati that helps us control nature, establish culture, and become rich and powerful. Sharda is the other aspect of Saraswati that improves our understanding of purush. She can imbue anything in the world with meaning and the juice of delight or rasa, which is why artists and scholars favour her. More importantly, she enables us to look into the hearts and minds of people around us so that we can appreciate ourselves better. She transforms the world around into mirrors or darpan so that we see ourselves reflected in it. Every Brahma then has the choice of consolidating his varna with the help of Vidyalakshmi, or outgrowing fear with Sharda, so that our guna changes from tamas through rajas towards sattva.

For this to happen, smriti must become shruti through tapasya. Smriti means the external voice through which information can be exchanged during the yagna. Shruti means the inner voice of our thoughts that cannot be exchanged. We communicate through smriti but we listen only to shruti. Smriti may inspire us but only shruti can transform us. Tapasya or introspection and contemplation play a key role in transforming smriti into shruti. When smriti becomes shruti, what I have becomes what I am. We no longer have power; we become powerful. We no longer have knowledge; we become wise. We do not need Durga from the outside world as we invoke Shakti within. We discover our potential within and hence find resources everywhere. We move from dependence towards dependability.

Smriti is represented by the book in Saraswati's hand while shruti by the one-stringed lute, the ik-tara that she plucks as she waits for realization to strike. Saraswati's goose or hamsa represents the human ability to analyse and introspect as it has the power to separate milk and water. In Buddhist mythology, Saraswati is Tara. The lotus (padma) in her hand represents our mind. As the imagination expands, these petals unfold to reveal the jewel (mani) of Buddha's wisdom. In Jain mythology, the third worthy being, besides vasudev and chakravarti, is the tirthankar, the supremely sensitive and caring sage.

• Tirthankar is the non-violent one, with no desire to be aggressive, dominating or territorial, for he can see how imagination can amplify fear and isolate humans from the rest of the world.
  
• He draws attention to the tirtha or ford, existing in the river of imagination, waiting to be discovered, that allows us to connect with worlds that seem otherwise separated and reflect on them.
  
• It is tough for a yajaman to walk across the tirtha and see the world from the devata's point of view. This demands expansion of the mind.
  
• It is tougher still to get the devata to walk across to the yajaman's side. Instruction is of no use. Inclusion demands we make room for even those who refuse to make room for us.
  

In this chapter we shall explore isolation, connection, expansion and inclusion and by doing so, appreciate the tirthankar's gaze. A yajaman who does darshan and seeks Saraswati, walks the path of the tirthankar. He knows that business is neither a burden to bear nor a battle to win, but a chance to outgrow fear by helping others outgrow theirs. This opportunity is available only to humans. To realize it is humanity's dharma.

All her life, Bela believed in an open-door policy for managers, but people rarely entered her cabin. She concluded that they were fools never to take advantage of her charitable nature. She saw herself as a misunderstood hero, until someone pointed out that everyone was intimidated by her. She was such a hard taskmaster and so demanding that people feared entering her cabin for it would invariably lead to her pulling them up for something or the other. She was the villain according to all the people who ever worked with her. Bela now had a choice: shrug her shoulders and accept the situation, as she wasn't about to change, or take responsibility for the world of fear she had unintentionally created around her. Bela chose to take responsibility and began watching how she engaged with people. She started looking at her team as a set of people, not task-completers or target-achievers. She started seeing the world from their point of view. Saraswati began to flow in Bela's head, widening her gaze, making her pay attention to the imagined realities around her and how they clashed with her own imagined reality. The more she walked the path of the tirthankar, the more she felt in charge; more of a swayambhu and less of a helpless offspring of circumstances. As Brahma, she replaced the old world of fear with a new world of encouragement much to the delight of her team.

Isolation

We want to be seen by others, but more often than not are unable to see others ourselves. We focus on making ourselves attractive. Focused on self-preservation, self-propagation and self-actualization, everyone gets isolated and wonders why they feel so lonely.

The gaze can be cruel or caring

In the Mahabharat, Duryodhan denies the Pandavs their throne while Krishna helps them reclaim it. Duryodhan abuses Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavs and Krishna rescues her. It is easy to see Duryodhan as the villain and Krishna as the hero if we restrict our gaze to these actions. If we seek the seed of the fruit, on the other hand, we can look beyond. We can wonder: what makes one man a villain and another man a hero? The epics provide some answers.