A book-review of the Bhagwad Gita.

1. THE BHAGAVAD-GITA -AS IT IS
REVIEWED BY AYAN BANDYOPADHYAY
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2.  The book has been published by the ISKCON or the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
 The literal meaning is “Song of God” in Sanskrit.
 Written around 500-250 BC, this is one of the most widely
translated epics of the world.
 Corresponds to the dialogues between Prince Arjuna and
Lord Krishna at the battlefield of Kurukshetra.
 Have been a rich source of managerial knowledge at all
times.
 Has been referenced and quoted by many managers and
management gurus to emphasis the importance of
management in our lives.

3. About the Author
 Swami Prabhupada was the
founder of the organisation and
initiated its inception.
 ISKCON or International Society
for Krishna Consciousness is an
organisation for spreading the
teachings and principles of Krsna
among people.
 Has a huge number of devotees
from all over the world, from all
religions.
 Registered in NewYork on 11 June
1966, ISKCON started functioning.
 Today, it holds many schools,
colleges, villages, health centres,
temples, ashrams and cultural
centres all over the world.

4. Contents of the Book:-
The book consists of the following 18
chapters:-
 Observing the enemies on the
battle field.
 Contents of the Gita Summarized
 Karma-Yoga
 Transcendental Knowledge
 Action in Krsna Consciousness
 SankhyaYoga
 Knowledge of the Absolute
 Attaining the Supreme
 The most Confidential Knowledge

5. Contents of the Book:-
 The Opulence of the Absolute
 The Universal Form
 Devotional Service
 Nature, the Enjoyer andThe
Consciousness
 TheThree Modes of Material
Nature
 TheYoga of the Supreme
Person
 The Devine and the Demoniac
Nature
 The Division of Faith
 Conclusion

6. The Main Context:-
 The broad purpose of this
review is to explore the
managerial effectiveness from
the perspectives of the
Bhagavad-Gita, which presents
one of the Indian (Vedic) views
on managerial effectiveness.
 The scope, content and context
of managerial effectiveness is
wide, however in this book the
author explores three basic
principles on improving
managerial effectiveness from
the selected verses from the
Bhagavad-Gita.

7. The Bhagavad-Gita and Management
 The Bhagavad-Gita was delivered by
Sri Krishna to boost Arjuna’s
declining morale, motivation,
confidence to his (Arjuna) intra-
personal conflict, which was to fight
or not to fight the war at
Kurukshestra
 Sri Krishna gave not only spiritual
enlightenment to Arjuna ( and to all
of us) but also the art of self
management, conflict management,
stress &, Anger management,
transformational leadership,
motivation, goal setting and many
others aspects of management
which can be used as a guide to
increase our managerial
effectiveness.

8. Some Management Tips of The Bhagwad
Gita:-
Self Management:-
 The Bhagavad-Gita stresses the
importance of self management
or personal anagement first
before personnel management
(HRM). Self management includes
all aspects of management of
oneself such as managing life,
time, stress, anger, fear and self-
control.
 Sri Krishna described that from
anger, complete delusion arises,
and from delusion bewilderment
of memory.When memory is
bewildered, intelligence will be
lost and when intelligence is lost
one falls down.

9. Some Management Tips of The Bhagwad
Gita:-
The Chariot Model:-
 In the chariot of the body, the
horses represent the senses
(tongue, eyes, ears, nose and
skin).The reins, the driving
instrument, symbolize the
mind, the driver is the
intelligence, and the
passenger is the self.
 Managers should use their
intelligence to control the
mind, they should not let the
mind to be controlled.

10. Some Management Tips of The
Bhagavad-Gita:-
 Mind Management:-
 Sri Krishna desired that Arjuna and the
readers of Bhagavad-Gita could cast off
weakness of heart in performing duties.
 Managers who are mentally weak cannot
attain the organizational vision and mission.
 The mind of the manager must be firm in
driving the organizational resources (human
resources) towards vision and mission.
 Work Commitment:-
 Duty is given great importance in the
Bhagavad-Gita.
 Duty in the organizational context goes
beyond contractual agreement in the
employment relationship.
 Sri Krishna further stressed that duty needs
to be done without attachment and for
those who do their duty without attachment
will attain the supreme goal.

11. The Bhagavad-Gita and
Management
Management Learning
from the Gita also
includes:-
 LEADERSHIP
 MOTIVATION
 DEVELOPING HUMAN
RESOURCES
 MANAGERIAL SKILLS
 WAY of KNOWLEDGE
 MEDITATION
 VISION & PLANNING
 UNITY in COMMAND

12. Limitations of the Bhagavad-Gita as a
Management Literature:-
 The Bhagavad-Gita is perceived
as a spiritual and philosophical
text, as such it is not directly
related to managerial
effectiveness.
 The Bhagavad-Gita is also
perceived only as an Hindu
scripture, and hence there has
been the less acceptance of
Bhagavad-Gita.
 However, there is no doubt that
the principles propounded in
the Bhagavad-Gita are have
universal application and useful
for managers to mould their
character and strengthen their
self to develop their managerial
effectiveness.

13. Criticism and Conclusion
 Modern managers, can benefit from the
philosophy of Bhagavad-Gita, which serves as a
guide in developing managerial effectiveness.
Mere imitation of western approaches may not be
appropriate in the Indian (Asian) context due to
differences in the cultural environment.
 The philosophy of Bhagavad-Gita has remained
and will remain as a guide for developing
managerial effectiveness, not only in this 21st
century but also for many centuries more to come.

14. ThankYou