Solving Problems with the Knowledge of Bhagavad Gita
Problems serve a purpose and a worthy problem draws on our talents, moves us towards our
purpose and increases our skills. We face problems every day. The solutions to most problems
lie within our capabilities. The challenge is to tackle the right problems. By taking a structured
step-by-step approach to problem-solving, you develop skills which will enable you to tackle
problems you may come up against in your professional and personal life. Let us learn a
systematic approach to solve a problem with the knowledge of Bhagavad Gita.
Step 1 : Define what the real problem is.
Arjuna didn’t want to fight, though he was a great warrior. He was not afraid of the battle,
but he was afraid of fighting with his relatives - I do not foresee how any good can come from
killing my own kinsmen in this battle (1.31). Similarly we need to identify the real problem.
Step 2 : Take a bird’s eye view of your problem, neither you nor your problem is
permanent.
Study the problem first, stratify it. What is the impact of this problem in long term. The
problem is not permanent, Sri Krishna stated -these are non-permanent, and come and go
like the winter and summer seasons (2.14)
Step 3 : Trust in GOD and Believe in yourself
Have faith in your capability, you will be able to solve the problem with the grace of God.
The person who lacks faith in God and the one who is full of doubts in his own self will face a
downfall (4.40)
Step 4 : Attain Knowledge and chose the best available option.
In order to solve the problem, you need to learn different techniques, acquire skills. As
Knowledge is light and ignorance is darkness (5.16)
Step 5 : Do your work and do not think about the result !
Once you have acquired the requisite knowledge and developed the means to solve the
problem; you have to implement that. Do remember – You have a right to perform your
prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself
to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction.(2.47)
In Swami Vivekananda’s words “ One of the greatest lessons I have learnt in my life is to pay
as much attention to the means of work as to its end. We forget that it is the cause that
produces the effect; the effect cannot come by itself; and unless the causes are exact, proper,
and powerful, the effect will not be produced. The means are the cause: attention to the
means, therefore, is the great secret of life. We also read this in the Gita and learn that we
have to work, constantly work with all our power; to put our whole mind in the work,
whatever it be, that we are doing. At the same time, we must not be attached. That is to say,
we must not be drawn away from the work by anything else; still, we must be able to quit the
work whenever we like.”
Finally, we must remember
Whatever actions great persons perform, common people follow. Whatever standards they set,
all the world pursues (3.21)
We, the managers are supposed to set the standards to do our work systematically &
methodically and implement the system accordingly.
Mukul Biswas
GM - BE