At the core of this architecture is the God Trilogy, they call Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu. In their view, Brahma is the Creator of the Universe. As a Creator, he created the Universe and then stepped into the background. As a Creator, we all accept him, but do not worship him. On forming the Universe, his task ended, and it transferred to another. Thus, began the role of the sustainer of the Universe, his name is Vishnu. In this role, he takes birth on earth to guide mankind in their pursuit of life. Religious leaders, spiritual gurus, life guides, mentors, coaches fulfill this role. In our times, a Vishnu is not always Hindu. Vishnu’s role is to offer us guidance on various aspects of life and help us sustain our lives. Thinkers thought of the beginning, the lifetime, and the end. They introduced Shiva to manage evolution or the end. Life on earth evolves, it does not end. As a force, he helps us evolve.
There is a unique connection between this God’s Trilogy and commerce. The founder of every business is a Brahma. Their job begins with the vision and implementing this vision through a successful incubation. Smart investors love founders for their ideas but rarely for their management. Every business needs a Vishnu, this Vishnu has many avatars, as a leader she/he is the CEO. In an avatar as Advisor, they become a consultant, board member, or subject expert. Every business needs a Shiva, they are the disruptors; they lead change or transformation. The Shiva can be from within the business or can be a challenger to the business.
Aligned to this, is the Hindu theory of birth, death, and rebirth. This also applies to business and the life of its products or services. Every business will remain until it closes, or a disrupter re-invents its value proposition. We can call this re-invention a rebirth. Radios broke through the obstacles of distance communication. They then became the mode for news and entertainment. Television then took the concept of distance communication a step further. It merged the audio and the visual into one. It fulfilled our varied needs of information and entertainment. It was an alternative to the movies and the radio. When we discovered the Internet, we first used it for email. Emails displaced letters, telex, the use of paper for communication, etc. At this stage, we had television, telephones, radio, and the Internet. Disruptors then integrated everything into a smartphone that used the Internet to transmit most forms of voice, visuals, and information. This is in line with Hindu thought of birth, death, and rebirth. The soul here is a product or service necessary to sustain life. What changes is the method of delivery. The body or method of delivery dies. The product or service, which is the soul, continues to live in a new body. This idea applies to products, services, businesses and organizations. We may not recognize it because we are busy with the product definition or its industry classification. The radio, television, smartphones are the body, the soul is the product or service which is entertainment, news, education, etc.
The business of transportation may have achieved a new level of sophistication in the form of driverless cars. A century ago, cars were the new kid on the block and a century before that it was railways. Thousands of years ago, people would use horses, camels, and elephants for transport. People reared these animals for trade, sold it for profit to people who needed them. Car dealers have replaced these vendors of animals in the transportation business. Products and services have different life cycles. We will withdraw some as they become unnecessary or inconsequential. We will re-engineer or upgrade many and launch new products. This transformation is like the Hindu idea of birth, death, and rebirth. This might confuse us a bit, the complexity of life and evolution at times overwhelms us. Every form of life has a body and a spirit which we call a soul. It applies to human beings, animals, plants, etc. We know many animals, early ancestors of man, plants have gone extinct. The soul has lived on, we cannot recognise it, such was the brilliance of Brahma. For non-believers, Brahma created the universe where infinite forms of life would evolve to infinity. Brahma represents infinity and his consort Sarasvati represents knowledge. Non-believers or believers of other faiths recognise something, or some phenomena led to the formation of this universe. They all pursue Sarasvati to try and discover the phenomena called Brahma. Shiva is represented in Hindu thought as a male reproductive organ in union with its female counterpart called Shakti. This phallic symbol is the cross in Christianity and a minaret in Islam. For non-believers, it represents the process of bringing to life as replication or mutation. We can all accept that Shiva and his consort are also our parents. Finally, Vishnu is the guide or founder in every religion. His consort is Laxmi, the goddess of wealth or resources. For a non-believer, Vishnu is the person they adopt as their guide, mentor or role model. Everyone needs resources, and desires to acquire it. Every believer irrespective of their faith or a non-believer needs Laxmi and follows a Vishnu of their choice.
