Towards an Integral Knowledge System: Breaking the Shell of Materialistic Lens

हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण सत्यस्य-अपिहितं मुखम् ।
तत् त्वम् पूषन् ! अपावृणु, सत्य-धर्माय दृष्टये ॥  

O Nourisher! To give us the Satya-dharma dRShTi - the perception of the Truth and the Right, uncover the golden lid obstructing our view of Truth.

The Golden Lid of Materialism

No matter how hard one peers at a mirror, one can see only oneself but not the objects behind the mirror. That is the predicament faced by the prevailing materialistic approach to knowledge that has captured the imagination of Humanity. Encouraged by the enormous power that study of Matter and Energy in their own terms have yielded, Humanity has almost brushed aside its own diverse strands of civilizational knowledge accrued over millennia. Now, everything must fit the methods and conclusions of the Materialistic Knowledge System (MKS) to be accepted as Truth.

The fundamental tenet of the prevailing method of knowledge generation and validation is to only rely on what is observable from the material senses and their extensions, or extrapolatable with logic. Our knowledge is limited by its instruments. If instruments are material, knowledge cannot go beyond material. Naturally, such an approach that we call MKS will try to explain non-material phenomena also in terms of Matter (e.g., Neuroscience). This is Humanity's proverbial Golden Lid (hiraNmayam paatram) that limits the Truth (satyam) it can perceive.

Humanity Needs a New Knowledge System

Humanity is reaching saturation in what's possible to know and do with material knowledge. Sure, its knowledge can grow at its own pace linearly, but a quantum jump in knowledge and power requires new enhanced instruments of knowledge.

India as well as several ancient civilizations have discovered much more potent instruments of knowledge beyond material. Using them, they have acquired a sophisticated understanding of the Truth of ourselves and the Universe along dimensions not adequately covered by MKS. Their findings provide insights into the material world also, but from a standpoint very different from MKS. However, humanity's recent obsessive preoccupation with MKS to the exclusion of other knowledge systems is hindering  its own pace of onward march of progress in knowledge and power.

The time has come to evolve a new Integral Knowledge System (IKS) that harnesses the comprehensive perspectives of ancient approaches and the particularities unearthed by MKS into a federated, inclusive and universal method of knowledge discovery for all humanity. Such a system can form the basis of future education worldwide.

This requires defining a new overarching framework of knowledge that can accommodate the findings of diverse civilizations and reconcile their apparent conflicts without rejecting them outright as MKS does today.

The Role of Bharat

Bharat is unique among World's civilizations in organising its knowledge into a rigorous knowledge system. It offers comprehensive models of reality that have the expressive power to accommodate the findings of diverse civilizational experiences with a unified terminology. However, it has been inwardly focussed so far, and not examined for its universal applicability.

We firmly believe that Bharat's knowledge system (BKS) can offer the basis for a universal framework of Integral Knowledge System (IKS). Demonstrating it requires using Bharat's ontology and epistemology to develop supermodels in various disciplines studied today that can subsume existing models and also give new insights and solutions beyond state of the art.

For instance, we need new theories in humanities disciplines such as Psychology, Social Sciences, Management, Governance etc. that can accommodate diverse cultural experiences, not just European.

We need a new comprehensive model of human wellness that seamlessly integrates Ayurveda's holistic framework with the detailed material understanding of human body of modern medical science as well as numerous locale-specific indigenous insights into health across world cultures.

We need to develop a whole new Science of Conscious Energy integrating the best understanding of Bharat's Praana vidya with Chinese Chi and analogous concepts from around the world. We need to evolve systematic methods to observe, measure, harness and transform conscious energy and explore its interaction with matter.

We need to evolve a holistic theory of cognition and systematic training techniques to awaken and hone human instruments of knowledge for reliable discovery of Truth. Again, different world cultures have evolved unique methods to enhance human potential - logic, sensory and motor skills. Examples include marma vidya, martial arts across the world. Many of them have to be brought back into formal education.

Call for Action

A civilizational reboot is needed at humanity scale, and Bharat is uniquely positioned to take the lead. Because of humanity's obsession for knowledge, academics is the most effective modern way to usher change at large scale. A solid base to bootstrap this work is a sincere academic institution whose first job is to nurture thought leadership to develop coherent systematized knowledge via models along the lines stated above. Such models need to be disseminated through formal education ecosystem on the one hand, and deployed in the society to create pull through demonstrated benefit.

We need a Global University for Integral Knowledge that can source the entire Globe for knowledge and systematize it for Global consumption, customized for regional sensibilities.

