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There was a time when organised human life was based on and centred upon the married couple. In the pre-society era there was a built-in balance in
nature which has now vanished. Nature balanced things and it lasted a long time.
The concept of society was not yet born, there was no management and no planning. With the formation of social groupings and families came the problem
of planning.
Today we have not only organised societies but also an explosion of population. Hence family planning methods are being employed, as any expansion
brings into wake the need of planning.
In some countries there are more boys than girls which has resulted in an imbalance. This problem is growing in China. The reverse is also true, where
there is dearth of boys.
Thus, many problems relating to planning are emerging, i.e. the growth of the family system gave rise to the need for planning.
There are three major requirements of man:
Man wants assurance. Who will take care of us and protect us in old age when we are ill and in adversity? Who will really help and co-operate? Man
wants an assurance on this score. Family came into being to afford this assurance.
The second requirement is trust. Who can be trusted to come in our hour of need? Whom can we trust enough to make him or her a custodian of our wealth?
Who can we confide in? Who can be friends both in prosperity and adversity?
The feeling of trust has played a major role in building the institution of the family, deep and profound trust which outsiders cannot breach.
The third requirement is development. Every man wants development, to go forward and grow better. Development too needs an organisation for providing
ample opportunities.
Collective Morale
Collective morale is essential for development. It has a very important place in Social Psychology. James Drekker speaks of three constituents of
morale:
The first constituent of collective morale is self-control. Nobody can be suitable for an organisation if he cannot himself bridle instincts and
impulse, in fact he proves a hindrance.
The second constituent is self-confidence. It is not possible to run an organisation or any development to occur in a situation where people live full
of doubts and uncertainties. If someone undertakes a task, he should say to himself that he shall carry it out under all circumstances and without the slightest doubt. The following instance is mentioned in a Jain
Agape:
Draupadi was kidnapped by a ruler of another island. It became known and resulted in a war. The army of Padmnabh was ranged against that of the
Pandavas on whose side was Vasudev Krishna, who told the Pandavas to fight Padmnabh and his army. The Pandavas did fight but misgivings since they lacked self-confidence. They were assailed with uncertainty and not
surprisingly, they were defeated. Then Vasudev Krishna led the war with the declaration, ‘I will win, not Padmnabh’, and he vanquished Padmnabh.
Self-confidence is the chief key to success. No one can ever succeed if he lacks self-confidence and is subject to doubts and uncertainties.
Self-confidence is necessary for collective morale.
The third constituent is discipline. A successful man is disciplined, there is no haphazard arbitrariness. It contributes to collective morale and
creates organisational strength and sense of unity.
Collective morale does not exist in the absence of the above three factors and no organisation, big or small, can function without collective morale.
Collective morale has two aspects: The mental and the social aspect. The mental aspect of collective morale represents the mental morale. This means
that man develops an attitude of acceptance of rules approved by the community willingly and without argument. This attitude shapes his behaviour according to the collective rules. He does not trespass them.
The social aspect pertains to the development of a social sense, which is very essential for the purposes of management. It consists in pushing
individuals selfishness in the background and giving importance to the collective or social sense.
There is a very important maxim given by Chanakya : An individual should be sacrificed in the interest of the family, the family should be sacrificed
in the interest of the country or society at large and everything should be sacrificed to serve the spiritual interest. In terms of management principles, a smaller interest should give way to a larger interest.
Modern principles of Management
Methods of management have greatly developed so that they have acquired a scientific character. However, management principles were practised even in
olden times. We should examine and deliberate on them both. Principles of modern management comprise non-discrimination, justice and compassion. It is obvious that good management is impossible in the presence of
discrimination, injustice and cruelty.
Ancient principles of Management
Four out of twelve components of ancient principles of management are the following qualities: Friendship, Sublime joy, Compassion and Considered
disregard.
The greatest need of an organisation, irrespective of its size, is friendship or mutual affection. There are six characteristics of friendship: giving,
taking, inquiring about secrets, revealing secrets, eating and entertaining to a meal. Any of these six characteristics is indicating friendship.
In practice, this is what friendship means, but in the context of management it simply means caring about the interests of others. No family can be
said to be well-managed if its head and other members do not take care of one another's interests.
The same is true of other organisations. One of the main reasons why families are disintegrating these days is lack of friendship. Individuals care for
themselves, not for others. If the reverse is the case, the organisation becomes too strong to suffer any breach.
This field is mine
Here is an instructive incident: The Marathi Commander Peshva Bajirao attacked Malwa. At the same time, the Marathi had the glorious reputation of
being unfailing winners. They conquered Malwa. On their way back, they ran out of food stocks. Military officers were ordered to procure food from wherever they could. But as a result of their scorched earth policy,
everything was destroyed and no food crops could be seen anywhere around.
