Management Expression Of Veda And The Vedic Literature

MANAGEMENT Expression of Veda and the Vedic Literature

G.SAIKRISHNA, M.B.A DIRECTOR OF YUVA FOUNDATION

Modern Management and Ancient Vedic Management Discover the Fabrics of Immortality in the Management

MANAGEMENT Expression of Veda and the Vedic Literature Vedic Management displayed in the blossoming of a beautiful lotus on the ground of a muddy pond

Modern Management and Ancient Vedic Management Discover the Fabrics of Immortality in the Management G.SAIKRISHNA, Director of Yuva Foundation OPP: Vidyanagar Bus Stop, Hyderabad, (AP), INDIA. Web: www.yuvafoundation.com, Email:[email protected], Contact number: +91 - 09247816033

Dedicated To His Holiness Maharshi Mahesh Yogi, The Guiding Light of the Discovery of Veda and the Vedic Literature in Vedic Management

‘Here is the first and final disclosure of knowledge that presents every human being as the embodiment of the total creative process in Nature and renders human life as a field of all possibilities. “This offers mastery over Natural Law to everyone and perfection to every HIS HOLINESS MAHARSHI MAHESH YOGI

(Dawn of Total Knowledge )

nation Heaven on Earth.”

-- Maharshi

One of the most important human activities is managing. The basic unity of a society is the individual. But no individual can satisfy all his desires himself. Therefore, he units with his fellow beings and works in an organized group to achieve what he cannot achieve individually. There are several types of organized groups, example, and family; wherever there is an organized group of people working towards a common goal some types of management becomes essential. No organization can run successfully unless there is some one to manage its activities. It is not difficult to realize the consequences of the situation in which an organized group has no management at all. Management has become a part and parcel in everyday life, be it at home, office, factory, Government, or in any other organization where a group of human beings assemble for a common purpose, management principles come into play through their various facets like management of time, resources, personnel, materials, machinery, finance, planning, priorities, policies and practice. The term “MANAGEMENT” derived from MAN·AGE·MENT has been used in different senses. •

Administration Of Business

The organizing and controlling of the affairs of a business or a sector of a business •

Managers As Group

Managers and employers considered collectively, especially the directors and executives of a business or organization. •

Handling of something successfully

The act of handling or controlling something successfully

•

Skill In Handling Or Using Something

The skillful handling or use of something such as resources Sometimes it is used to mean to mean the group of managerial personnel in an organization. At other times, management refers to the process of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating and controlling. It is also referred to as a body of knowledge, a practice and discipline. Management is a systematic way of doing all activities in any field of human effort. It is about keeping oneself engaged in interactive relationship with other human beings in the course of performing one's duty. Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their weaknesses irrelevant. The modern management concepts like vision, leadership, motivation, excellence in work, achieving goals, meaning of work, attitude towards work, nature of individual, decision making, planning etc., are all discussed in the VEDAS with a sharp insight and finest analysis to drive through our confused grey matter making it highly eligible to become a part of the modern management syllabus. From the pre-historic days of aborigines to the present day of robots and computers the ideas of managing available resources have been in existence in some form or other. When the world has become a big global village now, management practices have become more complex and what was once considered a golden rule is now thought to be an anachronism. For management to be successful and free from problems it has to be systematic and scientific. For it to be scientific it must conform to the theories of modern science. For

anything to be in conformity with all the theories of all disciplines of modern science, it must be Vedic, which means it must be in full accord with natural law.

