Sita was forbidden by Ram to cross the Line, however, Sita chooses to take a call. She is not obliged to, yet she takes the responsibility upon herself. That proactivity transforms her into a karta, a doer, regardless of the fact that her decision did not serve her well. The hermit turns out to be the rakshasa-king, Ravan, who abducts her.
To build a business, we need decision-makers and decision-followers. He who takes decisions is the karta. He who follows decisions is called a karya-karta.
Despite being given the freedom to take decisions, Narad chooses to stay karya-karta, follow decisions rather than take them, as he is too afraid of the consequences. Garud, on the other hand, anticipates the needs of Vishnu, decides to enquire voluntarily and is thus a karta. Vishnu who allows Garud to be a karta is a yajaman.
Ram, well-versed in theory, is thus given practical lessons about being a yajaman: he will be asked to take life as well as give life. At times, he will be expected to be ruthless. At other times, he will be expected to be kind. In business, the yajaman has the power to give a person a livelihood, grant him a promotion, sideline him or even fire him. These decisions have a huge impact on the lives of the devatas who depend on the business.
John is asked to mentor a junior employee who has been rejected by the head of another department. This is even tougher as the junior employee is rude and lazy and impossible to work with. John struggles and finally succeeds in getting work done through the junior employee. John does not realize it but his boss is being a Vishwamitra mentoring a future king.
The size of the contribution does not matter To rescue Sita, Ram raises an army of animals and gets them to build a bridge across the sea to the island-kingdom of Lanka where Sita is being held captive by the rakshasa-king Ravan.
Suddenly, there appears amongst them a tiny squirrel carrying a pebble. This little creature also wants to contribute to the bridge-building exercise. The monkeys who see him laugh. One even shoves the squirrel aside considering him an over-enthusiastic nuisance. But when Ram glances at the squirrel, he is overwhelmed with gratitude. He thanks the tiny creature for his immense contribution. He brushes his fingers over the squirrel’s back to comfort him, giving rise to the stripes that can be seen even today, a sign of Ram’s acknowledgement of his contribution.
In terms of proportion, the squirrel’s contribution to the bridge is insignificant. But it is the squirrel’s 100 per cent. The squirrel is under no obligation to help Ram, but he does, proactively, responsibly, expecting nothing in return. Ram values the squirrel not for his percentage of contribution to the overall project but because he recognizes a yajaman. A squirrel today, can be a Ram tomorrow.
Proportions or matra play a key role in Indian philosophy. The scale of a problem has nothing to with the potential of the decision-maker. A kupa-manduka, or frog in a well, and a chakravarti, or emperor of the world, are no different from each other, except in terms of scale. Both their visions are limited by the frontier of the land they live in. In case of the frog, it is the wall of the well. In case of the king, it is the borders of his kingdom. Both can be, in their respective contexts, generous or prejudiced. To expand scale, both have to rise.
Whenever Mr. Lal goes to his factory, he makes sure he speaks to people at all levels, from workers to supervisors to managers to accountants to security people. He is not interested in finding out who did the job well or who did not. That, he feels, is the job of managers. He is only interested in identifying people in the factory who take proactive steps to solve a problem. He consciously seeks decision-makers, like the executive who prepared a report on waste management without being asked to, or the supervisor who voluntarily motivated his team to clean the toilets when the housekeeping staff went on strike. For Mr. Lal these ‘squirrels’ who take responsibility are talents to be nurtured.
ALL CALLS ARE SUBJECTIVE.
Everyone looks at the KARTA for a decision despite data being unreliable, the future being uncertain, and outcomes that are unpredictable. Not everyone can do it. He who is able to make decisions independently is the KARTA. He who allows others to do so is Yajaman.
ALL DECISIONS ARE CONTEXTUAL.
Laws by their very nature are arbitrary and depend on the context. What one community considers fair, another community may not consider to be fair. What is considered fair by one generation is not considered fair by the next. Rules always change in times of war and in times of peace, as they do in times of fortune and misfortune.
Thus NO DECISION is right or wrong. Decisions can be beneficial or harmful, in the short term or long term, to oneself or to others. Essentially, every decision has a consequence, no matter which rule is upheld and which one is ignored. This law of consequence is known as the KARMA.
NOT EVERYONE CAN HANDLE THE BURDEN OF UNCERTAINITY.
We can never know everything and we can never be sure. All information is incomplete, and all readings distorted by personal prejudice. And yet we have to take decisions all the time and hope the results favour us.
The notion of Karma is unique to Indian thought. No action exists in isolation. Every decision impacts the ecosystem. Karma is often mistaken for the adage, “As you sow, so shall you reap.” The assumption then is that if we sow good deeds, we will reap good rewards.
An arrow that has been released from the bow is a metaphor for a decision that cannot be withdrawn. It has consequences that a yajaman has to face. There is no escape. This is a heavy burden to bear.
THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM CONSEQUENCES.
DECISIONS are GOOD or BAD only in hindsight.
When strategies are made it is in the hope that they will minimise surprises. Huge amounts of time are taken to ensure the data and the analysis is right so that the results are predictable. As Organisations grow larger, the cost of mistakes is higher, and so much more time and energy is taken while taking decisions. And yet, despite all precautions, things can and do go wrong, often because assumptions are incorrect. A yajaman needs to take it in his stride.
A Yajaman needs to be defined not by the outcome, achievements, goal or performance, but by his ability to take decisions proactively and responsibly.
Decisions are often rationalised in hindsight.
At the time of action, our decisions is based on a set of assumptions. The assumptions may be wrong. Leaders have to constantly deal with uncertainty, give hope to the people even when nothing is clear. Decisions become good or bad in hindsight. We would like to believe that a decision is rational. More often than not, decisions are rationalised.
More often than not in business we take decisions based on how we interpret the situation, not being sure if the call is right or wrong, whether it will work or not. We have to take a call, and there is no escape from its consequences, which in hindsight may prove to be right or wrong. However, no decision maker ever makes a good or bad decision. The outcome is purely consequential. Strategies are woven around assumptions in the hope to minimise risks and surprises and Leaders have to constantly deal with the uncertainty, and at the same time give hope to the people even when everything is clouded under the shroud of uncertainty. Handling this burden of uncertainty is the biggest thrill.
Don’t think too much. You’ll create a problem that wasn’t even there in the first place.
You can achieve anything if you have the right attitude and enthusiasm.
Bypass the roadblock of regret and you will undoubtedly end up happier.
Instead of “moving on”, more often than required we tend to keep dwelling in the past. This stifles any self-improvement and keeps us in the cloud rather than be rooted in reality. Accept what has been and move on.
Capt. Shaji Kumar 