What if today's leaders performed their roles under the guidance of the Bhagavad Gita? What if leaders saw themselves as Dharma Warriors? The ever-increasing pressure of modern life, the great changes taking place worldwide demand of our leaders vision beyond the limited view of the ego-mind and require instead servant leadership inspired by eternal wisdom.
What is servant leadership? The phrase “Servant Leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in
The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970. In that essay, he said:
"The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature."
"The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?"
In his second major essay, The Institution as Servant, Robert K. Greenleaf articulated what is often called the "credo." He said:
" This is my thesis: caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built. Whereas, until recently, caring was largely person to person, now most of it is mediated through institutions - often large, complex, powerful, impersonal; not always competent; sometimes corrupt. If a better society is to be built, one that is more just and more loving, one that provides greater creative opportunity for its people, then the most open course is to raise both the capacity to serve and the very performance as servant of existing major institutions by new regenerative forces operating within them." Servant leadership is a philosophy that would ultimately create a more just and caring world.
A question I am asking myself, when reflecting on the Bhagavad Gita in modern life, whether we can find in this model, a congruence with its spiritual teachings. I think of this especially for those for whom the old traditional ways are no longer a reality- for those who have already become immersed in corporate urban life, who are either westerners by birth, or for Indians who have become westernized but who still at heart wish to live a spiritual life rooted in their ancient scriptures. And perhaps we need to revitalize those whose traditional ways are still very vibrant, but who follow their traditions more by rote than from the heart. I think the world over, we need renewal of our desire, our capacity and will to serve each other.
Chapter 6: The Yoga of Meditation
Who burns with the bliss
And suffers the sorrow
Of every creature
Within his own heart,
Making his own
Each bliss and each sorrow:
Him I hold highest
Of all yogis.
More than anything, the Bhagavad Gita is a call to work with heart, to lead, to have courage, to serve others. to be even-minded and to engage fully with life. It is a classic guide to servant leadership.
Chapter 3 Karma Yoga
Let them show by example
How work is holy
When the heart of the worker
Is fixed on the Highest.
When Arjuna wishes to withdraw from the battlefield, Krishna teaches him to stand his ground and engage. He teaches him the role of leadership by using Himself as an example:
Chapter 3 Karma Yoga
Whatever a great man does, ordinary people will imitate; they follow his example.Consider me: I am not bound by any sort of duty.There is nothing in all the three worlds, which I do not already possess; nothing I ave yet to acquire.But I go on working nevertheless. If I did not continue to work untiringly as I do, mankind would stillfollow me, no matter where I led them. Suppose I were to stop? They would all be lost.
He also teaches to be even minded - to have equanimity.
Chapter 2 The Yoga of Knowledge
Perform every action with your heart fixed on the Supreme Lord.Renounce attachment to the fruits. Be even tempered in success and failure; for it is this eveness of temper which is meant by yoga.
Work done with anxiety about results is far inferior to work done without such anxiety, in the calm of self surrender. Seek refuge in the knowledge of Brahman. They who work selfishly for results are miserable.
One of the most important teachings of the Bhagavad Gita is one of inner alignment rather than outwardly directed strategies. No doubt, in every field of life, we must learn skills to perform our roles and consider strategies for action. However, it is inner intent to serve, inner development and inner surrender to the Highest that makes a genuine leader worth following in any field of human endeavour.
