RELEVANCE OF THE RAMAYANA TO THE PRESENT DAY WORLD

God is great and bountiful. He gives us life, energy and resources to enjoy and share. According to the Hindu Mythology, he has also given us books on wisdom and knowledge in the form of four Vedas and Upanishads. But somewhere down the line, in the mad race of becoming modern, we Indians began aping the west in all spheres of life; we keep committing the same mistakes as the west and do not learn from them. Slowly and gradually we are reverting to our old and rich cultural heritage as well as the teachings, which can be applied universally to different arenas including administration. The American style of business management is more or less dependent on empirical studies, scientific approaches and mathematical derivations. The Japanese form of management is based on the art form of management whereas the Indian style is based on wisdom and knowledge. The Indian form concentrates more on the content (knowledge) rather than on the ‘form’ or outward appearance. The Indian businesses must be run through citations and should adopt latest advanced technologies and also practices mentioned in Indian culture. Though both epics have grandeur and scale, the Ramayana is a much more focused story with fewer characters. It is the Mahabharata that is the real colossus. The Ramayana is about a much revered God while Mahabharta is not, even though it has Krishna and the bhagwad gita. Krishna is more strategists and a king, a friend and an advisor to the Pandavas. The Krishna people worship is the playful Gokul Cowherd, the slayer of Kansa, the boy who performed miracles in His Childhood. It is a deeply complex and intricately layered with sub-plots. However, both of these epics are hard wired into our collective psyche. They both are classics that serve every age with knowledge, wisdom and truth. It is said of Mahabharat that whatever is not in it, does not exist in this world. The pace, grandeur, inscrutable genius of construction, its range and variety, its darkness and its heart – The Gita brings a great learning not only to individuals but also to the corporate world. The eklavya and Amba are blessed with extraordinary gifts in their lives. The Ramayana is more linear – Rama is an ideal son, brother, husband and the king.

The field of business and leadership has been enriched by learning’s from various disciplines of knowledge. This paper attempts to find out whether we can draw corporate leadership learning’s from our great epic – Ramayana and apply to the business world for betterment. Some striking similarities have also been found in the kautilaya’s arthshastra as well as Ram’s teachings for excellent corporate governance. This paper expounds the various teachings of Lord Rama conveyed greatly through their actions thus drawing upon the insights which individuals and the organizations can use to grow and prosper. An attempt has been made to assimilate the spirit of these epics for application in the field of daily management practice and in the wider arena of creating better individuals and in turn better corporate world.

In recent years, the Western management education and training citadels such as Harvard, Kellogg, Wharton and several others have experienced persistent failure of their modern management technology to inspire executive trainees and students to stay perpetually motivated in the face of growing challenges posed by economic liberalization and globalization trends sweeping across the world. Hence, modern management minds are looking for solutions beyond the reservoir of Western management thoughts and practices. They have examined and experimented with the Japanese and Chinese systems of management. Of late, their focus has shifted to Indian philosophy to find solutions to reoccurring irritants in efficient management practices. As a step in this direction, Western management executives, particularly in USA, are being cajoled to put purpose before self during retraining sessions at institutions of management learning. It is Veda Vyasa’s Bhagavad Gita through which they are attempting to enrich themselves with the supremacy of action. They are trying to enrich matter with forces of spirituality, realizing that the principle of Karma has invaluable merits.