That is why there is no greater curse than war: A single war bearing destructions whose effect lasts for fifty years.
Even after wide spread search, they could find no food crops anywhere. Everything had been destroyed during the war. After a long search they came
across an aged man, who promised to show them the field from where they could gather a rich harvest. At a short distance from there, they faced a big luscious green field and said they could get enough food in it.
But the old man took them some distance away and told the officers to collect food from there. The officers wondered why they were brought to the
section field even though the first and the bigger field was not his, while the second and the smaller one belonged to him. The officers were taken aback by the honesty of the old man.
Only he who can relegate his own interests for the sake of those of others can in reality be the head of an organisation.
Sublime Joy
The second principle of management is sublime joy. That organisation proves strong where the merits of others are recognised and appreciated. No
organisation can even be conceived wherever there is bulling and grabbing and where each one tries to pull a fast one to another. We know how big families disintegrate because of mutual wrangling.
Compassion
The third principle of management is compassion, i.e., trying to solve the problems of others. Today the word compassion is being used in a narrow
sense. In our use it means feeling concerned when someone faces some difficulty or problem and trying to find it's solution. It presupposes eschewing cruelty altogether.
Considered Disregard
The fourth principle of management is considered disregard. There is no organisation in which all members are alike. There are differences among them.
Problems are born of gradation or distinction of emotions. People do not have the same emotions, they differ in the development of their instincts and their emotions. It becomes extremely difficult to harmonise
them.
Psychology recognises some basic instincts, each one of which has related emotions which arouse those instincts. Thus anger is the emotion which
arouses the instinct of pugnacity or belligerence. Fear rouses escapism.
Emotional divergence becomes a major cause of the disintegration of a family.
One member is given utmost obedience, while another comes up with several reasons for not agreeing. How to solve this problem?
An important principle preached to meet such a situation is: Show discreet disregard occasionally.
A certain individual is not very desirable and yet has to be kept in the organisation. For it discreet disregard has to be practised. In other words,
some degree of neutrality has to be observed. Neutrality is an important component of good management.
One's own desire
One of the Acharyas made the following submission to Lord Mahavira: 'I want to travel in that particular region'. Lord
Mahavira tried to dissuade him but he did not relent. He kept on insisting on going there. Mahavira saw that he was obstinate.
He knew the harm accruing from the travel, but there was no way of dissuading Acharya. So Mahavira just kept quiet disregarding the submission. In this
context the following couplet is very opposite:
Arhats - the 24 Tirthankaras or Jain saints - are very powerful, but can they force an individual to perform a desirable action? They can merely inspire. It is up to a man's desire if he wants a good life. Can anyone forcibly make someone else righteous? No, it is not possible. Therefore it is necessary to practice discreet disregard as the time and place demand.
Even though these four principles of management, friendship, sublime joy, compassion and considered disregard belong to the past, they are unquestioned
relevance for present-day management. It is for this reason that modern management, while adding some new principles, has retained a few old ones too.
A Vital Principle
Anuvrat has put forward an important principle. Life is truly self-restraint. Self restraint is a vital principle..
Modern management has either ignored it or has not given it the importance due to it. Anuvrat reiterates an old truth - life is truly self-restraint.
Only that organisation will last which has completely dedicated individual to self-restraint. And it is only such an organisation that can be a source of inspiration
Speech Restraint
One of the components of self-restraint is speech restraint. For any organisation, be it political, social, religious or familial, speech restraint is
vital for its head to observe, because in its absence, either the organisation will not form at all or, it formed, will soon disintegrate. Utmost care has to be taken in this regard, for sometimes, even the use of
one wrong word becomes the cause of the destruction of an organisation. Lord Mahavira, Lord Buddha and Acharya Bhikshu were all subjected to abusive language and other unworthy treatment. But they kept quiet; not a
word escaped their lips that could have harmed the organisation.
We know that sometimes a single expression become responsible for a war. Maharana Pratap and his brother Shakti Singh became sworn enemies on the
single question of who actually killed the deer, since both shot arrows at it at the same time. Each one kept saying: 'I killed the deer' and this single utterance caused all trouble.
Control of Desires
One of the important components of self-control is control over desires. Everything desired is not necessarily desirable, for, the desire in another
man may result in a clash causing destruction and death.
A wise man knows how to curb and bridle his desires. He does not set about fulfilling each one of his desires. Desires keep multiplying and it is not
possible to fulfil all of them. A wise man, an organisational head and a disciplined member of an organisation do not go about proclaiming that once they have a desire, they invariably satisfy it.
Body Control
Physical control is also very essential. If one acts on the impulse and slaps another member of the family for the flimsiest reason, the family will be
harmed. The hand has to be kept under control. Anger unexpressed harms the angry person himself ;it does harm any one else so long as it is not expressed.