Vedic means pertaining to Veda. The Vedas are the collection of mantras. The word Veda is derived from the Sanskrit root “VID” which means “knowledge”, hence the Vedas are the books of knowledge. The Vedic literatures is an age – old literature of India. It has been preserved generation, from parents to children, in the Vedic families of India. It should not be regarding to any religious (i.e. HINDU, MUSLIM, CHRISTIAN, SIKKU, etc.). Vedic literatures are the ancient science (i.e. Physics, chemistry, mathematics, physiology, etc...). Vedic literatures were discovered by Rishi (Ancient Scientist, they had discovered the laws of universal)

The Vedas were revealed with the creation of universe and human beings. According to the Vedic astrological calculations it comes out to be (1,97,29,49,088) one thousand nine hundred seventy two millions nine hundred forty nine thousand eighty- eight years. And according to cosmologists also, the age of creation of universe come out to be about two thousand million years by different modern dating techniques. This is in conformity with the Vedic astrological calculations put forward by Sami Dayanand Saraswathi about the period of creation of Vedas

The creation of the Vedas has been accepted as 1,400 years B.C. by Hogg, Whitney, 4,00 B.C. by Jacoby, N.B. Pavagi in “ Vedic Father of Geology “ has accepted the creation period of the Vedas two lakh forty thousand years, (2,40,000). There are several evidence

in Vedic literatures both ancient and modern, that Vedas are since the creation of universe. First the knowledge should be in the beginning of creation as it clear from the query of a human being in Rig-Veda. It says, “I know not fully what iam in reality for iam placed within the wander with fettered mind; when I will be able to attain to the primordial product of the eternal law, than and than only I will obtain a share of this (Divine) word. (R.V.1.164.37)

Further, “The God who enlightens the enlightened and introduced knowledge and virtue to the scholars as sweets to sweet lovers and who later on revealed Divine knowledge worth contemplation and adoption by soul – the master of sensitive organs. (RV. 10.54.6)

In Mahabharata, it reads thus – With the creation of universe, God revealed such a unique, eternal and Divine knowledge of the Vedas which had neither beginning nor end; and all sorts of knowledge and activities in the world followed it later on. (M. Bh. Shanthi Parva 232-24)

Despite of a Christian missionary’s approach. Max Muller confessed that Rig-Veda is the oldest book. He writes in the introduction of Rig-Veda thus. “After the latest researches into the history and chronology of the book of old testament. We may now safely call the Rig Veda the oldest book, not only of Aryan community, but of the whole world”.

The Vedas are four only (i.e. Rig Veda, Yajurveda, samaveda and Atharvaveda. These Vedas are the collection mantras God himself revealed the Vedic mantras. God enlightened knowledge initially into the soul of the Rishi’s. A Rishi is a person who according to Rig Veda (10.107.6)

Performs Yagya every day, recites samaveda hymns, know and instructs Vedas according to the true spirit of the mantra; who is well versed with satva, rajaj, tamas and their relationships, has attained SIDDHI or perfection by his own penance and remains cheerful and clam. According to Shatpath Brah (4.3.9)

“a Rishi is one who possesses true knowledge and preaches the same to others

The Rishi was the first savant and expert who by virtue of his deep meditation and enhance had revealed the true spirit of the mantra or group of mantras in their literal, metaphysical and spiritual sense, and had further explained the same in details to other human beings. So by virtue of his contributions in the study, interpretations, propagation and exploration on the true meaning of his mantra, later scholars associated his name with that particular mantra.

This experience was not, Rishis’s asserts, on the level of thinking, or theoretical conjecture, or imagination, but on the level of direct experience, which is more vivid, that NEWTON or EINSTEIN, when they discovered the laws of universal gravitation or special relativity, enjoyed a vivid experience of sudden understanding or kind of direct “insight” into these laws.

