Published in Devlok, Sunday Midday, April 07, 2013

Valmiki Ramayan does not mention Ram’s sister, however, in the Mahabharata we learn of King Lompada who adopts the daughter of Dashratha. In later literature, this daughter of Dashratha becomes Ram’s elder sister, Shanta. In Telegu folk songs she is described as being furious when Ram abandons Sita following street gossip.

According to the Oriya Ramayan, following adoption, Shanta is given in marriage to Rishyashringa, a sage whose celibacy causes drought in Lompada’s kingdom. Following the marriage, the rains come back. This tale is consistent with the traditional theme of Vaishnava literature that condemns absolute abstinence which is seen as world-denying hence world-destructive.

Though Dashrath seems to have fathered Shanta without any difficulty, he is unable to father any more children. Dharma insists that a man must father a son and continue his lineage and that a king must produce an heir for the throne. A desperate Dashrath therefore marries a second and a third time. When nothing works, he decided to perform a yagna and compel the gods to give him a child.

The priest, who Dashrath invites to perform the ceremony that will restore the fertility of his household is none other than his son-in-law, Rishyashringa, implicitly suggesting that Rishyashringa’s celibacy was in someway responsible for the barrenness of his queens. Just as Rishyashringa’s marriage to Shanta brought rains to Lompada’s kingdom, Rishyashringa’s yagna will bring children to Dashrath’s queens.

One can argue that is it a later interpolation and therefore not valid. But we must not forget that Valmiki’s Ramayan does not mention the famous ‘Lakshman Rekha’ and that in Valmiki’s Ramayan there is no mention of Ahilya turning into stone or of Shabari feeding Ram berries. These ideas come from later regional tellings of the Ramayan.

Ramayan is like an open source software, much like Hinduism, where new ideas continuously enter and only that which survives the test of time is celebrated. What is often celebrated in India is emotional bonds. Ramayan revolves around relationship between father and son, brothers, king and subjects, husband and wife. Perhaps someone felt the need for Ram having a sister and so Shanta, adopted daughter of Lompada, becomes Dashrath’s biological daughter.

We find this in Shiva’s story too where Shiva, associated with sons, has occasionally, as in a brief reference in Padma Puran, been associated with a daughter called Ashok Sundari, amplified by the popular television serial, perhaps in keeping with the times where we want to celebrate our girl children too.

What is especially interesting with Shanta is that she is described not like Ram, stoic and serene, but as rather sensuous. Descriptions of how she seduces Rishyashringa, transforms him from hermit to householder, are rather erotic. The sage has never seen a woman and so wonders what kind of a man she is. This opens up a whole world of sexual possibilities for narrators who have let their imagination go wild. But I guess, that we shall keep out of our traditional telling of the epic.

Published in Corproate Dossier, ET, March 29, 2013

I own a family business that has multiple businesses and the turnover is over 500 crores. I am very driven and very focused on results and as a result I lose my temper often when people goof up or don’t deliver. I have thought about it many times in a objective way. And while my temper has negative results in terms of people quitting and becoming demotivated, I feel that it’s also a great way to push people. People work better under fear than things like motivational talks and fake ‘great jobs’. What’s your take on it?

You are clearly goal-oriented. Time for you to be gaze-oriented, which means increase your ability to see the subjective reality of those around. For that you have to understand Durga or external power.

Durga needs to be separated from Shakti, or internal power. The gods had to defeat the buffalo-demon, Mahisha, and were told to release their inner power, Shakti, and merge it outside to create the goddess of external power, Durga, who would kill the demon. Shakti is our inner strength. Durga is the strength that we get from outside. Praise, for example, empowers us because we get Durga from outside. Insults disempowers us, we feel stripped of Durga by our critics. Thus Durga is a currency of exchange, just like wealth or Lakshmi. In all human interactions, there is exchange of Durga. We have a vast supply of Durga to give, but we rarely take advantage of it. Instead we are too busy taking power.

While striving towards your goal, you are so focused on your own goal that you fail to realize that it is not the goal of those around you. You are not even aware of their goal, whether it aligns to what you want or not. You see them as ‘resources’ – domesticated animals who have to do as you say. A donkey will do as you say, a horse and ox will do as you say, with suitable reward and punishment, but these are human beings who do not respond as farm animals. Their failure to respond, as you want them to, frustrates you. But your treatment frustrates them. You are not providing Durga – worse, you are taking Durga. No one feels empowered. A disempowered team is unable to reach its goal. And that angers you, making you want to deny other people power. No one wins. Problem is, you see them as the problem, those who have been stripped of power by you.