The Agamas explain it thus: Making a failure of one’s anger and making a success of one’s anger. Anger fails if kept to oneself.
Anger manifests in two ways - hurling abuses or using physical force to harm or kill. Preventing anger from succeeding is physical restraint. Correctly
understood, self-control can prove a vital part of management.
Non-discrimination
One of the principles of management is non-discrimination. I would not aver that a family is completely free from discrimination. Some discrimination,
even in the mind, cannot be ruled out. But it should not be such as others would find disagreeable, and as knows no end. When collective will-power is discussed in social psychology, it is held that there should be
as little discrimination as possible.
Balanced Emotions
Let us step forward and add a new principle of management. It is the practice of balancing emotions. It is not being practised today, but it is
the greatest need of the day. No proper equation can be struck if we do not go beyond admitting that there are gradations of emotions. What we need is training in balancing emotions.
How is it possible? For it we have first to have the conviction that it is possible to balance emotions. We lack this deep conviction. On the other
hand we take it for granted that emotions will as they are- that anger, fear and lust are beyond change. Such a state of mind rules out the possibility of emotional balance.
Destiny can be changed
The Jain mode of spiritual practice concedes that human effort can change destiny. It is my firm belief that new directions of development, change and
management can open only if we believe in the principle that astrological predictions based on horoscopes and lines can be falsified and refuted. Let us accept the fact that the future can be shaped and that it has
happened in innumerable cases.
Revered Gurudev Tulsi, Tulsi was once spending the four rainy months in Rajaldesar. An astrological prediction stated that he would not be able to leave Rajasthan.
When he did move out of there, the prediction was made that he would not be able to hold the Maryada Mahotsav (festival of rules) at Sujangarh, but it was duly held. Then next prediction said he would not be able to
proceed to Delhi. He reached Delhi hale and hearty.
I must say that the fore tellers were also not wrong. I too know astrology a bit and believe in it too. The predictions were not inaccurate at all, but
they were rendered inaccurate. Strong character, willpower and self confidence reduce those predictions to nothing. They would have come out true in the absence of those strong qualities. But now the foretellers
have been rendered speechless.
What is the reason? Let us consider both the sides. Let us not blame astrology either, but let us understand well the principle which Mahavira laid
down for us. If our endeavour is earnest, if we are self confident, if our resolve is firm and if we exercise restraint at the same time, everything can be changed, can be left behind. We should accept the idea that
emotions can be balanced and harmonised.
Contemplation of Harmony
Constant practice and experimentation are essential for contemplating harmony. You should know how much effort by the way of experimentation and
practice had preceded the falsifying of the above predictions. Kayotsarg (immobilisation and relaxation of the body) was practised for hours and self-contemplation was done during Kayotsarg together with
experiments in fortifying will-power. No transformation is possible without repeated practice. One of the types of contemplation practised as part of Preksha Dhyan (Jain Meditation of Perception) is contemplating
harmony, reconciliation and balancing emotions. Practised over a long period it enables a man to balance his emotions
A Good son : A Good Father
Let us try to analyse the present state of the family. Parents are often heard saying they are in no position to say anything to their sons, even to
ten year olds. How can one think of a good and well-managed family under these circumstances? What is the cause of this lack of discipline?
The answer is simple- because the habit of discipline has not been formed. According to an old saying one who has not been a good student cannot become
a good teacher. On the same analogy it can be said that one who has not been a good son cannot become a good father. Given early instruction and practice in discipline, no child shall in later life break discipline
and obedience.
Parents themselves do not practice friendliness, nor do they care for the well-being of their son. How can then there be in the son a feeling of
respect and discipline? The thing most needed is friendliness and concern for well-being.
What today’s parents are worried about is how to get their son admitted to a public or a convent school, to Mayo College or Doon Public School, so that
after receiving exclusive education they might earn big salaries and marry rich. They rarely worry about their child’s future.
Worrying about the Loved Ones
Worry can be on two counts- worrying about the loved one and worrying about his well-being. People do worry about the former but not about the latter.
The building of a good life is related to the latter. If a fond mother falls prey to the instinct of maternal love and gives the child something prohibited by the physician to eat, she does not indulge her love but
in the process does infinite harm to the child’s well-being.
Worry about the Well-being
Love takes a back seat when the focus is on the well-being. But in today’s families it is the former that has driven away the latter. It accounts for
the fact that discipline is on the wane, homogeneity is lacking and the collective feeling is not developing. And in their absence the joint family loses its very raison d’être. The head of the family must realise
that he should not worry only about those things desired by the family but also about the well being of the family.
We have had a brief consideration of management in the context of family. By combining the modern principles of management and those enshrined in
ancient Indian culture, the foundation of the family can be strengthened and its proper development can be ensured.
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