The Bhagavadgita a Management Treatise Par Excellence (The Song Celestial) a Layman's Offering

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This little book was first published in May 1980. A second impression was published in June 1983. The book has been out of print for many years now. At the outset, an explanation is due from me as to why I, an economist by profession, ventured to write this book; is it not a case of fools rushing in where angels fear to tread? In the last week of February 1979, when my esteemed friend Shri. Basant Kumar Birla called at my place in the course of a very brief visit to Madras, he found me reading Shri. Aurobindo's Bhagavadgita. Thereupon, Basant Kumarji requested me to write a little book on the Gita, mainly for the use of foreigners but one which Indians should also find useful. I expressed my inability but he would not take a NO for an answer.

Taking this request from Shri. Birla as a divine mandate, I started working on the assignment shortly thereafter, utilizing the maximum of my spare time left after my heavy schedule of official work. The assignment was completed within the time of about a year mentioned by Basant Kumarji. He was also good enough to get the book published by the Birla Academy of Art & Culture, of which his good Lady, Smt. (Dr.) Sarala Birla, is the moving spirit. I cannot thank him enough for his role in the production of this little book. I should add that some years later, I wrote, at his instance, a book on The Mahabharata, which was also published by the Birla Academy.

I gave the manuscript to two of my friends - Shri V.K. Narasimhan, an eminent figure in the world of Indian Journalism and Shri. S. Sankaranarayanan, an Executive Director and Secretary of a well-known company in Madras and a great Sanskrit scholar and a student of Philosophy, for their comments and suggestions. They both went through the manuscript with loving care, considered it worthy of publication and suggested some editorial changes. Another friend, Prof. S.S. Raghavachar, an eminent scholar in Philosophy, to whom also I sent the manuscript for comments and suggestions, expressed his inability to help me, since he was very busy writing a major book on Brahmasutras, one of our three great scriptural works. But, he added the very encouraging words, "I am sure your findings will be of immense value, free as you are from Sanskritic and philosophical inhibitions."!

Early this year, I felt it was time that I brought out a new edition of the book. However, I thought it was good to take expert opinion about the usefulness of a new edition and so I sought the help of Dr. Prof. M.E. Rangachar, a well-known scholar in Sanskrit and Philosophy. He was kind enough to go through the book and send me a long note. I quote some of his observations.

THE Bhagavadgita, the Lord's Song or Song T Celestial, is an outstanding example of a national philosophical, religious and ethical treatise which has universal appeal. Its theme is at once sublime and practical and its message is direct and simple. It has appeal to the elite and the masses alike.

The Gita, as it is generally referred to for brevity. is one of the three outstanding Hindu philosophical/ religious treatises, Prastanatraya, the other two being the Upanisads and the Bramha-Sutras. In these three works, there is a great deal of diversity in the exposition of the basic tenets of the Hindu philosophy of Vedanta, also called Sanatana Dharma, or the eternal doctrine or law, but there is also much that is common among them, so that, leaving aside a lot of controversy, one sees in them a core of philosophy that could be regarded as being of general acceptance. The Upanisads lay stress on the mystical aspect of Vedanta and Brahma-Sutras emphasise the metaphysical side. The Gita's focus is on moral and spiritual purification.

Undoubtedly, the Bhagavadgita is the most widely studied treatise among the Indian people, scholars and laymen alike. It has permeated into the daily life of the masses almost to the extent that the great epics, The Ramanaya and The Mahabarata, have done.

The Bhagavadgita is a three-in-one treatise, comprising philosophy, ethics and religion, all woven into a handsome and sturdy fabric. The central theme of the Gita is human conduct. It provides a framework, which should enable man to be 'happy' and be at peace with himself, the environment and the Creator. The path, when once it is identified and traversed upon, is solid, smooth and short.

This great vedantic work, while distinctly Indian, is compatible with a wide variety of economic, social and religious doctrines that have emerged all over the world, over the centuries, based partly on intuition and partly on experience. This is not to suggest that the Gita is a loose mixture, lacking in coherence and direction. On the contrary, it is a clear-cut, positive and a remarkably unified treatise, though it lends itself to different interpretations on matters like the relationship between the individual soul and the universal soul. Above all, its tenets are wholly consistent with rationalism and common sense. The Gita is an excellent blend of idealism and realism, and of religion, philosophy and ethics.