Lokasangraha: Motivate by being one with the team

In the last post we discussed the key characteristics of a leader practicing Lokasangraha.

•          One who practices what he/she says,
•          consistent in thoughts, speech and actions,
•          who has an eye to the details as well as the capacity to see the big picture
•          one who can organize every individual's skill without keeping aside any capable human resource
•          people around him/her feel respected and belonged

Moving on, let us further analyze Krishna's behavior. During the Kurukshetra war, after the sunset, the war would end for the day and everybody would go back to their camps or barracks for resting. However, Krishna used to take the horses to Vishampayana Lake and wash their blood stains, give them a massage, apply medicine to their wounds and he used to talk to them while doing all this. This was his nature; he would do this to cows in child hood and now to the horses amidst Kurukshetra war.

A question arises here, he being an avatara purusha, knowledgeable and above all, but indulges himself in all these trivial things like breaking pots, stealing butter, playing mischief with Gopikas, playing flute to please cows and friends, caring for cattle and horses. Why does he do this?

सक्ताः कर्मण्यविद्वांसो यथा कुर्वन्ति भारत।

कुर्याद्विद्वांस्तथासक्तश्चिकीर्षुर्लोकसंग्रहम्॥गीत ३-२५॥

He says, Yes I do all these trivial things, that does not mean I like breaking pots or stealing butter. I do it to entertain my fellow companions; I don't mind doing all these to become one with them. Among Panditas, I will be like a Pandita and will discuss Vedanta with them, among Gopikas I am playful like them, among friendly Gopalakas I am sharing, caring and naive like them. The sole purpose behind all these actions is Lokasangraha.

न बुद्दिभेदं जनयेदज्ञानां कर्मसङ्गिनाम्।

जोषयेत्सर्वकर्माणि विद्वान्युक्तः समाचरन्॥गीत ३-२६॥

Since they all are karma sangis (Samanya Jana), they like doing those activities. Many actions that they do, have come as inheritance from their family traditions and many other actions are their own duties. There is professional skill and professional pride associated with their actions.

A leader's duty is to respect their pride, nurture those skills, make them feel belonged, inspire and motivate them by being one with them. Nowadays, motivation has become a big mantra in modern psychology. Motivation of a person or a group greatly depends on the characteristics of the leader. When the leader practices Lokasangraha, such a group will be highly motivated, ready to take on any challenge and for sure they will be successful.

Lokasangraha: The secret of success

 

Our discussion is in third chapter, which is mainly meant to objectively project Karma. Karma is very near and dear to all of us because we are all normal commuters in this journey of life. Like any other travel we need to know the ultimate goal, the path to reach there and the bag pack of instruments which can come in handy during the journey. There are certain secrets of success for every path. Whoever is in the path of karma yoga must succeed; Krishna has given one master key word which is the secret of success in karma yoga.

Lokasangraha...

Today in management science, Lokasangraha has become very important. In olden days selection of a candidate for a particular job was based on technical tests and interviews. However, todays practice includes scenario planning and crisis resolution. Krishna talks about this very very essential skill to organize, without which success cannot be ensured. Even to organize a small gathering like this, it needs lots of planning and execution to see to it that no impropriety happens. Even a small oversight could cause a debacle.

Once, there was a commander in chief leading an army to the war. His best horse was limping a bit that day. Reason was a small nail in its shoe, which got dislocated and was pinching and making it to limp. He overlooked this, thinking it as a minor glitch, which ultimately resulted in chain of events leading to loss of war. A leader should have an eye to the details as well as the capacity to see the big picture of Lokasangraha.

Many asked Krishna, why are you worried about such small small things for which he says;

यदि ह्यहं न वर्तेयं जातु कर्मण्यतन्द्रितः।

मम वर्त्मानुवर्तन्ते मनुष्याः पार्थ सर्वशः॥गीत ३-२३॥

उत्सीदेयुरिमे लोका न कुर्या कर्म चेदहम्।

संकरस्य च कर्ता स्यामुपहन्यामिमाः प्रजाः॥गीत ३-२४॥

Those who are at the helm of affairs, if they forget their duties and get lost they become laughing stock, and then there is no hope. Arrogant Hitler went ahead with his misplaced concept of racism, hypnotized an entire nation, and made them drunk in this thought which resulted in massacring of innocent people. France could have resisted this, but they lost the war. After the defeat, they did soul searching meeting to find the reason for defeat. There, in that meeting generals came to a conclusion, war was not lost in the battle field but it was lost in the night clubs of Paris. Many generals and army chiefs forgot themselves in the pleasure of night clubs which lead to defeat.

