An Interface Between Bhagvad Gita and Work Life Balance: February 2016

See
discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304052382
An Interface between Bhagvad Gita and work life

balance
Article February 2016
CITATIONS READS
0 66
2 authors, including:
Ipseeta Satpathy
KIIT University
235 PUBLICATIONS 43 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE
Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:
Odisha Gramin Bank (OGB): A Game Changer for Rural Banking Scenario in Odisha View project
Research on Home loan Portfolio View project
All content following this page was uploaded by Ipseeta Satpathy on 18 June 2016.
The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

IJMSS Vol.04 Issue-02 (February, 2016) ISSN: 2321-1784
International Journal in Management and Social Science (Impact Factor- 5.276)
An Interface between Bhagvad Gita and work life balance
Mitu Agarwal
Research Scholar
School of Management,
KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha
&
Dr. Ipseeta Satpathy, D.Litt.
Professor, School of Management
KIIT University, Bhubaneswar; Odisha
Abstract
The justice of universe says that all components should be in consonance of the law of universe. Any
imbalance in even one of the component can cause imbalance to the universe. Universe is full of
activities, movements, change and therefore transformation and so is organization. Organization is
everywhere, right from the smallest particle atom to the solar system. And so is a family which may be
considered as a first organization of human beings. The dynamics of family are changing, from sole male
bread winner families to dual earner families where husband and wife both are working.Just like an atom
is not a chaos as there is a balance maintained by the constituents of the atom, the electrons getting
conditioned and ruled by a central nucleus, and the solar system working beautifully by the power of the
Sun who organizes the system similarly individuals are also governed by power of organizing their lives in
a more harmonious manner. Individuals have the capacity to think consistently, logically, and in an
organized manner and so creating a balance between their married life and professional life. By keeping
beside the distraction, egoism, individualization and differences, man and woman can together have a
balance between work and life.
Key words: Bhagavad-Gita, Balance, Work life balance, Married couples.
A Monthly Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International e-Journal - Included in the International Serial Directories
International Journal in Management and Social Science
http://www.ijmr.net.in email id- irjmss@gmail.com Page 563
An Interface between Bhagvad Gita and work life balance
Management is art as well as science. And in the modern era, management is an all pervasive
function,either home, organizations, schools, Ngos or any other establishment. Management is done
through group of human beings assembled together to achieve a common purpose or a common goal.
Management is about balance of all the functions like finance, engineering, human resource, production,
marketing etc. departments in the organization. Here balance does not mean that each function has
equal contribution towards an organization. Balance, here means that, each function does its own work
with utmost grit and passion as required or demanded by the management.
Balance does not every time mean equality. Balance means proper prioritizing between two or more acts
or people or needs. And so work life balance is about proper prioritizing between the work that gives
monetary benefits and the work that is for society benefits. Balance is an age old concept or to say it is all
pervasive and inevitable part of nature. Nature has uncannily balanced the cycles in it. To begin with day
and nights are balanced and not equal in amount and so are our seasons. If summers have, longer days
and shorter nights than winters have longer nights and shorter days. When mother earth is burning
because of scorching sun, than there are rains following to cool down and satiate mother earth with pure
water.
Learning from Bhagavad-Gita