A motivational talk, or fake ‘great jobs’, as you call them, grants power to people, makes them feel they can do it. Not everyone has Shakti, most rely on Durga from external sources. External sources are never as good as an inner source but that is okay. As a leader, you have to acknowledge their needs, provide for them, so that they will give you what you want.

Anger is a sign of helplessness. And you are helpless because you are unable to see this invisible transaction in your space. You want them to deliver (give you Lakshmi) but  your shouting and screaming and insults is creating an ecosystem where nothing thrives. Fear works only until people have another option. Then, they quit.

Published in Devlok, Sunday Midday, March 31, 2013

His descent will mark the end of Kali yuga. When faith is lost, when social structures collapse, when virtue is forgotten, he will be born to Sumati and Vishnuyasha. Parashuram will be his guru. He will worship Shiva. He will marry Padma and be the father of Jaya and Vijaya. He will ride a flying horse called Devadatta. He will have a parrot and a flaming sword. He will destroy the demons Kok and Vikok and overpower their master, Kali, source of all corruption, and renovate the world, heralding Satya yuga, the era of purity and joy.

This detailed description of Kalki comes from the Kalki Puran, written at least 1000 years after the Vishnu Puran dated to the Gupta Period (500 AD), where Kalki is mentioned as one of the many avatars of Vishnu, who rides a winged horse, sword in hand.

The idea of a prophesised saviour makes great sense in cultures that believe in one life. We want the end of the world to be a happy one, one where there is eternal resurrection, one who restores balance and wipes away all pollution. This is essentially the concept of messiah that is found in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In Judaism, he is yet to come. In Christianity, he is Christ, who will return during the rapture. In Islam, he is Muhammad. Some have traced this idea of the archangel saviour, Saoshyant, of Zoroastrianism that thrived in Persia and impacted thought both in the East and the West. Indians were certainly exposed to these ideas by Mauryan times.

In Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism, this life is but one of infinite lives. There is no end of the world, just death followed by rebirth. What goes around comes around. So the idea of a saviour does not make sense. There is nothing to save. What goes away comes back. So what is being rescued?

In biblical mythology, one needs to be rescued from misery that follows the Original Sin. In mythologies of Indian origin, one needs to be rescued from the wheel of rebirths. In one case, it is salvation. In the other, it is liberation. Influenced by ideas of the savior, Buddhists postulated the idea of the future Buddha Maitreya who comes with flaming sword when all creatures have been saved from misery. Hindus came up with the idea of Kalki.

Another reason for the origin of this idea is the fact that in the post-Buddhist period, India was overrun by many tribes from the North West who followed the Greeks: the Scythians, the Huns, the Gujars, the Kushans. They came on horseback creating the characteristic image of the saviour on a white horse. It is interesting horses are not native to India: they have always come in from the North West, via plunderers and marauders. These warriors perhaps inspired the idea of a god who wipes out the old corrupt regime and offers the possibility of a newer fresher rule.

Published in Corporate Dossier, ET, March 15, 2013

I am the CEO of a multinational company. My company has a policy of weeding off the bottom 10 per cent of performers. I don’t agree with the policy because the appraisal process of the company are not robust enough to capture a true and fair picture of the contribution of employees. Do you agree that for a company to have a solid employee base, its necessary to fire people every year?

There is no right way to do business and there is no wrong. There are only actions and consequences. This is the very Indian approach to do business. A Western approach seeks to do the right thing, and in doing so they rationalize some of the most cruel of practices, such as this: weeding out of the bottom ten percent of performers.

Appraisal processes notwithstanding, let us appreciate what is actually happening over here. The organization imagines itself as a pack of predators out to hunt. To ensure you are ‘lean and mean’, you need to rid yourself of laggards who hold you back. You need the strongest in your team. By that logic, this approach makes sense.

This action also instills fear in the pack, fear that you could be next to be fired. Fear is a powerful motivator. We work harder in fear. We are always on our toes.

The pack of predators exists to capture Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, from the marketplace. Those who are unable to capture Lakshmi or contribute to the capture of Lakshmi are seen as losers or not fit for the pack. They have to be discarded.

Fundamentally, we have to ask why does the organization exist. Is it a pride of lionesses that exists to hunt prey, so that the lion (shareholders) feast on it? If yes, then the weak will be kicked out. This approach visualizes the market as a jungle full of rival competitors and prey who can outrun the predator. This is rana-bhoomi, the battleground where there is no room for weakness. Here, the organization has to survive and so is willing to get rid of its weak link.

