{"id":148,"date":"2020-04-25T10:31:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-25T10:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/magazine.omrise.org\/?p=148"},"modified":"2020-06-19T03:56:50","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T03:56:50","slug":"inspired-leadership-in-times-of-crisis-gandhis-secret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/2020\/04\/inspired-leadership-in-times-of-crisis-gandhis-secret\/","title":{"rendered":"Ge\u00efnspireerd leiderschap ten tijde van crisis: Het geheim van Gandhi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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You must be the change you wish to see in the world.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part 1 – A world out of balance and the G\u012bt\u0101[1]<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my classes for managers I often ask them to give some examples of truly authentic leaders. The first to be named were most often historical figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. Never did I hear these managers spontaneously nominate their own CEOs or other species of dignitaries like politicians. Mandela and King were both inspired by Gandhi, who became an icon of what I call deep leadership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten years ago, I wrote a book about it (in Dutch). This article is an adaption of a chapter from that book.1<\/sup> The starting point of the book is still timely today. In short, the globalization combined with superficial \u2013 in essence, egocentric \u2013 leadership and an hedonistic lifestyle have led to a worldwide systemic crisis, which like a smoldering fire can regularly burst into flames \u2013 think of the Internet Dot-Com bubble around the year 2000, the financial crisis around 2010 and now the threatening 2020 \u2018corona-recession\u2019. In a world out of balance, people demand effective leadership to confront the crisis. But without genuine introspection and personal reflection over what is really important in life, the solutions put forward are like fighting the blazing fire with a bucket of water instead of attacking the flames at their smoldering source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u015ar\u012b Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), one of the greatest and most widely-respected gurus that India has ever produced, would often receive politicians, managers and others coming to ask what they could do to make the world a better place and bring it into balance. After a long and meaningful silence, he would answer something like this: \u2018First know yourself and leave the world alone. Then you can go about reforming the world, if you still feel the inclination\u2019.2<\/sup> Another seeker of truth who, in the process, set his own Self-realization as a priority, was Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), a contemporary of Ramana Maharshi, although they never met in person. Gandhi allegedly said: \u2018You must be the change you wish to see in the world.\u2019 And, with his ascetic lifestyle he tried to set the right example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is known that Gandhi explored a range of esoteric trees of knowledge, yet according to his own words, eventually found comfort and refuge in the Bhagavadg\u012bt\u0101.3<\/sup> His general secret was that he found his spiritual home in the G\u012bt\u0101. But what specifically was that secret? In his early years he had often heard the G\u012bt\u0101 being read out loud, but usually found the reader not very inspirational. During his days in London, however, when two theosophist brothers were reading the G\u012bt\u0101 and recommended it to him, he felt somewhat ashamed that he had never read it and decided to join them in their endeavor. In his autobiography, Gandhi says that the book immediately struck him as one of \u2018priceless worth\u2019 and eventually became for him \u2018the book par excellence for the knowledge of Truth\u2019.4<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In South Africa in 1903, together with some theosophical friends, they formed a sort of Seekers\u2019 Club where they met for regular readings of the G\u012bt\u0101.  As said, in London he had developed a \u2018fascination\u2019 for the G\u012bt\u0101, but now as a Hindu amongst his theosophist friends he realized the necessity of diving deeper into it. The G\u012bt\u0101 became an infallible guide of conduct. It became my dictionary of daily reference. \u2018Just as I turned to the English dictionary for the meanings of English words that I did not understand, I turned to this dictionary of conduct for a ready solution for all my troubles and trials\u2019.5<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2006 Business Week magazine, always eager to announce the latest management fads, pointed to the G\u012bt\u0101 as the newest management text and potential successor to Sun Tzu\u2019s, The Art of War which was already popular in management circles. If competitive managers are naturally interested in the \u2018art\u2019 of waging war, then the G\u012bt\u0101 should also be of much