Bhagavad-Gita is delivered on the field of war in the context of Mahabharata. And the intention of
Bhagavad-Gita is not to be read as a story but a handbook for the salvation of soul of humans, solving
their inner conflicts and letting go ego which sometimes lead to hampered relationship with near and
dear ones, stress during work and misbalancing of work and life.Bhagavad-Gita is a scripture of yoga
which means that the teachings of Bhagavad-Gita can be practiced when one finds oneself at a conflict
situation in ones life. Mahabharata is a story of war, or to say, conflicts of emotions arising because of
relatives, friends and course of life and Bhagavad-Gita has helped overcome this conflict by practice of
yoga and balancing of purposes (priorities) in life and thus is also helpful in attaining work life balance.
As human beings, everyone has an externalurge towards action, societal relationship and contacts of
various kinds, and at the same time they also have a dominantimpulse to maintain our integrity and
status. The societal status is gained through the paid work that one does and the internal status and
integrity is earned through our leisure activities, friends and relatives. But due to present complexities,
challenges in personal and work life, individuals are unable to balance between work and life. And so to
balance work and life the internal independence and status of an individual should be harmonised with
the external world.In our pursuit to balance our life, we are also compelled to perform well at our work
front so that there is balanced relationship.
According to Indian philosophy, especially the Vedanta, the original substance of all types of creation is
Prakriti. Prakriti is classified into three gunas known as sattava, rajas and tamas. For the harmony and
sound health of the body it is important that all three gunas are aligned, because an imbalance can make
human being sick physically or psychologically. Hence there is a necessity to have an inner balance
between the personalities which would also be also seen external health. But inward peace will only be
attained when our external relationships are balanced. A balance between individual and his external
elements like nature (fire, earth, water, air and ether), climatic conditions, relationship with other
individuals, work and many other such things which constitutes the external environment of individual.
Bhagavad-Gita says that life is always a battle, where there is a constant battle between cosmic energy
and individual energy. Life is a fight from birth to death. It is a course of tackling something or the other
every day, anobligation that we undergo every moment of time to resolve a situation that may have
arisen in front of us. The moment an individual wakes up in the morning, he or she is face to face with
many realities that have the potential to cause imbalance in our lives. A higher level of Sattava guna the
balancing guna of an individual- ensures that we are balanced in an inner level as well as outer level to
the extent that we are delighted, joyful and happy. On the other hand a higher level of Tamas guna leads
to upsetting of individual with the outer world. And this may lead to absence of joy, grief and sorrow. The
third guna, Tamas means indifference. It means resistance to action which gives many evil effects like
death, destruction and loss. In the first verse of the Bhagavad-Gita we come across two important words,
Dharmakshetra and Kurukshetra. Dharmakshetra is derived from the word dharma which means justice
and the law of nature which abides all human beings. Kurukshetra, literally means war field. But in this
context it means our day to day conflict with work, attitudes of people, perceptions and society
pressures. Bhagavad-Gita teaches us the ways to balance; samatva-equanimity i.e. putting things in order
and reaching ; between Dharamakshetra and Kurukshetra so that we neither become busy-bodies who
have lost their souls nor we are like hibernating frogs deep in our individualities and disconnected from
the outer world.There is struggle everywhere, in everything, at all times, a struggle, to maintain a
balance. This entirestruggle is an attempt towards the maintenance of equilibrium in any field of life, in
any plane of existence. For example, when there is a lack of balance in any part of our body then anxiety
creeps in our body. Even a single incoherent element is sufficient to disturb the entire balance, just as an
ear-ache is enough to make us grieve the whole day. Similarly imbalance in any part of human society,
leads to anxiousness. And to curb this anxiousness, we have various kinds of law government laws, state
laws, society laws etc.Just like we are unhappy if evena little thorn pricks the sole of our foot, similarly
small intractable element in society, which disturbs the peace of the mind of people has the power to
create disharmony and so we are obliged to be conscious of its existence and are also compelled to see
what means can be adopted in setting right the situation. The aim is that there should not be any instance
for misbalance even in the least manner, and so the whole of yoga is anall-inclusive approach to the
situation of cosmic conflict which sympathetically reflects itself in every individual, also.
Traditionally, the work was divided between man and woman based on the convenience and work
complexity. Man of the house was always the bread earner for the house. And woman took care of
household activities like taking care of children, elders, cooking etc. But with changing dynamics, the
working scenario of the households is changing. With the increase in education and professionalism in
women, the income and living standards of individuals also improved. Now every married couple wants a
better standard of living and quality education for their children. And so husband and wife are working
