Indian Ethos - The concept
“Ethos” is a Greek word originally meaning
“accustomed place” or “character” and is used to describe the guilding beliefs
or ideals that characterize a community, nation or ideology. Oxford defines
ethos as the characteristic spirit and beliefs of community/people which
distinguishes one culture from the other.
The
simple meaning of ‘Ethos’, is the guiding principles of a person, group or of
an organization. ‘Ethos’ is a set of beliefs, ideas, etc., about social
behavior and relationship of a person or group.
Indian
Ethos is all about what can be termed as “national ethos”. Indian ethos refers
to the principles of self-management and governance of society, entity or a
system by wisdom as revealed and brought-forth by great scriptures like Veda,
Upanishads, Gita, Mahabharata, Bible and Quran. This wisdom evolved through the
old practices of Indian mystics, philosophers and religious ‘gurus’, and is now
found to have profound implications for self-management and good governance of
the society and business environment, or even a politically divided world.
The theory of the twotruths has a twenty-five century long history behind it. It has its origin in the sixth century BC India with the emergence of the Siddhārtha Gautama. It is said, according to the Pitāpūtrasamāgama-sūtra, Siddhārtha became a buddha “awakened one” because he fully understood the meaning of the two truths—conventional truth (saṁvṛti-satya) and ultimate truth (paramārtha-satya)—and that the reality of all the objects of knowledge, the text says, is exhaustively comprised of the two truths (Sde Dge, dkon brtsegs nga, 60b).
Based on the two Universal Truths, every Indian believes the God or the Supreme Power is in every body and everything in interconnected at a deeper level. The basic unity of life cannot be broken. Love and sacrifice therefore emerge as the only means for a meaningful living.
Based on this holistic
vision, Indian have developed the work ethos of life, where they feel all work,
physical or mental, managerial or administrative, has to be directed towards a
single purpose.
Indian ethos were built and
perfected long before others evolved them. Hence India contributed immensely in
teaching ethical lessons to outside world with its classical books. The ethical
thought process in Vedantic ethos starts with Vedas, Upanishads, Smritis and
Puranas. These were told in many ways with day to day life in epics Ramayana,
Mahabharata and Gita. The ethical values were told in story form in
Panchatantra, Hitopdesha, Katha- Saritsagaf, Bhoja prabhand, Chanakya Neeti,
Bliagavata, Sooktimuktavali, Neeti Shastra, Neeti Shataka Manusmuti and the
like. Sacred simplicity of four goals to a man as given below are cardinal to the Indian value system that
has shaped Indian ethos.
a) Dharma – Righteousness
b) Artha – Creation of wealth
c) Kama – Desires and needs
d) Moksha – Liberation of the
spiritual core.
Indian ethos see life holistically and talks of
perfect synthesis of material, moral, cultural, and spiritual values for
achieving the ultimate goal of life. In this Endeavour, the life is guided by
the four Purusharthas: Dharma (Supreme duty or ‘Categorical Imperative’), Artha
(wealth or material), Kama (Desires), Moksha (Salvation or liberation). Ancient
Indian ethos consider life as an opportunity to achieve a state of ultimate
bliss, where a person is established in complete peace unaffected by the
happenings around. In English this state is commonly referred as enlightenment,
liberation, bliss, self-realization, and self transcendence. This state comes
when the individual consciousness of a person gets merged with the universal
consciousness. Every person has a part of Divine or God (Universal
Consciousness) in himself as how she/he could be different from the God, when
she/he is created by the God. This part of the God present in a person is
called as Atman and God or Universal Consciousness is called
as Brahman. The whole purpose of life, that all the efforts of
human life should be directed towards practical realization of this ultimate
truth or reality.
According to Swami Vivekananda, “Indian ethos
serves ideas of honesty, integrity and morality”. Indian ethos basically are
based on our social structure, culture and religions. Moreover, our Vedas,
Upanishads, Shrutis, Purans, Bhagvat Gita and Ramayan were also contributed to
create and develop the holistic and value added aspects in ethos. As such, in the
early period of history, there were various concepts, thoughts, views,
traditions and attitudes developed by human being, were labelled as ethos.
