Lord Krishna in the Boardroom - Ancient Wisdom for Modern Management

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Over 5,000 years ago, managing over 8.2 million soldiers on the battlefield of Kurukeshtra was a humongous undertaking. As a management consultant, the Supreme Lord Krishna successfully managed the army of the Pandavas against heavy odds. When the war strategy is discussed with inputs from all five Pandavas on the state of the conflict, the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna leads from the front on all issues and takes decisions on the colossal scale of operations.

Mass production is the basic foundation for this colossal undertaking. The two armies consist of 18 'Akshouhinis' or divisions totalling 8.2 million soldiers equipped with uniforms and weapons, food and accommodation, medical and transport services. The mass production of these high quality, well designed products and services proves that this ancient civilisation had developed in all fields of excellence. The administration of such a gigantic operation calls for very competent management skills.

In modern management terms, this means research and development, acquisition, storage, distribution, maintenance and transport of all equipment and consumables; record keeping for all the manpower and equipment means creating, maintaining and updating massive databases. Thus, all decisions have to be based on pragmatic management practices — no different from modern management practices.

This book draws these lessons from ancient wisdom for modern management. This is the distilled experience of a senior executive who became a swami. From a smartly dressed corporate executive in gray trousers, a blue shirt, a red tie and a tweed jacket, Padmanabhan or Paddy as he was known, became B. S. Tirt ha Maharaja, dressed in saffron coloured robes. He combines his corporate experience with his spiritual quest to create lessons for modern executives to manage their companies or their personal lives. The book is based on live interviews conducted by a former Business Editor, Kul Bhushan, who conceived, wrote and edited the text bringing his extensive experience as a professional editor and a spiritual seeker.

Harish, Harry, flurry, Hari Written in simple language with examples from today's corporate world and captains of business and industry, this book brings drama and personal examples and lessons for living in a stress-filled world following the 2008 recession. For managing your personal life, start with the last chapter .

Here was the ultimate management challenge. Managing over 8.2 million soldiers on the battlefield of Kurukshetra was a gigantic task. As a management consultant, the Supreme Lord Krishna successfully managed the army of the Pandavas against heavy odds. When the war strategy was discussed and formulated, the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna led from the front on all issues and took decisions on a colossal scale of operations.

Mass production, research and development, warehousing and accounting, marketing and distribution were all carried out efficiently. Five thousand years on, these strategies and decisions are still valid as demonstrated in this book in light of modern management and corporate environment. The same principles apply to leading your personal life devoid of stress and tensions. What would happen if the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna was present in a boardroom today? With real life examples from current society, this book shows the way ahead, both for your business and personal life.

From a nattily dressed senior executive of a major corporation in the Middle East, B. S. Tirtha Maharaja donned saffron robes after he read the Bhagavad Gita. From travelling the Gulf States to promote business, he now travels the world on a divine mission. He combines his corporate experience with his spiritual quest to create lessons for modern executives to manage their companies or their personal lives. To share his wisdom, especially with the youth, he has authored three books: Actually There's No Problem, You Ask He Answers and In Quest of Real Love. All these have become bestsellers. Tirtha Maharaja established the Gaudiya Vaishnava Association in Navi Mumbai with branches in the UK, US, Australia, Africa and other countries. An engaging speaker, he is fluent in English and almost half a dozen Indian languages.

Ancient Wisdom for Modern Management

• I can't stand all this tension, how can I cope with it?

• Where can I get mental peace?

• Why can't I get along with my family and my colleagues?

• What can I do to kick the habits of drinking and smoking?

• When will I be financially secure?

These questions come up regularly when I talk to people in Britain, United States, India or any other country I visit. The same questions are asked after my discourses or during my radio and TV interviews. Everyone faces these basic problems today. Whether young or old, living in the East or West, everyone is looking for answers. The answers are in managing one's life. All of us are managing or trying to manage our lives based on our education, understanding and experience. Unfortunately, all these dimensions are limited in our lives, while the stress of coping with huge and new challenges seems never ending. Whether one is managing a big company, providing a service or running a home, we are all managing our affairs and our lives. So who can be our best management guru? Based on ancient wisdom for modern management, this is the question that has been answered in this book. The management principles that apply to running a modern corporation with hundreds of employees and millions in turnover also apply to running a small enterprise, a consultancy or even a home.

These problems in the corporate sector and in our personal lives are caused by losing our faith in basic values of life; our utter materialistic outlook to satisfy our ego, ease and luxuries the lack of our self-discipline and self-control; and, above all, excessive greed that shows in our unlimited desires, ugly display of money, cravings and ambitions. So what is the solution? The short and simple solution is to surrender totally to the Supreme Lord Krishna and let Him manage your affairs. Why? Because the Supreme Lord proved beyond all doubt by revealing his `viral coop' or 'universal form' in which the entire universe is contained within Him. The Supreme Lord informs Arjuna that placing Him as a super-soul inside the heart of every living being, He closely supervises their functions, desires and the thought process.

But how does he start? Simple, start chanting the Mahamantra:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,

Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare.

If you want to learn about managing your personal affairs, start reading from Chapter Six to Chapter Nine; for managing corporate affairs, start with Chapter One to Chapter Five. The core message is the same: Surrender to the Supreme Lord Krishna! Only when firmly standing on the Krishna Consciousness platform, a person performing any activity in this world can ultimately become liberated and go back to Godhead.

I am very grateful to Shri Kul Bhushan, an experienced business editor and author, for proposing and successfully completing this Publishing project. His enthusiasm never dimished in improving this volume . Hare Krishna!