for a double income and to give better facilities to their dependent. But this change has also brought with
it certain set of problems. Now that women have also started earning, also she is burdened with more
responsibilities. She has to go out to earn and she also has to take care of the family members and do
household chores.
The Bhagavadgita says that just like Arjuna individuals are faced with warring situations everyday and our
activities are ourefforts to face the battle. The work that individuals do in office, the labour that is put
forth in a factory, or any other work that women do at homes or in any walk of life, is the effort
individuals put forth to resolve a conflict and solve a situation. Man and woman have to tactfully do their
work, without thinking about their results, in order to maintain a balance between their work and life.
There are various strategies, derived from the Vedas and Gita that can be adopted by both man and
woman to have a balanced life.
(i) Focusing on work regardless of result
Bhagavad-Gita has always advocated that we should focus on our work and do work with
complete honesty regardless of result. And when couples work with utmost honesty and are
productive for the organization then they get support from the organization to balance their
family life, working hours and family friendly parties etc.
(ii) Work is God
We are always taught that work is worship. And so we should always value our work. When we
derive meaning from work, we enjoy our work and feel a sense of purpose which propels our life
in correct decision.
(iii) Valuing family and partnership
Married and working couples should view everything at large and strive for a larger purpose. The
purpose is to give quality life to their family members. But in the run for making more money
couples should not forget to value their family. Husband and wife should support each other in
both family and career life. And especially husband should take pride in their partners who
support them financially, emotionally and physically.
(iv) Simple living and prioritizing family
For couples it is important that they should give priority to family first and try to spend more and
more time with family. Simple living means spending less time watching TV or on internet and
parties and trying to play family fun games for a more engaging family. Controlling unnecessary
expenditures can help couples to save money and give quality education to children.
(v) Valuing time
Time is an important element which can never be gained back. And married couples should focus
on spending more and more quality time together. In this fast paced life, husband and wife get
very less time to spend with each other and their children. So couples should make strategies to
make optimum utilisation of their time.
(vi) Making proactive decisions
In order to make important decisions about their finances and life couple should spend time
together and so should make proactive decisions. Decision making for couples should be a joint
effort rather than one influencing the other.
Conclusion
There has been a boom in dual earner families or working couples in the present business environment.
The families are shifting from male breadwinner to working couples or parents which denote that there
has also an increase in mothers with children under the age 18 years of age. This significant shift of
demography is of two reasons. Firstly, the economic changes and desire for better life requires for
double income for economic feasibility and viability. Secondly, there is also an intimate desire of women
to have more satisfying and fulfilling family life as well as professional life. With the upsurge in dual career
couples, the complexity in career progressions and maintaining work and life balance has increased. As
the career choices and decisions of a spouse have a direct influence on the career decisions of the
partner. In such scenario, the working couples have to face many challenges and struggles every day. The
whole of life is an arena of such a difference. If we read the Ramayana of Valmiki or if we read the
Mahabharata, we shall find that we are thrown in the situation of conflict unwittingly. But these ancient
scriptures also give us wisdom to handle an imbalance in a calmer way. Bhagavad-Gita and other
scriptures are made available to human beings as these are the individuals in who is planted a light of
reason and a flash of insight. And so theses ancient scriptures also help couples to balance between work
life and family life through very simple and fruitful strategies which we tend to forget at times .
References
1. Bhagavad-Gita by Mahatma Gandhi
2. Stephen K. Hacker Toni L. Doolen, (2003),"Strategies for living: moving from the balance
paradigm", Career Development,International, Vol. 8 Iss 6 pp. 283 290
3. Haddock, Shelley A;Ziemba, Scott J;Toni Schindler Zimmerman;Current, Lisa R, Ten adaptive
strategies for family and work balance: Advice from successful families, Journalof Marital and
Family Therapy; Oct 2001; 27, 4; ProQuest Health & Medical Complete, pg. 445
View publication stats

An Interface Between Bhagvad Gita and Work Life Balance: February 2016

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

An Interface Between Bhagvad Gita and Work Life Balance: February 2016

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

An Interface Between Bhagvad Gita and Work Life Balance: February 2016

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

See

An Interface between Bhagvad Gita and work life

Article February 2016

Research on Home loan Portfolio View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Key words: Bhagavad-Gita, Balance, Work life balance, Married couples.

Learning from Bhagavad-Gita

View publication stats

You might also like