The founders of Hindu thought recognized prosperity comes when there is peace. For this, we must peacefully co-exist. They recognized the goal of every person is moksha. Moksha or bliss has to be achieved. They knew people would have diverse interests, ideas and views, they provided for it. They took a view that every religion or idea that offers a way of life is like a branch of a banyan tree. It is not important which branch a person chooses. Every branch leads to the canopy. The individual or business that reaches this canopy finds nirvana, eternal bliss, moksha or success. The story of Shantanu in heaven shows, once we earn success, we have to endeavour to keep it. A business must also do so.
In India, we talk about the caste system. The word caste is not Indian in origin. We derive it from the Spanish and Portuguese word Častá which means race, lineage, tribe or breed. When the Spanish colonised the world, they used this word to mean a clan or lineage. When the foreigners colonised India, they wanted to create a record of locals under their rule. In Hindu thought, they would use a person’s aptitude and occupation to segregate them into four categories. Brahmins were the priests, teachers and keepers of the faith. Kshatriyas were responsible for the security of the people during war and would govern them at all times. Vaisyas were engaged in agriculture, cattle rearing, and trade. Sudras were engaged in serving the people of the former classes. In addition, they identified the local settlements as Jati. They could class each individual belonging to a Jati to any category of Varna based on occupation and aptitude. Foreign occupiers wanted to control India, they wanted to keep count of the locals and also identify the warrior types. They froze the Varna, henceforth a Brahmin would always be a Brahmin. The inability to move across Varnas would have motivated people to create their own pecking order within the Varna. Again, they did not base this pecking order on the ability of an individual, but they based it on heredity.
Varna also applies to individuals in every business organization. Our leaders are the Kshatriyas, they manage our businesses and are responsible for its goals. Businesses can call their workforce, contractors, and service providers their Sudras. They work and toil to create and deliver the goods and services. Vaisyas are people engaged in the purchase and sale of goods and services. Brahmins as a group ensure compliance. In the organization’s context, they could be trustees for various stakeholders. They would be responsible for compliance, customer satisfaction, ethics, environment, and social responsibility
The founders of every business want success, they want profits and loyal customers. Success for a business is like heaven, it is bliss or Moksha for its stakeholders. Everyone wants to be successful in life. They want peace of mind and heaven. We also call this Moksha. To achieve Moksha, we must use dharma in our pursuit of Kama and Artha. When a business follows dharma in its pursuit of Artha or profits, it is capable of Moksha provided it has pursued Kama with dharma too. Kama in a business is its appeal and arises from its reputation. A reputation that attracts and keeps customers, suppliers, employees, and shareholders. One that regulators admire and respect.
What does a business need to succeed? Hindu thinkers provided an answer to this question, and it would apply to all businesses. Every business would need 3Ms. These are means, methods and motivation. Means represents the various resources and access it needs to be in business. From a perspective of resources, it needs capital, labour, material and demand amongst others. Lakshmi is our route to resources and access. She is consort of Vishnu. A business would need methods, it refers to its processes and practice that allow it convert resources and access into a profitable outcome. It refers to its technology or that which is unique. This is Sarasvati, and she is the consort of Brahma. Finally, it must have motivation. This refers to its commitment to succeed. It has to fight competition and gain market access. Shakti represents this, and she is the consort of Shiva.
Hindu way of Life places immense value on Itihas, Khandan, Parampara and Sanskar. Itihas is the history of the family; it encompasses our values, our beliefs, our convention, our occupation or business, customs and practices. Parampara is our legacy of ideas, customs and practices. In management, we express these same ideas through words like Policies, values, and convention. Sanskar is the value systems, the processes, and the code of conduct. Stakeholders must adhere to the rules.
In the same way, the principles of dharma also apply to business. To understand the obligations of dharma, Business means Kingdom, the CEO is the King or principle male actor in the event. The feminine character or characters in the event are the employees, service providers, customers or stakeholders. In the Epic, they give thoughts the feminine persona, whereas action is masculine.
(This is an excerpt from the Chapter 1 of this book made up of 50 chapters. It covers a range of topics important for business success. Its case studies establish the relevance between the Epic and our experience in Commerce. It finds Mahabharata used its event to explain ideas like SWOT Analysis, Game Theory, Peeling the Onion, Succession Planning, Retention, Performance Management, Partnership and Alliances ,etc.)