Business Sutra: A Very Indian Approach to Management (13 page)

As is darshan, so is guna; as is guna so is varna; as is varna, so is bhaav; as is bhaav, so is svaha; as is svaha, so is tathastu. In other words, as is belief, so is behaviour, so is business. This is Business Sutra, a very Indian approach to management.

• We shall begin by exploring how imagination transforms every human into Brahma, the creator of the yagna.
  
• In the following three chapters, we shall explore drishti, divya-drishti and darshan, which determine the quality of the yagna.
  
• In the final chapter, we shall explore the impact of the yagna on the yajaman.
  

Kama's Vision Statement

Drishti, observing objective reality

Divya-drishti, observing subjective reality

Darshan, observing the subject

Yama's Balance Sheet

Human hunger is unique

t all starts with hunger. Hunger distinguishes the living from the non-living. Jain scriptures identify beings that do not feed as nirjiva and those that feed as sajiva. It is hunger that makes plants grow, and animals seek pastures and prey. But human hunger is unique:

• Humans can visualize future hunger—tomorrow's hunger, next year's drought, and even next decade's recession, which fuels great anxiety.
  
• Humans can visualize food coming towards them despite the fact that every plant and every animal around them seeks out food.
  
• Humans can visualize consuming without getting consumed, even though every living organism in nature consumes as well as gets consumed.
  

This is because, according to mythologies of Indian origin, Kama, the god of desire, has raised his sugarcane bow and struck our five senses with his five flowery arrows. In neurobiological terms, it is because humans possess imagination. Animals get frightened when they see, smell or hear a predator; humans get frightened because they can always imagine a predator. Animals get excited when they see, smell or hear a prey; humans get excited because they can always imagine a prey.

Imagination allows humans to break free from the fetters of time and place; sitting in one place we can travel to the past and the future, we can travel to other lands, we can concoct memories, propel ourselves with fabricated hunger, make ourselves miserable by imposing expectations on ourselves.

The satisfaction of hunger constitutes happiness for most people while the failure to satisfy this hunger leads to frustration, rage and conflict.

Every investor, entrepreneur, employer, employee, regulator, auditor, vendor, customer and competitor is a victim of Kama. It is their insatiable hunger that makes them work, innovate, invest, employ, compete, marry, start a family and a business. If this hunger did not exist, if this imagination did not exist, yagna would not exist. It is the unique nature of human hunger that gives rise to culture.

Abhirup was born into a rich family and inherited huge wealth from both his father and his mother. He does not have to work a day in his life. He can live a life of absolute luxury. Yet, he is determined to start a business of his own. It is not about the money or power; it is something else. He cannot explain this drive. He expects support from his wife and his family and gets annoyed when they find his ambitions unnecessary, even silly. This is human hunger, very different from other hungers.