But we can see the organization as an ecosystem that helps people grow and thrive, a place where the strong help the weak rather than rejecting them. Where appraisals are a way to figure out what more needs to be done to enable even the weakest member of the pack to hunt. Here the organization turns into ranga-bhoomi, a nurturing playground, an ecosystem that you enter in order to grow. But the risk is that people can turn complacent here, take advantage of the kindness of the leader and not be paranoid about succeeding. Some may even dismiss this idea as utopian. For the cynic, battlegrounds are truth; playgrounds are fantasy.

When the battle is announced, Ravan kicks out those who do not fall in line with his appraisal (Vibhishan) and wakes up those who sleep (Kumbhakarna). Ravan is a great king who grabs and captures Lakshmi. But in the Indian way, he is unworthy of worship, for the purpose of an organization and the role of a leader is about outgrowing fear, not amplifying it.

In this special Godrej Change Talk held on 12 April 2013, best-selling author, leadership coach and mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik spoke about how modern management is rooted in Western beliefs and obsessed with accomplishing rigid objectives and increasing shareholder value. At the heart of his book ‘Business Sutra’ is a compelling premise: if we believe that wealth needs to be chased, the workplace becomes a rana-bhoomi—a battleground of investors, regulators, employers, employees, vendors, competitors and customers; if we believe that wealth needs to be attracted, the workplace becomes a ranga-bhoomi—a playground where everyone is happy. This talk was followed by a vibrant Q&A session with the audience.

Published in Corporate Dossier, ET, March 22, 2013

I run an FMCG business and due to the extreme growth of the business the organization has grown extremely fast. I have always had a philosophy that companies should grow their own timber. But what I find is that every time I promote people they change, and often for the worse. Am I going wrong in selection or there is a deeper message here?

On Day 1, you hire a babysitter. On Day 2, you expect them to be a tuition teacher. Day 3, you expect them to be a chef. Will it work? For every job you need a set of skills and these cannot be absorbed through osmosis. Yet we promote people without preparing them to take the job and expect them to do the job brilliantly.

Can they say “no, they will not take up the job unless you give them training”? They cannot. They will appear like fools. So they take up the position and perhaps even delude themselves they can do whatever it takes, quoting ridiculous clichés like: impossible is i-m-possible.

And then like Prince Uttar, in the Mahabharat, after all the bravado, when they finally face the Kaurava army, reality dawns. They realize their stupidity and run for cover. But this running for cover takes place mentally, not publicly.

Privately their fear is intense. They are trapped. They cannot admit not being able to handle their situation. They cannot admit their failure. They cannot show weakness. They cannot seek help.

What does a cornered animal do? It snarls and bites back, it snaps. Cornered humans blame the world for the problems. They neither empower nor enable, because they do not feel empowered or enabled. Who will empower and enable them? Can they turn to you? But you abandoned them after promoting them, assumed the big fish of the small pond will perform as well in a big pond, not realizing in the new paradigm he is a small fish.

If you get talent from the outside, they will resent you even more. They will resent the outsider, and do everything in their power to pull him down.

As organizations grow, we often think only in economic terms (Lakshmi growth). We not think of the impact on emotions (Durga); the associated loss/gain of power. We do not think of the impact on imagination and thought (Saraswati). So we end up destroying past relationships and making good talent go sour and bad.

The responsibility is yours as yajaman. You need to work with these people you promoted, and help them cope with their new responsibilities. Do not expect them to cope on their own or thrive autonomously. Not every one can do that. Not everyone is self-reliant and self-motivated. You need to reach out, not abandon them midstream. If people grow, your organization grows. You are thinking of people growth quantitatively; in time you think qualitatively too.

Dr Devdutt Pattanaik speaks on Succession Planning in Family Business at the VINYL -INDIA 2013, 3rd International PVC and Chlor-Alkali Conference.

Published in Devlok, Sunday Midday, March 03, 2013

Once a year, at the temple in Kottankulangara in Kerala, at Chavara, near Kollam, hundreds of men dress up as women and worship the Goddess Bhagavathy, with lamps. This unique ritual is called ‘Chamaya Vilakku’ (make-up lamp), and the men come to the temple at night in a long procession with lighted lamps in their hands. The ritual occurs during March – April each year.