Contrary to this, Napoleon Bonaparte the celebrated commander was a real role model. He knew every solider in his army by his name. He was a leader who practiced Lokasangraha. Every individual should feel connected to the leader, should feel belonged to the team and the leader.

Krishna's character is such an example. He demonstrated the skills of a leader, how to win hearts, how to make friendship, how to organize every individual's skill so that no capable human resource is ignored or kept aside. Every individual capacity must be duly organized and utilized, with appropriate position and respect.

मनसी अन्यत् वचसी अन्यत् कर्मणी अन्यत् दुरात्मनाम्।

मनसी एकम् वचसी एकम् कर्मणी एकम् महात्मनाम्॥

One who is consistent in thoughts, speech and action, such a person is mahatma

Krishna says, if I don't practice what I say, if I differ in thoughts, speech and actions, it motivates others to follow me, if many people become so, then society gets corrupted, leader has to be a role model, he needs to be consistent in thoughts, speech and actions.

Yajna Chakra: Nature friendly life style

Today we are discussing certain salient points pertaining to karma yoga. We cannot go for thoughtless mechanical karma, it becomes monotonous, like bull of the mill type of work. It needs to be joined with Yajna to make it Karma yoga. Krishna proposes a concept here, he says, human birth has been accompanied along with Yajna and by using this yajna as a tool we can move towards prosperity.

सहयज्ञाः प्रजाः सृष्ट्वा पुरोवाच प्रजापतिः।

अनेन प्रसविष्यध्वमेष वोऽस्त्विष्टकामधुक् ॥गीत ३-१०॥

Further he says, there is a shrusti chakra, cycle in built in our nature, we need to understand, respect and align our life style with it and that itself is yajna.

अन्नाद्भवन्ति भूतानि पर्जन्यादन्नसंभवः।

यज्ञाद्भवति पर्जन्यो यज्ञः कर्मसमुद्भवः ॥गीत ३-१४॥

कर्म ब्रह्मोद्भवं विद्दि ब्रह्माक्षरसमुद्भवम्।

तस्मात्सर्वगतं ब्रह्म नित्यं यज्ञे प्रतिष्टितम् ॥गीत ३-१५॥

We need food for our survival; good food will be available only when there is timely balanced rainfall. Yajna is the tool which creates balanced timely rainfall.

काले वर्षतु पर्जन्यः पृथिवी सस्यशालिनी।

When Yajna is done with proper ingredients like Palasha samidha + pure bharatiya desi cow ghee and performed at right sunrise and sun set timings, fumes or dhuma from such an Yajna forms clouds and results in timely rain, nature friendly rain. Today in the absence of such yajnas, we have either ati vrishti or ana vrishti, excess or deficient rains.

Further, this yajna is born out of karma. There are three types of karma ista karma, poorta karma and datta karma, involving balance of all three modes of action, kayika vachika manasika. This karma is told in veda (here, the word brahma means veda). Veda is born out of akshara, the pranava mantra om kara.

This quality sound of om kara can only be produced by quality persons who have achieved pusti and tushti in life. These are the aspects or in other words, spokes of the Yajna wheel, natural cycle of Karma yajna. If even one spoke is not taken care properly, the entire cycle will be upset.

एवं प्रवर्तितं चक्रं नानुवर्तयतीह यः।

अघायुरिन्द्रियारामो मोघं पार्थ स जीवति॥गीत ३-१६॥

We humans have a bounden duty to align our lifestyle with this built-in natural cycle. Only then, we can achieve prosperity and healthy long life span. If we break this cycle, we will be sinners, we will be disturbing natural harmony and eco balance, we will end up being consumeristic fellows, and instead of yoga we will be in bhoga and finally end up in roga.

We must follow this cyclic rotation, nature friendly life style, and then naturally our life becomes a yajna.

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