The Vedas are revealed by Rishi is there are Rig Veda was revealed by Agni, Yajurveda by Vayu, Samaveda by Aditya and Atharvaveda by Angira Rishi as supported by Shat Path Brahman (11.5.8)

Further in Atharvaveda (10.7.70). creation of these Rishis.

but the Vedas are not the

The term management has been used in different senses sometimes its is used to mean the group of managerial personnel in an organization. At other times, management refers to the process of planning, organizing staffing, directing, coordinating and controlling. It is also referred to as a body of knowledge, a practice and discipline. Management is required to plan, organize, coordinate and control the affairs of the organization. It brings the human and material resources together and motivates the people for the achievement of the objectives of the organization. Organizations and management systems have been there since the beginning of human society. Even when man was a food gatherer and cave dweller, he realized his fraitly, the dangers to which he was beset. He looked around him and drew lessons from their behavior patterns. And cogent thinking and analysis led him to form groups, for he had realized that he could not do everything by himself. And groups needed to be managed while management needed organizations. The basic unity of a society is the individual. But no individual can satisfy all his desires himself. Therefore, he units with his fellow beings and works in an organized group to achieve what he cannot achieve individually. There are several types of organized groups, example, family, a lay group, a work group, a school, a business firm, a government etc. wherever there is an organized group of people working towards a common goal, some types of management becomes essential. No organization can run successfully unless there is some one to manage its activities Moreover, management as we know it today is largely an American construct based on European roots. Historically modern management has developed as a discipline over the

past couple of centuries. The first organizations of consequence in Europe an America, where the discipline of modern management developed, were governmental, religious and military institutions. From these came the initial concepts of leadership, the chain of command, coordination, control and functional specialization. The Roman Empire and the Catholic Church were particularly influential. .By the sixteenth century, the Roman Empire was long gone – but the Church remained – as a single, dominant organization in European societies. The scope of activities, however, simply outdistanced its capacity to sustain them when in that century and next two, the meaning it provided dimmed because of the challenge pose by the growth of science and mercantilism. The ensuing turmoil permitted the gradual emergence of nation- sates with government’s capable of providing many social and military services. And, greatly affected the way organizations are viewed today. Machiavelli, in the sixteenth century, was one of the first to consider management as a function separate from moral law by advancing an amoral theory for the organization of state practice. The coming of the machine age was the next major event in shaping western views of man, Organization and society. The industrial revolution, with its stress on mass production, diminished the importance of the skilled trades and the social affiliations obtained through them. The emergence of the concept of “Factors of Production” (land, labour and capital) had revolutionary implications for the western view of humankind. Humans (the labour content) were no longer regarded as an inextricable part of the organic whole of society, Rather, the person as labourer, became an objectified and standardized component of the production process. Not surprisingly, this view of

“labour” tended to divorce man as a social and spiritual being from his “Productive” role at work In the nineteenth century modern managers use many of the practices, principles, and techniques developed from earlier concepts and experiences. The Industrial Revolution brought about the emergence of large-scale business and its need for professional managers. Early military and church organizations provided the leadership models. Administrative Management (1841—1925) Administrative management emphasizes the manager and the functions of management. Henri Fayol (1841--1925), known as the Father of Modern Management, was a French industrialist who developed a framework for studying management. He wrote General and Industrial Management. His five functions of managers were plan, organize, command, coordinate, and control. His fourteen principles of management included division of work, authority and responsibility, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, subordination of individual interests to general interests, renumeration of personnel, centralization, scalar chain, order, equity, stability of tenure of personnel, initiative, and esprit de corps (union is strength). Mary Parker Follett's concepts included the universal goal, the universal principle, and the Law of the Situation. The universal goal of organizations is an integration of individual effort into a synergistic whole. The universal principle is a circular or reciprocal response emphasizing feedback to the sender (the concept of two-way communications). Law of the Situation emphasizes that there is no one best way to do anything, but that it all depends on the situation.

