ANCIENT INDIAN MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

 
 

Hundreds of  ancient Indian management books are  available even today in  the printed form. Most important among them are  Bhagavath Gita, Yoga Vaasishta, Sukra neetisaara, Bhartruhari's upadesa sataka, Chanakya neetisaara, Bhishmopadesa, Bharatopadesa, Lakshamnopadesa, hundreds of Subhashitas, dialogues/advise given by the gurus /Rushies in   Ramayana  and Mahabharata…and so on. These  books and many other books of the same quality explain the  management messages  adoptable and adaptable for the  21st century.  Here, we  present  few  messages  from  Viduropadesa  in the same order  as it is given in his book. These messages  are given by Vidura, to Dhrutharaashtra, when the latter was terribly confused  whether to support his  son Duryodhana  who was practicing all adharma or  support Dharmaputra who was the embodiment of dharma. At the junction of this confusion  and self analyses  Dhrutha raashtra invited  his brother Vidura for consolation and for  a solution  to over come the problems. The messages given by Vidura to Dhrutharaashtra is known as  Viduropadesha, which is the part of Mahabharatha, the great  epic of Bharath.....

 
 

1. A scholar/ manager  should have  spiritual knowledge, devotion towards work, patience , endurance, moral  strength. 

2. He should use the moral strength for protecting dharmic values; devotion towards work should be used for   earning money  and controlling luxurious expectations  and  the spiritual knowledge should be used for detachment.  

3.  The scholar should  follow dharma and never practice  adharma. 

4. He should have faith in god  and concentration towards work.  

5. He should not  get  angry nor get excited / nor show  the ego /nor be childish. He should not be a spent thrift  and should not think 'I am great and respectable'. 

6. Should take other's advise/ opinion  before undertaking /doing a work. 

7. He should not disclose everything about a work before it is completed.  

8.  Heat, cold, fear, happiness, unhappiness, luxury, poverty, etc., should not  affect him positively or negatively.  

9. He should not  focus too much on the negatives or positives. 

10. He should  focus mainly on the work (Karma) / mission only.  

11.  A scholar/manager  should use his wisdom  for dharmic mission  and also  for prosperity in a dharmic way. 

12.  He should get away/ relieved from a luxurious / extravaganza  in his life. 

13. Expect what he deserves  and whole heartedly work  to achieve the goal (expectations).  

14.  Never ignore anything nor consider as silly;  take  seriously the work.  

15. Try to listen as much as possible from all sources  

16. Try to learn quickly and  systematically 

17. Never start any work without a deep understanding about  the  work. 

18.  Never interfere with others work without his consent. 

19. Never talk in between without the consent of the speaker. 

20. Never expect  which you will not get; never feel sad on what you lost for ever and keep stability during crisis. 

21. A manager should use powerful and attractive words during discussions  

22. He should be in a position to convince others  easily.  

23. His words should reflect his wisdom and  should be capable for interpreting the rules positively.  

24. He should become a model for others  in words and deeds.  

25.   His knowledge + experience + wisdom + action should  work complementary to each other  

26.  His qualification, method of action and attitudes should  also compliment each other.  

27. He should never become crazy for money but should earn  that through hard work.  

28. Never give up any mission undertaken without completing it, however difficult may that be.  

29. Never interfere  with other's work if it does not come under your purview . Treat the friends  with the same dignity they show to you  and  never be over polite  to those who do not respect / love you  and never  give up any good friends  

30. Do not show affection / love to those  who do not reciprocate and never  try to  fight with strong and powerful people. 

32. Never try  to impress  by showing that an enemy is your friend  

33.  Never ill treat your  good friends    and never do bad  against them / others. 

34. Never try to project yourself, never doubt others (for everything). 

35. Do the work undertaken within specific time limit  

36.  Respect the  parents and forefathers, keep faith in the divine power  and also try to make good friends. 

37. Never enter into a house without invitation, never try to  answer to a question without asking   and never try to put trust on those who are not trustworthy. 