Problems with Indian Knowledge Systems Education Today

Modern India is too introverted, ignorant and self-doubting of its own capabilities in this regard. This is the primary reason for its defensive or self-deprecatory posture. An enormous preoccupation with showing that it was great in the past is a symptom of this malady. Majority of the focus of BKS material is mainly to show historical greatness, not relevance for the future beyond what MKS can offer. Indian knowledge as it was articulated in our literature is not directly applicable without reinterpretation today due to changed context. Talent is required that has shraddha and jnaana in past knowledge, understands dispassionately the strengths and weaknesses of MKS and recontextualizes BKS without losing fidelity. Unfortunately, those who know both MKS and BKS are extremely rare. The majority are knowledgeable in only one, cheerleaders for the other, have respect but not the academic training in systematization.

There is a lot of curiosity and respect for traditional knowledge in the society and also gullibility. While the market is always a mixed bag, there should be a small cohort of able people who must be isolated and nurtured by the ecosystem beyond the noise of the crowd. Such a cohort can bring the necessary transformation.

Conclusion and Recommendations

India is the only country that can take the lead in developing an Integral Knowledge System (IKS) as a foundation of future holistic education of Humanity. Such a system is federated, inclusive and comprehensive.

Ushering IKS requires new shaastra development with bharatiya tattva at its core and accommodating diverse world practices as different expressions. This should culminate in a Global University that shows the way for other academic institutions to adopt later.

Can Animals Commit Suicide?

Animals are incapable of committing suicide. Evolutionarily, they are two steps away from that.

First is the ability for self-observation. The ability to become aware that you are experiencing something. Feeling pain is different from being aware that you are experiencing pain. Animals are incapable of the latter. Only human is.

Second is the ability to alter how you respond to an external stimulus. The will to change the experience.

To commit suicide, you have to know that you are suffering and will that you end the suffering. First is the notion of aham or self as distinct from impulse-response mapping logic called the buddhi. Second is the manas that can intervene between the impulse and response1, and pick another response2. The praana is the executor of the response but doesn't determine it. The mapping logic is hardwired in an animal, sort of like an ASIC or FPGA.

According to Sri Aurobindo, animals are directly driven by an infallible super-intelligence but aren't aware of it. Humans have an awakened self-aware intelligence called buddhi, that is still groping in the dark. That's why humans bungle up so much whereas animals don't.

Corporate Challenges: A Vedic Psychological Analysis

In this article, we consider several issues being faced in the corporate world today, and how Vedic psychological analysis helps in understanding and remedying them.

1. CEOs considering the organizations as purely Cash Cows and not "treating" their employees as people but treating them as disposable resources. 

The normal tendency of every individual is self-aggrandisement at the expense of others. That is the praanamaya kosha in action. However, there is greater joy and fulfillment in enabling others' success. This is the manomaya aananda i.e. communal self seeking satisfaction. The way to arouse it is to kindle organisational consciousness by showing a taste of its joy.

Feeling for others gets kindled through group activities where there is no scope for competition. Examples are team games, seva and community services involving the entire team's collaboration.
Once the joy of working with others is tasted, one no longer treats others as obstruction to one's own growth and expansion. One can no longer crush others to rise. Once aroused, the manomaya kosha dominates praanamaya kosha. An organisation should focus on kindling such a consciousness among its employees and leadership during induction and periodically. Manomaya kosha is what causes one to consider a family member's joy or sorrow as one's own.

2. Employees not having any sort of "loyalty" or "attachment" to the organization but treating it as a means to make only "livelihood" and not a "life".

The loyalty and attachment exists naturally for one's family members. The feeling of organisation as one's own family is organizational consciousness.

3. No respect to the harm being caused by the products and services to the environment around, only focus on making profits.

One becomes sensitive to what one experiences directly physically. If people are to become environmentally sensitive, they need to be exposed to Nature both in its pristine and abused forms.
They should experience joy and love for Nature as well as abhorrence for harm caused to Nature, first-hand. Their affinity to Nature needs to be kindled and the associated joy of nature-friendly living experienced. Psychologically, their vijnanamaya kosha needs to experience the joy of dharma.
Then it will naturally override their praanamaya urge of egoistic dominance, which is the root cause of exploitation of environment.

4. Increasing "inter-personal" issues in offices due to increased stress.

Stress arises when there is no joy in work. The worst scenario is when people are compelled to work for survival, and the work environment is poking at their ego constantly - either via criticism, lack of trust, no opportunity to showcase unique talent and excel etc.