Scientific Management Scientific management focuses on worker and machine relationships. Organizational productivity can be increased by increasing the efficiency of production processes. The efficiency perspective is concerned with creating jobs that economize on time, human energy, and other productive resources. Jobs are designed so that each worker has a specified, well controlled task that can be performed as instructed. Specific procedures and methods for each job must be followed with no exceptions. Frederick Taylor (1856-1915) Many of Frederick Taylor's definitive studies were performed at Bethlehem Steel Company in Pittsburgh. To improve productivity, Taylor examined the time and motion details of a job, developed a better method for performing that job, and trained the worker. Furthermore, Taylor offered a piece rate that increased as workers produced more. In 1911, Frederick Taylor, known as the Father of Scientific Management, published Principles of Scientific Management in which he proposed work methods designed to increase worker productivity. One of his famous experiments had to do with increasing the output of a worker loading pig iron to a rail car. Taylor broke the job down into its smallest constituent movements, timing each one with a stopwatch. The job was redesigned with a reduced number of motions as well as effort and the risk of error. Rest periods of specific interval and duration and a differential pay scale were used to improve

the output. With scientific management, Taylor increased the worker's output from 12 to 47 tons per day! The Taylor model gave rise to dramatic productivity increases. Henry Gantt (1861-1919) Henry Gantt developed the Gantt chart, which is used for scheduling multiple overlapping tasks over a time period. He focused on motivational schemes, emphasizing the greater effectiveness of rewards for good work (rather than penalties for poor work). He developed a pay incentive system with a guaranteed minimum wage and bonus systems for people on fixed wages. Also, Gantt focused on the importance of the qualities of leadership and management skills in building effective industrial organizations. Bureaucracy (1864-1920), Max Weber (1864-1920), known as the Father of Modern Sociology, analyzed bureaucracy as the most logical and rational structure for large organizations. Bureaucracies are founded on legal or rational authority which is based on law, procedures, rules, and so on. Positional authority of a superior over a subordinate stems from legal authority. Charismatic authority stems from the personal qualities of an individual. Efficiency in bureaucracies comes from: (1.) clearly defined and specialized functions; (2.) use of legal authority; (3.) hierarchical form; (4.) written rules and procedures; (5.) technically trained bureaucrats; (6.) appointment to positions based on technical expertise; (7.) promotions based on competence; (8.) clearly defined career paths.

Frank (1868-1924) and Lillian (1878-1972) Gilbreth Frank and Lillian Gilbreth emphasized method by focusing on identifying the elemental motions in work, the way these motions were combined to form methods of operation, and the basic time each motion took. They believed it was possible to design work methods whose times could be estimated in advance, rather than relying upon observation-based time studies. Frank Gilbreth, known as the Father of Time and Motion Studies, filmed individual physical labor movements. This enabled the manager to break down a job into its component parts and streamline the process. His wife, Lillian Gilbreth, was a psychologist and author of The Psychology of Work. In 1911 Frank Gilbreth wrote Motion Study and in 1919 the couple wrote Applied Motion Study. Frank and Lillian had 12 children. Two of their children, Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Careyone, wrote their story, Cheaper by the Dozen. One of Frank Gilbreth's first studies concerned bricklaying. (He had worked as an apprentice bricklayer.) He designed and patented special scaffolding to reduce the bending and reaching which increased output over 100 per cent. However, unions resisted his improvements, and most workers persisted in using the old, fatiguing methods. The Gilbreths believed that there was one best way to perform an operation. However, this "one best way" could be replaced when a better way was discovered. The Gilbreths defined motion study as dividing work into the most fundamental elements possible, studying those elements separately and in relation to one another; and from these studied elements, when timed, building methods of least waste. They defined time study as a searching scientific analysis of methods and equipment used or planned in doing a piece