The story goes that a group of cowherds found a rock in the forest that oozed blood. They realized it was a rock containing the power of the Goddess. When one of them touched it, he burst into flames and was reduced to ashes. Clearly only a woman could pick it up for the Goddess preferred priestesses over priests. But as there was no woman in the vicinity, and the boys felt such a powerful stone should not go unattended for long, they dressed as women and approached it. This time, no one got hurt. The Goddess enjoyed the men expressing their feminine side. She blessed them.

In memory of that event, to get blessings of the Goddess, even today, on a particular day, men dress as women and offer lamps, incense and flowers to the Goddess. These men are not cross-dressing, transgendered homosexuals. In fact many go to the temple in the company of their wives, sisters and mothers who help dress them up. It is all done matter-of-factly, though many enjoy the day of liberation from the burden of machismo.

In another ritual, the Karaga, in Bangalore and many parts of Karnataka, the Goddess is invoked in a pot (karaga). A young priest dressed in women’s clothes then carries the pot across the city. The Goddess is associated with Draupadi and the priest belongs to the warrior community, suggesting that this is a ritual designed to seek appeasement and forgiveness of the Goddess who was treated so badly by the Pandavas, who gambled her away to the Kauravas. As the Goddess travels atop her cross-dressing priest, she offers blessings to the houses and streets she visits.

In these rituals, the man’s sexuality is not in doubt. Nor is it being challenged. It is perhaps meant to get men to empathize with women who end up suffering greatly to uphold social values.

Unfortunately, worshipping the Goddess and asking her forgiveness, does not often translate into respect for women. The Goddess is equated with the fierce mother and very clearly distinguished from the woman who is seen as property and object of pleasure. The scriptures do not make this difference: she who is mother, is also wife and daughter. In wisdom, we do not seek property or domination. Until then, we will continue to control and violate the Goddess, like Ravan, and Duryodhan and the Pandavs, risking her wrath.

Published in Devlok, Sunday Midday, Feb. 24, 2013

In Buddhist belief, the greatest enemy of Buddha, who seeks to outgrow desire, is Mara, the demon of desire. In Hindu belief, Mara is Kama, god of desire. Kama raises his sugarcane bow, shoots a flower arrow at Shiva, the hermit, the lord of yoga, to ignite desire in him. But Shiva opens his third eye, releases a missile of fire, sets Kama aflame, until he is reduced to a heap of ash.

If Shiva does not marry, he will father no children and the demon, Taraka, will not be killed. Nothing will grow: the bee will not come to the flower, the bull will not go to the cow, the earth will be bereft of life.

So the Goddess comes to Shiva as Kamakshi. Her name is similar to Kama; she also bears the sugarcane bow and flower arrows of Kama. She dances on top of Shiva, she sits on him, appeals to him to open his eyes, and accept her as his wife, not for his sake but for the sake of those who are terrorized by Taraka.

Shiva finally opens his eyes; he becomes Shankara, the benevolent one, who marries Kamakshi and they have a son called Kartikeya who kills Taraka.

In later Buddhist literature, Buddha becomes Bodhisattva, sprouting more arms, and embraces the goddess, Tara, who flavors his serene wisdom with more compassion.

The seed of any enterprise, any yagna, is desire, kama. Unless the yajaman has a desire, the yagna will never start. There will be no exchange, no marketplace. For wealth creation and wealth movement, there has to be bhoga, not yoga.

In the modern world, marketing exists to destroy yoga and invoke bhoga. The yogi who seeks to withdraw from the world is the greatest threat to the market place. He has to be seduced. That is why Indra sends apasaras to seduce them. The hermit is exchanged in solitary activity that distances himself from society. As householder, he becomes part of society, of exchange, of giving and taking.

In the Ramayana, when Dashrath wants to perform a yagna that will get him sons, he is advised to call the sage Rishyashringa. The sage has been raised all his life without knowledge of women. He has no hunger and so nothing will compel him to leave his hermitage. So Dashrath sends Shanta, daughter of Lompada, to enchant him and bring him to Ayodhya. Shanta succeeds, Rishyashringa comes to Ayodhya, performs the yagna and Dashrath gets four sons. It is the desire of Dashrath that leads to the seduction of Rishyashringa, the performance of the yagna, and the birth of Ram and his brothers. If Kama had not shot his arrow, if there was no desire for bhoga, there would be no Ram, no Ramayan.

It is not accidentally that the word in Vedic literature for the trader, vaishya, is very similar to the word for prostitute, veshya. Both were associated with the bazaar, the market, where Lakshmi is created and exchanged. That is why during festivals of the Goddess, clay is collected from the house of the veshya to make the image, and money from the house of vaishya to prepare the pandal. They give shape to the center of the celebration.