The corporate strategy to improve productivity by setting high goals, making people compete, performance reviews pointing out why a person is not up to the mark etc - are all very toxic to individual wellbeing as they expose one's praanamaya kosha to constant duhkha/grief. When success is defined as outperforming coworkers, then one is forced to treat coworkers as enemies. This can only lead to interpersonal issues.

Joy is the best motivator for excellence. Each kosha seeks its own type of joy - money, power and dominance, love and belonging, intellectual satisfaction, and larger good or dharma - in increasing order of intensity.

The job of a supervisor is to detect what his team members seek in each of the above dimensions of joy and facilitate them by providing a conducive ambience.

5. Leaders resorting to unethical means which is wiping out organizations (ENRON, Satyam, etc).

Ethics are cherished universal values based on humanity's innate intuitive sense of oneness as the underlying truth of all existence. Though many cultures and religions may express it differently,  there is a common joy that everyone experiences when observing ethical behaviour. Vedic wisdom identifies it as dharma and the aspect of our self that resonates with dharma is the vijnanamaya kosha.

Though all human beings have this kosha, its urge is drowned out by the clamor of lower koshas for satisfaction, especially the praanamaya kosha.

It is naive to expect someone to behave ethically unless he/she strongly experiences the joy and pride of being ethical enough to override the joy of self-assertion. When leaders behave unethically, their vijnanamaya kosha is not strong enough. The best way to arouse it is via exposure to inspiring examples, giving opportunity for seva, and showing the harm caused to others by unethical behavior. People should be made to feel abhorrence towards unethical behavior by exposing them to the ugliness it causes.

In summary, joy is the ultimate reliable motive for behavioral transformation. Once we recognize the sources of joy, we can open up avenues for its flow and remove its obstructions, so as to naturally change situations for the better.

Bharatiya Drishti: What, Why and How

Bharatiya drishti is a perspective of any subject based on Vedic wisdom at the core of bharatiya samskriti. It is not the same as bharatiya vijnanam or knowledge as enunciated in its literature coming from millennia. Drishti refers to the thought process that gave rise to bharatiya vijnanam, the rationale behind its shaastras.

The context for which various bharatiya customs, practices and shaastras were devised is not the same as the modern context. A lot has changed in our environment, living conditions, resources, lifestyle and attitudes than what our shaastras assume. Hence, their recommendations are nearly impossible to follow literally by a majority of today's society. 

Does it mean that the wisdom contained in them is obsolete? No. Because shaastric prescriptions are based on a deep and comprehensive tattvic understanding of Nature and ourselves, but applied to a different context. If we can unearth that thought process or drishti, then we can apply the wisdom and derive new prescriptions for a different context.

Changed Context

Today, our water comes from underground and pipes, not from Sun-exposed water bodies. We live in apartments, not on the ground. Our employment timings are not conducive to recommended dinacharya of ayurveda. Our professions are not inline with our prakriti but driven by economic survival considerations. Our marriages and married life are not inline with shaastra. Our society isn't conducive to executing pancha maha yajnas daily. Our food is pesticide-laden and not fresh. We have a predominantly sedentary lifestyle. We are surrounded with technology unavailable before. Our communication is predominantly remote. 

We need to reexamine the applicability of ancient knowledge in such a drastically changed context. Going back to the old context is not an option.

When we say reviving bharatiya knowledge, it must really mean reviving the drishti, so the shaastras can be remade for the current context. BKS education must focus on extracting and inculcating the bharatiya drishti.  

Target Audience

Bharatiya drishti is needed not just for Bharatiyas, but the entire humanity. This is because it offers a novel approach to addressing situations and solving problems that the entire humanity is facing regardless of locale. It is especially relevant in disciplines of humanities which involve understanding human nature and its relation to Universal Nature. Humanity needs Ayurveda drishti to handle wellness, Jyotisha drishti to address behavioral patterns, Arthashastra drishti to handle the world's governance issues etc.

Recovering Bharatiya Drishti

How to extract the author's drishti from the grantha? By pondering on  the why behind a grantha's prescriptions, and how they are connected to the root bharatiya tattva. Only when we get back to the tattva can we recontextualize a shaastra.

A practical way to achieve this is to examine the prayojana / purpose of a shaastra and the taattvic roots on which it stands. Modern pedagogy of bharatiya vidyas must adopt this approach without contradicting their conclusions but interpreting them in their native context. 