38. Criticizing others for doing something and  doing the same thing by self is foolishness. 

39. Knowing well that  self is  incapable of doing something and then getting  angry on others  is foolishness.  

40. Without knowing our own limitations  and without  doing  any work / strain, trying to  grab wealth of others  is foolish.  

41. Never advise those who do not deserve/ seek  your guidance. 

41. Expect nothing from a  miser and from a useless fellow. 

42. Try to follow the footsteps of highly educated, hardworking man who makes money  in a dharmic way.

43. Share the food and money with others for making friendship.  

44. Remember that many people  do heinous work and others suffer. 

45. Many a times  those who create problems  escape from the punishment. 

46. The arrow  shot from a bow may or may not kill but the  intellectual power shot  from an intelligent man  can even uproot a nation. 

47.  A poison and an arrow may kill only to whom it was given/shot,  the advise of  a manager can destroy the whole  system, including the manager himself. 

48. Never eat tasty food alone, never  analyze a serious matter alone, never go for a long tour alone, never walk away  from a group of  people  sleeping together. 

49. For Ship is needed for crossing  the ocean similarly truth is needed for solving the problems. 

50. Only one criticism / blame  may have to be  faced  by  a manager having good patience. That is   'the manager is a coward'' he will not have to face any other blame because  patience  is  a great  quality  which attracts  many.

51.Nothing  can affect  a person with patience. 

52. Like the fire automatically puts off in a bare land, the  cruel actions will not affect a man with patience. 

53. Dharma leads to glory;  Patience leads to peace;  Non violence  leads to happiness. 

54. Like a self hiding frog in a  hole is  eaten by a snake, a manager getting himself isolated ( who does not protect  his  colleagues) get destroyed by the enemy. 

55. Two great  qualities of a manager  are  never using harsh words and  never serving the   bad people. 

56. Never follow the words of bad people  

57. Two sharp thorns  which can create pain are, desiring for a luxuries life even when remaining poor without doing work  and getting angry even when incapable of doing anything. 

58. A family member should never keep without engaging himself in work and a sanyaasi should never lead a luxurious  life. 

59. Two types  of people  are above the heaven they are those who have patience even when they are very powerful  and the other  spending money for charity even  if they are poor.

60. Two types of mis-utilizations of the wealth are  donating to the non-deserving  and not  donating to the  deserving. 

61. There are three pathways for human beings  saatwic, raajasic and thaamasic.  

62. There are three types of people  utthama, madhyama and adhama, depute them to the work   according to their nature. 

63. Never try to grab others property, wife and never  give up the close friends. 

64. Kaama (over expectations and desires) , krodha ( anger)  and lobha (miserly) are the three gates for the hell. 

65. Getting a boon + coming back to own country + getting a son together  will be equal to  winning   the enemy (when the achievements are compared). 

66. Never give up our devotees, servants and those who approached for help.   

67. Never  disclose the secrets with  idiots, people having farsightedness, those who are doing the things very fast  and those who flatter during discussion. 

68. A family member (gruhastha) should protect four types of people , old aged,   scholar living in poverty, friend  living in poverty  and the sister who does not  have children. 

69. The blessings of god, prediction of  scholars, humility of great men  and destruction of sinners  are the four which may take  place at any time.  

70. Always protect father, mother, jeevaathma, teacher  and the  noble  flame in the prayer hall. 

71.  Friends, enemies, lazy men, and those who take  help and give  help  always follow you.  

72. If anyone of the sensory organs is lost, then the wisdom of that person  will get lost through that   hole.  

73. Those who expect  great success  should  control sleep, laziness, fear, anger,  crookedness and easy going nature. 

74.  One should  give up these six persons: the teacher who does not guide properly, the person who does not  chant mantras properly, the king who cannot protect the citizens, the wife always behaving negatively, the merchant  who is not interested in walking for sales  and a barber who always  wishes to live in  forest.  

75. Six qualities should never be given up,  telling the truth, donating to poor, active nature, carefulness,  free from  ego, patience and  courage. 

76.  Six happiness for men are  health, prosperity, loving wife/husband,  obedient son,  earning through hard work  and knowledge.  