of work, development in practical detail of the best way of doing it, and determination of the time required. The Gilbreths drew symbols on operator charts to represent various elements of a task such as search, select, grasp, transport, hold, delay, and others. They called these graphical symbols "therbligs" (Gilbreths spelled backwards). Chester Barnard (1886-1961) When Chester Barnard retired as the CEO of New Jersey Bell Telephone, he recorded his insights about management in his book, Functions of the Executive. It outlined the legitimacy of the supervisor's directives and the extent of the subordinates' acceptance. He developed the concepts of strategic planning and the acceptance theory of authority. Strategic planning is the formulation of major plans or strategies, which guide the organization in pursuit of major objectives. Barnard taught that the three top functions of the executive were to (l) establish and maintain an effective communication system, (2) hire and retain effective personnel, and (3) motivate those personnel. His Acceptance Theory of Authority states that managers only have as much authority as employees allow them to have. The acceptance theory of authority suggests that authority flows downward but depends on acceptance by the subordinate. The acceptance of authority depends on four conditions. (1.) Employees must understand what the manager wants them to do. (2.) Employees must be able to comply with the directive. (3.) Employees must think that the directive is in keeping with organizational objectives. (4.) Employees must think that the directive is not contrary to their personal goals. Barnard believed that each person has a zone of indifference or a range within each individual in which he or she would willingly accept orders without consciously questioning authority. It was up to

the organization to provide sufficient inducements to broaden each employee's zone of indifference so that the manager's orders would be obeyed. Classical School The Classical school of thought began around 1900 and continued into the 1920s. Traditional or classical management focuses on efficiency and includes bureaucratic, scientific and administrative management. Bureaucratic management relies on a rational set of structuring guidelines, such as rules and procedures, hierarchy, and a clear division of labor. Scientific management focuses on the "one best way" to do a job. Administrative management emphasizes the flow of information in the operation of the organization. Human Relations School Behavioral or human relations management emerged in the 1920s and dealt with the human aspects of organizations. It has been referred to as the neoclassical school because it was initially a reaction to the shortcomings of the classical approaches to management. The human relations movement began with the Hawthorne Studies which were conducted from 1924 to 1933 at the Hawthorne Plant of the Western Electric Company in Cicero, Illinois. Systems Theory During the 1940s and World War II, systems analysis emerged. This viewpoint uses systems concepts and quantitative approaches from mathematics, statistics, engineering, and other related fields to solve problems. Managers find optimal solutions to

management problems by using scientific analysis which is closely associated with the systems approach to management. A system is an interrelated and interdependent set of elements functioning as a whole. It is an open system that interacts with its environment. It is composed of inputs from the environment (material or human resources), transformation processes of inputs to finished goods (technological and managerial processes), outputs of those finished goods into the environment (products or services), and feedback (reactions from the environment). Subsystems are systems within a broader system. Interdependent subsystems (such as production, finance, and human resources) work toward synergy in an attempt to accomplish an organizational goal that could not otherwise be accomplished by a single subsystem. Systems develop synergy. This is a condition in which the combined and coordinated actions of the parts of a system achieve more than all the parts could have achieved acting independently. Entropy is the process that leads to decline. Human Resources School Beginning in the early 1950s, the human resources school represented a substantial progression from human relations. The behavioral approach did not always increase productivity. Thus, motivation and leadership techniques became a topic of great interest. The human resources school understands that employees are very creative and competent, and that much of their talent is largely untapped by their employers. Employees want meaningful work; they want to contribute; they want to participate in decision making and leadership functions. Contingency View

In the mid-1960s, the contingency view of management or situational approach emerged. This view emphasizes the fit between organization processes and the characteristics of the situation. It calls for fitting the structure of the organization to various possible or chance events. It questions the use of universal management practices and advocates using traditional, behavioral, and systems viewpoints independently or in combination to deal with various circumstances. The contingency approach assumes that managerial behavior is dependent on a wide variety of elements. Thus, it provides a framework for integrating the knowledge of management thought. Integrating the Management Theories Systems theory and a contingency view can help integrate the theories of management. Appropriate managerial techniques can be applied as required by environmental conditions. A broad perspective is valuable to managers when overseeing one unit or the total integration of all subunits. Emerging Management Positions New management viewpoints are emerging. Quality management emphasizes achieving customer satisfaction by providing high quality goods and services. Reengineering the organization redesigns the processes that are crucial to customer satisfaction. Globalization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has used the term management in three different senses:

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as a noun;

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as a process; and

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as a discipline.