Fundamental vs. Derived Concepts

Naturally, a majority of the discussion in our puranas and itihasas is on applied Vedic knowledge. We need to distinguish between fundamental and derived concepts. Fundamental concepts are a few, but give the rationale for a lot of derived concepts. Our literature is full of derived concepts, but don't often mention the core fundamentals behind them.

For instance, ethics is a derived concept. Oneness, joy and beauty are its fundamentals. A majority of what is said in the Bhagavad Gita is derived concepts. Saama, daana, bheda, danda are derived concepts. Many of the leadership and political insights in the Mahabharata are derived.

The need of the hour is to get back to the few fundamental concepts from which a myriad concepts appropriate for today's context can be derived, not just regurgitate what has been said in our literature as is. That is what we mean by Bharatiya Drishti as opposed to Bharatiya Vijnanam. Only then can we contribute to the world.

This foundational first-principles thinking is integral to bharatiya shaastras. Every shaastra starts with srishTi krama, which is its perspective of how the one derives many.

Emotional Sponge: What it is, Why its need is felt and How to become one

We all have feelings that we would like to express without fear of being criticized. But there are some feelings that are not considered GOOD but we still go through them. Expressing them makes us feel lighter.

For example, suppose I feel angry at someone. I want to say I am angry. But the moment I say it, I am given a lecture on why I shouldn't be angry etc. Suppose there is someone with whom we can express anything, good or bad, and the other person will not only hear us, but empathize with our viewpoint and gently suggest other ways of looking at it without showing that I am a moron? Such a person is my emotional sponge. It is not a piece of wood or someone who says 'you're right' all the time. Such a person is not fun. Someone who values my feelings and not hurt my ego, but gently nudges me to progress. So an emotional sponge is someone who takes my emotional punches, helps me dissipate my emotional energy without hurting me.

Why do I need such a sponge? Because I am unable to detach from my feelings and observe them as a saakshi, not identifying myself with them. That's why I am compelled to express them to dissipate their energy. But I don't want to incur the negative consequences of expressing them as they are unpleasant. That's why I look for an external help to serve as my sponge.

A better way is to learn to observe my feelings as if they are just waves in a sea. Then they won't affect me and dissipate by themselves. I don't need an external sponge then.

How to become an emotional sponge for someone? By learning how to become an empathetic witness without judging people according to my standards. You cannot be a passive witness. You have to love the person to be his/her sponge. Otherwise it's a sham and won't work. Many people love their own opinions more than others. They cannot stop judging others and hence cannot be effective sponges. Emotion means anubhuuti or experience and is the realm of manas. The other aspect of ourselves is buddhi - intellect or our judgement faculty.

Though men and women both have these aspects, women have a stronger intensity of emotional experience than intellectual judgement. That is their preference, not ability. Hence women naturally feel more the need for a sponge than men. Men are preoccupied in their buddhi more than manas by their psychological makeup. For the same reason, men are less effective as sponges, as they jump into judgement easily and give solutions, which is not the right thing to do for a sponge. But once a person matures in the ability of detached observation he/she can serve as a good emotional sponge.

The need for an emotional sponge is acutely felt by teenagers due to their overflowing energy and inability to handle it by themselves. The best sponge for them is an understanding parent, and not an external counsellor. Otherwise they will fall prey to anyone that exhibits care, and lures them into infatuation.

Kashmir Shaivism: The Super-theory of Consciousness

 

The Shaiva siddhanta pioneered in Kashmir and elaborated by Acharya Abhinavagupta can be considered the super-theory that encompasses all Bharatiya darshanas. Its technical name is trika-siddhanta. Its uniqueness and beauty lies in providing a comprehensive framework with an all-encompassing taxonomy to explain the nature of the universe from consciousness to matter in one sweep. It also can explain the myriad perspectives of other darshanas as partial grades of realization of the one Truth. It covers in decreasing grades of awareness - saiva, shaakta, vyaakarana, shankaraadvaita, vishishtaadvaita, paancharaatra/vaishnava, saankhya, nyaaya, jaina, bouddha, christian, islamic, charvaka and modern materialistic perspectives.

The perspective of trika-siddhanta is called Parama-advaita, distinct from other flavors of advaita out there. It interestingly matches with what Sri Aurobindo propounded, though he never talked about trika in his works.

If you'd like a systematic explanation of this theory from the original, there is an excellent online video course by Dr. Ramachandra Sekhar Ketu mahodaya in English at bharatiyavijnan.org.