interest to them. The G\u012bt\u0101 begins as two huge armies stand facing each other, ready to begin a bloody civil war. All this within a context of a world greatly out of balance that is elaborately described in the epic story of the Mah\u0101bh\u0101rata, of which the G\u012bt\u0101 is basically an autonomous part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bhagavad-G\u012bt\u0101, the Song of the Lord (Sanskrit: bhagavat = the venerable, the adorable or the Lord; g\u012bt\u0101 = song; often lovingly called the G\u012bt\u0101) is \u2018The Beloved Lord\u2019s Secret Love Song,\u2019 as somewhat romantically undertitled by Graham Schweig in his 2007 translation.6<\/sup> In this timeless story, certainly 2500 years old and still tremendously popular  Song of the Lord, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is \u2018the Lord\u2019. He appears first as friend and charioteer for Arjuna, the commander-in-chief of the army. As the story unfolds K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a reveals himself as Arjuna\u2019s spiritual teacher and finally, in all his shining glory, as a cosmic reincarnation of the God Vi\u1e63\u1e47u. He is one of the manifestations of brahman, a concept from the Vedic tradition that stands for the Absolute, the Universal Self or, because of its unknowableness, simply as \u2018That\u2019. Vi\u1e63\u1e47u is part of the triad: Brahma, the creator, Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, the sustainer, and \u015aiva the destroyer of the universe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gandhi felt at home with the G\u012bt\u0101 because the God Vi\u1e63\u1e47u is worshipped by the Va\u1e63\u1e47avas. This was the trusted form of Hinduism that Gandhi grew up with in his parents\u2019 home. His mother was a \u2018deeply devout woman\u2019 who intensely followed the rituals of this religious branch. She would go to the temple daily and regularly fast. Thus, fasting, often a part of Gandhi\u2019s life as an act of nonviolent protest, was not strange to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the G\u012bt\u0101, according to Schweig, it is K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s mission and, at the same time, it is the \u2018ultimate secret of yoga\u2019 (BG 4.3: hi etat [yoga\u1e25] uttamam rahasyam) to reconnect the sacred unity between the human and Divine within each of us and to realize and love Him as our own true Self.7<\/sup> Or, as Gandhi himself in 1929 succinctly summarized it in his introduction to his Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101 according to Gandhi: \u2018The subject of the G\u012bt\u0101 is Self-Realization.\u2019 In saying this, Gandhi provides a crystal clear, but admittedly radical pointer as to how to restore balance in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Broekstra, Gerrit (2009) Deep Leadership: The secret of right action in uncertain times (In Dutch; The Hague: Ten Have).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Mudaliar, A. Devaraja (2020) Day by Day with Bhagavan (Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam), p. 236.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Tidrik, Kathryn (2006) Gandhi: A political and spiritual life (London: Tauris).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Gandhi, Mohandas K. (1957) An Autobiography: The story of my experiments with truth (Boston: Beacon), p. 67.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Gandhi, Ibid., p. 265.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Schweig, Graham M. (2007) Bhagavad-G\u012bt\u0101: The beloved Lord\u2019s secret love song (New York: HarperCollins).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Schweig, Ibid., p. 272 ev.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> This article will appear in three parts, in this issue we present the first part<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Part 1 – A world out of balance and the G\u012bt\u0101[1] In my classes for managers I often ask them to give some examples of truly authentic leaders. The first to be named were most often historical figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7,4],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-management","category-spirituality","category-spirituality-magazine-issue-2-apr-25-2020-en-edition","tag-inspired-leadership"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"trp-custom-language-flag":false,"newsportal-magazine-tab-thumbnail":false,"eggnews-slider-large":false,"eggnews-featured-medium":false,"eggnews-featured-long":false,"eggnews-block-medium":false,"eggnews-carousel-image":false,"eggnews-block-thumb":false,"eggnews-single-large":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Prof.em. Dr Ir Gerrit Broekstra","author_link":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/author\/gerritbroekstra\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Part 1 – A world out of balance and the G\u012bt\u0101[1] In my classes for managers I often ask them to give some examples of truly authentic leaders. The first to be named were most often historical figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}