Components of Indian Ethos
The components of
Indian ethos can be captured from what Indian believe based on the ancient
Indian scriptures and the works of game changers of history like Swami
Vivekanada, Mahatma Ghandhi, Tagore etc..:
Co-Operation
1.
Ego sublimation rather than ego assertion
2.
Sacrificing spirit rather than fighting spirit
Each Soul is a Potential God A human being has a soul, a spark of Divine. The Divide resides in the heart of a person. The Divine means perfection in knowledge, wisdom and power. Therefore, a human being has immense potential power or energy for self-development. The partnership of God and Man can bring about extraordinary or miraculous result.
Co-operation refers to the
collective or teamwork. In this modern life, there is too much competition for
survival and growth. By mutual help and cooperation, one can achieve the heights
of human welfare and development and this will lead a harmonious and peaceful
life
Holistic approach
3.
Team achievement rather than individual achievement
4.
Spiritual attainment rather than material prosperity
5.
Self control rather than outside control
It indicates the unity between the
Divine (The Divine means perfection in knowledge, wisdom, and power),
individual self and the universe. The holistic approach of management is based
on the spiritual principle of unity, oneness, and non-dual concept. Under these
principles of unity, the Universe is an undivided whole where each and every
particle is connected with every other particle. Hence, entire humanity is one.
Karma yoga, Good for
society and Excellence at work
6.
Concept of duties rather than concept of rights
7.
Yielding rather than dominating
Karma Yoga(Selfless work) or
Nishkaam Karma:
Karma Yoga (selfless work) is yoga of moral endeavour, self-less service to others. It brings about union of human being with the Divine. Work is done as workship to the Divine in human beings who is also all pervading in the universe(which is just a projection of the Divine). Gita evolves moral and ethical theory of human conduct and expounds the art of right living- the doctrine of duty with discipline and devotion without attachment to work and agency. Do your duty without ego and without calculations of gain or loss. Let not the fruit of action motivate you. Let not the fruits divert your concentration on work. Pour your heart and soul in the performance of your assigned duty. Concentrate your attention only on your present job.
Human life is made to work.
But this work should not to be only for self. Karma Yoga refers
to selfless service to other. One should work for other, for society , for
nation. With development of society and nation, one will also develop.
Yogah Karmasu Kaushalam
(Excellence of Work):
Yogah refers to concentration
for excellence. Every work should be excellent. One should work
with determination and ability. It will result in a smart work; human head, heart and soul should
cooperate with hand. It will give the qualities of wisdom worker
Be Subjective/Objective
8.
Concern for this age world and improvement
9.
Respect for and search for all truth whatever be its source
Equal
Importance to Subjectivity/Objectivity Indian ethos for management distinguish
subject and object. Subject is subtle and intangible. Object is gross or
concrete, and tangible or invisible. Human and ethical values or qualities such
as courage, vision, social awareness, fearlessness and clear mind, truth, etc
are subjective, subtle and intangible concept. These represents divine wealth.
Inner resource of human being are more powerful than external resources. Eg-
Japan could prosper in industry, business and trade due to optimum utilisation
of inner resources. Japan does not have coal, mineral and petrolieum. ‘Creator
is subjective. Creation is objective’.
Indian ethos of management combines both
subjective and objective resources. Subjective resources refer to ethical
values and qualities as -integrity, purity, truth, social awareness, courage,
vision ,etc. which are related to heart and soul. Objective resource refers to
materialistic things as money, material, information,
etc Being
subjective as well as objective may be
viewed as equivalent to theory of ‘ethics
of care’ propounded by western world.
Therefore,
manager must develop third eye, the eye of vision, intuition, foresight and
such other divine qualities or values.
Comments
Post a Comment