78. One should get rid of these  six: kaama, krodha, lobha, mada, moha and malsarya. 

79. Thieves  live through careless people, doctors live through patients, beggars  through the masters and scholars  through idiots.  

80. Cattle, servant, agro products,  knowledge, relation with  people may  easily be lost  by  carelessness. Remember these  points 

81. A student rarely remembers the teacher after education, 

82. The son rarely remembers the mother after his marriage,                                                                                                       

83. A rarely remembers the supported after achieving the goal, 

84. The person rarely remembers the boatman after crossing the river                                                                                         

85. And a patient rarely remembers the doctor after recovery. 

86. Free from illness, living with own earnings, living in  own home,  relation with good people,  livelihood from the  hard work,  fearlessness are the six great  blessings that one can get.

87. Those who are always angry, arrogant, unhappy,  doubting  nature, living on other's luck,  are the people who live in misery.  

88. Give up these six habits: playing the dice, taking drinks,  hunting,  using sharp words,  giving harsh punishments, wasting money. 89. Those  who  always keep revengeful thoughts, feel unhappiness, always show anger, suspect  others always, and those who are living on others  luck always live in misery.  

90. (all these  advises  are given by Vidura to his brother, Dhrutha raashtra when the latter asked the guidance in life  when he felt dejected in his life ) 

91. Give up these seven bad habits: serving immoral women-playing dice- consuming drinks – hunting- using sharp words – punishing others- spending lavishly   

92. Those who are going to ruin  will show these eight symptoms; - criticizing scholars- becoming culprits -  grabbing others property- hurting others- harassing great men- becoming intolerant- practicing Adharmic life – blaming others. 

93. Eight are the happiness always cherished : getting together of relatives – getting money –hugging  son – the climax in sex- appreciating words – position in society- getting rewards in presence of great men. 

94. Eight qualifications which brings name and fame are: wisdom -nobility-control of mind- knowledge- capacity to undertake challenges- controlled talking- charitable activities within the capacity- contentment/gratitude. 

95. Everyone can become great when they know the reality about the life. 

96. Knowledge about self  fetches  actual contentment and happiness. 

97. Don't expect dharmic behavior from those who are liquor addict-egoistic–crazy –weak – terribly angry- hungry to the core- running behind something – miser- frightened – craving for sex .

98. The King /leader/ manager should give up anger  and luxuries and utilize the money for good purposes.  

99. He should know  the dharmic messages of life scientifically. 

100. He should be capable of doing things systematically and quickly  so that  his followers appreciate him and sincerely follow the leader's  guidance and advise. 

101. A leader should establish /get the trust and faith of his followers. 

102. He should punish his followers if and only if the  crime/mistake  is proved  beyond doubt 

103. The leader should be powerful and   should be the embodiment of patience. 

104.  That leader (only) will prosper and remain in the position for a life period. 

105. The leader should never make fun of  the weak and should not fight  with the strong. 

106. He should be in a position to act boldly whenever needed (should never become a coward during crisis). 

107. Should behave  courageously during the crisis without any dejection, sorrow and confusion.  

108. He should also have the tolerance and capacity to suffer the pain of the set backs and  failures always.  contd. 

109. Those who DONOT practice -unnecessary stay in other places -keep friendship with bad people - indulge in immoral sex – behave with ego – cheat others – use liquor – they live with happiness  

110.  One should  tell the truth  and facts only if asked 

111. Never argue for  friends and never try to justify anything if the facts are not known fully. 

112. Never get angry even  if  the due respect is received from others  

113. Always follow the rational and logical ways in life. 

114. Avoid looking for the negatives in others  and avoid  getting angry.  

115.  Be sympathetic towards others.  116. Never stand as surety for others  during negative situations.  

116. Patiently listen to the arguments of others and  inform the opinion  with convincing  words (only) whenever needed.  

117. Dress in a dignified  apparel suitable for the situation.

118. Never practice self praising and never use  harsh words even when angry  

119.  Never try to spread the  fire of vengeance when it is  almost put off  

120. Never spread  rumors and  do anything  fearing that I am going to be in trouble. 

121. never  get  excited beyond a level on the great achievements/success 

122. never feel happy on others pains and misery. 

