Drawing Messages from the Bhagavad Gita for the Organizations of the Twenty-First Century: Yog by Yog
Prof. Amar a tenured Professor of Management for knowledge, operations and strategy at the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University, has taught, consulted, held management positions and trained managers in industry and public sector undertakings in the USA, India, Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom, and China. An expert in knowledge work and organizations, Prof. A. D. Amar (Amar Dev Amar) received the 2013 Carolyn Dexter Finalist Award of the Academy of Management for his work on the effects of meditation on emotional intelligence and leadership of CEOs.
Although the Bhagavad Gita was first recited in 3137 BCE, I find its messages to be still very relevant for managing the twenty-first century organizations. Going over many of the Bhagavad Gita’s shlokas, I select some of them for the currency of their application. In this paper, I give these in Sanskrit in Devanagari script, their recitations in English in Latin script, and their translations into English for interpreting them so as to learn how they could be employed for their applications in the management of the contemporary organizations. Because the Bhagavad Gita is primarily focused on the four major yog of the total eighteen, i.e., the Karm Yog – The
Path of Action, the Bhakti Yog – The Path of Devotion, the Jnana Yog – The Path of Knowledge, and the Raja Yog – The Path of Self-Discipline, spanning from yog to yog, I provide the major messages with their applications. I get into the depth of the Gita’s foundational messages to get direction for the basic functions of management, such as planning, organizational behavior, and the principles to which the manager can connect with its practice under the new demands from the dynamic work environment, including the changing characteristics of the newer generations of workers. I will relate both the messages that are self-explanatory and the ones that need
interpretation with their meaning and applications. Questions from the audience will be welcome and entertained.