When used as a noun, management refers to all those persons who are concerned with getting things done through others.

When used as a process, management refers to all that a manager does. The various functions, which are performed by managers to make the efficient use of the available material and human resources so as to achieve the desired objectives, are summed up as management.

Sometimes the term “management” is used to cannot neither the activity not the personnel who perform it, but as a body of knowledge, a practices of management as a subject of study

Vedic management means management through Veda- management through knowledge (Veda) and its infinite organizing power- management that is supported by the holistic

value of Natural law and the innumerable specific value of Natural law- all the laws of nature discovered by the objective approach of modern science and through subjective approach of Vedic science- it is in full accord with all the knowledge of the Laws of Nature that are known to Chemistry, Physiology, psychology, Physics etc. No system of management in the world today is as perfect as the Vedic system of management because all systems of management derive their policies and procedures from the theories of economy, production, and sales, but they are not fully in accord with all the Laws of Nature that manage the order and evolution in the galactic universe. This is the reason why all the existing systems of management are prone to problems of instability and are unsatisfactory (Refer his illustration)

The concept of management which is now studied in a very scientific manner had its origin right from the beginning of civilization. Efficient management techniques were discussed in Vedas and Upanishads.

In this context, it is enjoyable to mention that Vedic management spontaneously draws upon the infinite creativity of the infinite organizing power of the holistic value of Natural law lively in Rk Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama Veda, Atharva Veda, and, at the same time, spontaneously draws upon the enormous creativity of the specific laws of Nature that constitute the thirty – six values of the Vedic Literature – 4 +36 = 40.

These forty values of intelligence, displayed in the forty values of Vedic literature with their divisions and subdivisions, constitute the forty qualities of intelligence – the basis of the forty values of the human physiology. Thus it is clear that Vedic management harnesses the infinite organizing power of total Natural Law from the level of Vedic consciousness.

In this context the Bhagavad Gita expounded thousands of years ago by the Super management Guru Sri Krishna, enlightens us on all managerial techniques leading to a harmonious and blissful state of affairs as against conflicts, tensions, lowest efficiency and least productivity, absence of motivation and lack of work culture etc common to most of the enterprises today. Bhagavad Gita provides solutions to various management problems. Chanakya’s and Kautilya’s Arthasastra is another classical Indian treatise on administration of the country. When one looks at the Indian history, we find that various kings adopted efficient project management techniques to construct temples, places and landmarks. The big temple at Thanjavur and Tamilnadu speaks of the project management abilities of Raja Raja Chola. Similarly, the history of the western civilization also provides us with lot of examples of management. Nebuchadnezzar’s Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the Pyramids and Sphinx of Egypt describe how various resources of men and material were efficiently employed.

“Management implies substitution of exact scientific investigation and knowledge for the old individual judgment pr opinion, in all matters in the establishment” -F.W. Taylor (Father of Scientific management) Vedic management is scientific management because whatever is Vedic is scientific(page no: ); Vedic monument is problem – free, orderly management – equally nourishing to all – always evolutionary to everyone. Nothing can be embarrassing to Vedic management

because it manages by virtue of the infinite stability and infinite flexibility in the infinite organizing power of Natural Law. The Vedic consciousness of the manager is the basis of Vedic management; which is in full accord with the management of the universe through Natural law, which handles the unlimited management of the universe with perfect order and harmony, supporting everything and everyone to perpetually progress in the direction of evolution.

This consciousness-based management training was distorted by the foreign influence in India for thousands of years, and even now the momentum of foreign influence is domination management system in India, rendering them totally incomplete and ineffective With Maharshi Universities of Management in America, Europe, and Russia and Maharshi Institute of Management in India, the field of management is now rising to enjoy the light of Vedic management – the light of perfection. The benefit of Vedic management is that while attending to any one part, its influences is enriching to every other part.