123. never think about  what is given of/ offered to others. Those who practice these are known as  satpurusha.  

124. Those who know  about the  customs and  traditions of the country/place where they live  and practice them, they can influence others easily.  

125. Those who are wise, never projects their ego, keeps the desires at low profile, never  challenge others  unnecessarily, never do sins  and  treachery, and never argue with   drunkards- crazy   and bad people  they  are  the great men 

126. Donate liberally for the poor, do worship god, do good to others,   they will be blessed by the god. 

127. Build family and social relations with people of same status 

128. Never build relation with people with too low  or too high status.  

129. Always appreciate and recognize great men and scholars.  

130. Share the materials, happiness, credit  and name and fame with those who participated in your  mission. 

131. Even if you wish to do thing of your interest which is not liked by others, do it confidentially, so that others  will not work against you, at the same time you can get your things done also. 

132. Always pray and work for others happiness and peaceful life. 

133.  Be truthful, soft and respectful to others, keep an open mind, so that people  will respect you like a jewel. 

134. Behave nicely, with self control and self discipline.  

135. Try to acquire respect from  great men. 

136. With a pure and concentrated mind  and scholarly approach, try to elevate yourself in the society. 

137. Never  desire  the failure or downfall  of others.  

138. Critically evaluate the qualities of the colleagues  and give correct guidance for those who wish to improve. 

139. Never  desire for  the property or prosperity gained  through cheating others. 140. Never try to preserve those properties which are gained through treachery and cheating.

141.  A wise man  should  remember that  sometimes even a great mission  may  fail, even if undertaken with all sincerity and devotion. 

142.. One should clearly foresee the  consequences and after effects of  any mission undertaken. 

143.  Think and analyze many times before undertaking any work or mission.  

144. Never start  a work in haste and it can lead to serious problems.  

145.  A wise man should think three points before starting a work or before undertaking a mission;  the first is  the  benefits  and results of the work, the second is the consequences and after effects of the work  and the third is the real achievements, possible merits and failures /loss due to the work. . 

146. A person /manager/leader/king who does not  know  very specifically,  about  his  status , the financial situation, the profit and loss, the available resources and manpower , the motivation and punishments methods , etc,  cannot continue in that position  for  long because he will be thrown out by his own follower .

147. A leaders should know  the dharmic pathway.  

148. A leader should know the financial aspects  of each and every mission/step. 

149. Even if all the properties and prosperities are acquired, he should be simple and humble. 

150. He should never follow any adharmic  pathway under any situation. …….                       

151. A  wise man should know  all the negatives behind the positives. Otherwise he will get trapped like a fish get hooked in the  hook used with  the  food . 

152. Take  whatever  can be afforded and never grab/ take more than that. 

153. Try to learn whatever can be  understood  and  teach whatever is understood  and practice  whatever is taught .  

154. Like the food after  digestion gets   absorbed and nourishes the body whatever is learned  should  nourish the  wisdom.  

155. Those who collect the raw fruits will not be in a position to  understand the  sweet taste of the  matured fruit  hence wait and collect  the fruitful and useful matured fruits of knowledge. 

156. Remember that a fully matured  fruit can also give the seed but not  an immature fruit. 

157. From a mature fruit one can get the  nourishing sweetness and the seeds for further propagation of the plant. This should be the attitude  towards every action. 

158. Like the bees take the  honey  from the flowers  without    destroying the flowers,  the king should collect taxes from the people without troubling  them. 

159.   Like the flower merchant  makes the  garland without spoiling the flowers, the  king should  use the  taxes collected from the people for the good purpose  without wasting the money. 

160. Like  a man makes  charcoals  by collecting  the wood from the trees without destroying the  tree,  the  king should  collect money without  destroying the sources. 

161. A manager should think deep  what are the benefits, problems, demerits, of doing something or not doing the same before doing something. 

162. He should know that some of the works  cannot be undertaken at all. If at all undertaken one cannot continuously pursue the same, it may not have much benefits  also, hose types of works should not be undertaken. 

163. Happiness of some people may not have any use at all, like that  his unhappiness / anger /sorrow /..may also not have any merits  also. Never accept such people  as the guardians. 

164. A wise should  start  such type of work  which need less money to invest and fetches  more  profit from the venture. 

165. He should also see that such ventures  should not become a failure. 

166. A leader who  treats  all his colleagues  equally, even if the  leader keeps quite doing nothing, the followers  may pardon him   

167.  A  leader should be  like a tree even if not  producing  seeds but flowering , even if not  possible to pluck but  producing the  fruits,  even if not  giving good fruits but showing the color of fruits. That leader can 'somehow survive' without much trouble. 

168. A leader should  entertain  and make happy his  followers through words, sight,  thoughts  and by deeds, that leader  can remain happy  for ever. 

169. A leader should never create a fear psychosis in his followers even if the  leader is the  most capable man, the followers will hate  the leader  quickly. This is like a  deer  is afraid of a hunter.  

170. A leader who practices  adharmic  method  destroys his own prosperity by doing  so. 

171.  The manager should practice all the good precedence  followed  by the  predecessors . 

172. He should see that  the progress and prosperity attain steadily  and systematically  within the specified time .  

173. Never forget to practice the dharmic activities and if any lapse occurs in the practice of  dharma, the system will collapse.  

174. Ultimate aims of a king /manager is to see that  his system /institute /organization   becomes  prosperous  even when competing with other organizations. 

175. All the positive activities performed  by the manager  will protect the manager  and  his  organization /country. 

176. Accept good  suggestions  even from a mad man , or from a baby or  even a drunkard. 

177. This is like  producing the gold  from the gold minerals which contains  stones and  soil in them.  

178. A scholarly leader /king should listen to others'  suggestions and take  whatever  are relevant for them after carefully analyzing them. 

179. This is like collecting the paddy grains from the  paddy field after the harvest. 

180. Always remember that cows identify the things through smell, the scholars  through Vedas, the  king  find out the truth /facts   through the spies   and the common men through their eyes. 

181. A restless cow  suffers a lot during  milking, where as a calm stabilized cow enjoys during  milking , like that a leader should be stabilized and calm when serving others. 

182. A metal which bends easily need not be heated  and beaten , like that  a manager who accommodates and adjusts  will not face troubles. 

183. The branches of the tress  carrying  fruits when bends automatically , never face problems from the fruit pluckers, where as  other trees when stands erect without binding  suffers problems, like that  a leader should give  good to others  without creating problems. 

184. A great and wise man should always bow his head and extent helping hands  to  the poor and needy for helping them, this should be learned from the above  examples. 

185. The cows are protected by the plants and grass, the king is protected by the ministers, the  wife is protected by the husband and the  scholars  are protected by their  knowledge. 

186. Dharma is getting  protected  by truths/facts/essences (satyam).  

187. By the continuous application (experience)   the knowledge gets protected. 

188. By keeping things  clean, the beauty gets preserved and protected.  

189. By charity the  whole family and clan get protected  gloriously.  

190. By serving anything with proper measurements they get protected, by proper exercises the health of the  horses  get  protected,  and by taking care of the cows, they  get protected……so do always  the needful for the protection and preservation all the good things. 

191. Even if the  clan /family of  a fellow who practices  adharma  is  great, that fellow will never become great. 

192. Even if   borne in a low family,  if one has dharmic principles , he will become  noble and respectable. 

193.  The person who always think about others' money, beauty, power, quality, luck, happiness, royal behavior and worry about them, that is   dangerous and  incurable  disease . 194.  Those who are not doing what they can do should be kept away from us. 

195. Those who are  trying to do the impossible things  should also be treated in the  same way. 

196.  Those who disclose all the details/secrets  before achieving the goal should also be dealt with carefully. 

197.  The   common men become crazy due to  the  ego generated due to high level of knowledge, money and power . But these three produce  humility and simplicity in  scholars/ noble men.  

198.  Due to some situation or by compulsion, if good men request something from the bad men, then the latter start thinking that they are also good.  

199.  The common men,  good men, bad men  all have to depend upon the good men only.  

200. Those who have dressed  in costly apparel will shine in the group, those who have enough money  will  enjoy life, those who have  a vehicle will conquer the   path/ roads easily  and   those who are  noble in nature will conquer all the above…                          

221. without knowing what is the  actual  joyous  mission and what is not, many people managers  practice many negatives and  suffer a lot, in their life. 

222. Without knowing the dharmic life  and without practicing the purushaarthaas, they destroy themselves. 

223. Even a rich man may be the lord of many things, but if he cannot become the lord of his own  sensory organs, he will destroy whatever he has earned. 

224. Every manager  should know about  himself first.  

225. The manager should control his wisdom, his thoughts, his actions  and  should enrich everyday .  

226. Every manager should know that   his closest relative is he  himself and  his closest  enemy is also  himself. 

227. Over desires and  anger  can  destroy  everything  like a big fish can  destroy  the net within which the fish gets trapped. 

228.  The manager who does hard work  through the dharmic pathway  and earns  money and reputation, that  manager only can live a happy and fruitful life. 

229. Every manager should  first conquer his  own enemies  within himself like ego, anger, fear, arrogance,..

230 After conquering   the internal enemies he should conquer  the external enemies  to achieve great things in the life, otherwise  he will fail internally and externally

 
 

231. Many great men  got  trapped into many problems due to their  slavery  for  the  worldly    enjoyments/ attractions. 

232. Many kings have destroyed themselves   due to their slavery towards the attractions  of sensory organs . 

233. Never keep company with sinners. 

234. Even great men will get destroyed with the company of bad people  and will have to suffer even for others sins/mistakes. 

235.  Like the raw fire wood also burns with dried ones easily, the good people also will suffer  when they mix with bad, even though the former are innocent .  

236. Treat the five  sensory organs  as  enemies which drag the  men towards bad. 

237. Purity of thoughts , purity from negative feelings, attractive way of using words, disciplined way of life,  practicing truthfulness and  firm in taking decision making are the qualities a good men should  maintain. 

238. Patience, dharmic way of life, free from anger, self respect, donating to the needy, strictly fulfilling the promises and words given  are the good qualities one should always maintain. 

239. Idiots always  make fun of  scholars  and thus share the sin of others. 

240.  The scholars and great men, by forgiving others  get rid of their own  sin. So forgive others for their  mistakes.

 
 

241.  The strength of cruel people  is violence and cruelty.  

242. Strength  of  a king is in  the implementation  of the  law and order .  

243. The strength of the women lies on their service mentality.  

244. Strength of  scholars  and great men  is in  patience. 

245. It is well known that complete control of the words  is  practically impossible,  but the lavish  use of   good words  and  meaningful words   is not  possible too.  

246.  Informing the message  in sweet words  can fetch multifacial benefits  for the user. 

247. Use of  sharp words for  explaining the same  thing/giving the same message can create many problems too. 

248.   The trees cut  using  swords or axes  can sprout again, but the injury created  by sharp words  can destroy the man which will never sprout again. 

249. Many types of  arrows  hitting in the body can be  removed, but the sharp words once hit  cannot be removed at all. 

250.   The arrows  shot as words once hit the most sensitive part of the human body   create deep injuries difficult to cure.

 
 

251.The pain created  from the wounds  produced by  sharp  words  will continue for ever. 

252. So the scholars will never produce  wounds in others using the sharp words.  

253.  Whomsoever you would like to conquer, try to conquer through wisdom by influencing  him intellectually  

254. The  person who is  intellectually  affected  will withdraw from other  missions and confine  himself  in his work and that person  can be defeated  easily. 

255. During bad times  even  wise men will behave  negatively attracting  many negatives.  

256.  When facing many negatives, the people  generally feel that  negatives   are positives  and  they go behind negatives during crisis.  

257.  Going to pilgrimage   and taking care of  the animals  are  equally  good, but the latter is more important, useful  and productive.  

258. The place in heaven for an individual  remains  till he is remembered  on earth for his  great and good work. 

259. When we do good,  people remember us and  as long as that memory remains in their mind, our position will be in the heaven.  

260. So, do good till the last breath wherever we are.