The sum total of trika-siddhanta is summarized beautifully in the following sutra

स चैको द्विरूपस्त्रिमयश्चतुरात्मा सप्तपञ्चकस्वभावः ॥

सः च-एकः द्विरूपः-त्रिमयः-चतुरात्मा सप्त-पञ्चक-स्वभावः ॥

It is one, and yet it is two; it consists of three, has a quadruple being, and is seven, five, and seven times five in its nature. There is only one that is chit, pure awareness. That is parasiva.

It appears in two forms, the observing awareness and the observed universe - purusha and prakriti. The key is, the substance of both is the same, namely, chit. The words used to describe these forms are prakaasha / awareness and sankocha / contraction. Hence the universe is a contraction or self-limitation of chit.  

An apt analogy is icebergs floating in the ocean. A iceberg is condensed form of the material of the ocean. Similarly, everything in the Universe is chit solidified.

Trimaya: The Three Powers of Consciousness

Chit further subdivides into three i.e. three types of self-limitation of the original power of chit called the three malas / impurities - aaNava, maayiiya, kaarma. The powers of chit are chit, aananda / delight, icchaa / will, jnaana / knowhow, kriya / energy. The three malas are the contractions of the three shaktis.

AaNava mala is self-limitation of the icchaa shakti or infinite will to become a limited form or identity with limited icchaa/will. This causes the limited ego or ahamkaara.

Maayiya mala is the self-limitation of the infinite awareness jnaana shakti to constrict its awareness to a limited field and separating itself from the rest of Itself. Such a limited awareness is what we call the buddhi or intellect.

Kaarma mala is self-limitation of omnipotent power or kriyaa shakti to a contracted power leaving behind its omnipotence. Such a limited power of experience and action or sankalpa shakti is what we call the manas.

Aanava mala makes us feel incomplete, maayiya mala makes us feel ignorant, and kaarma mala makes us feel incapable. These limitations of the chit's infinite icchaa, jnaana and kriyaa shaktis are the basis for the play of multiplicity in the Universe.

Chaturaatma: The Four Building Blocks of Universal Substance

While the building blocks of all functions animating the universe are three - icchaa / will, jnaana / knowhow and kriya / energy, what is the substance the universe and its objects are made of? These are four: shuunya, praana, puryashtaka and shariira.

The first ingredient is Shuunya or void, the pure passive silent witness self that is the substrate underlying everything in the Universe. The second ingredient is praana or animating life force that brings dynamism and change. The third ingredient is the eightfold scaffolding (purii-ashtaka) material from which all substance is built. These eight are - ahamkaara / ego or separative identity, buddhi / intellect or perceiving agent, manas / experiencing and acting agent, and finally the five tanmaatras or building blocks of the panchabhuutas or five primal elements.

The tanmaatras are 1) shabda / vibration or flux or continuous variation in density,
2) sparsha or persistence  in the variation causing resistance 3) rUpa or form which is a persistent pattern of density, 4) rasa or affinity/attraction between forms to coagulate into collections, and 5) gandha or persistent behaviors also called properties that characterize the enduring nature of forms.

Sapta-pramaatas: The Seven Grades of Perception

Trika siddhanta explains how the infinite consciousness called chit or parasiva contracts or condenses into the Universe as we know it in seven steps of descent of awareness, called the sapta-pramaatr-bhuumikas. To help make this explanation more relatable, I will use a running example of a human trying to enact becoming a log of wood. The point is that he is pretending to behave like a log voluntarily. Pramaata means perceiver. Sapta-pramaatr-bhumikaa means seven realms or grades of perceivers. 

The first and highest level is called Siva where one sees only himself as pure awareness or chit. BTW, chit is an untranslatable word. Awareness or consciousness is only one aspect of its meaning. In the Siva pramaataa bhumikaa, the only experience is aham-taa or I-ness. There is no perception of a second thing, eventhough they exist. In our running example, the perception is I as a human being, not at all as a log that I pretend to be.

The second level of perception is the icchaa or will of myself / aham to manifest the universe - this / idam. This is still a step away from conceptualizing what to manifest. In this stage, there is a predominance of aham-taa I-ness with a tinge of idam-taa or this-ness. This is called mantra-maheshvara state, and the tattva is sadaasiva. In our running example, I experience myself as a human being with a stirring of the urge to enact log-ness.

The third level of perception called mantreshvara is when I see myself as both the perceiver - aham and the universe-ness - idam as a concept. In the running example, I see myself as a human being with a simultaneous experience of log-ness. The universe is a reflection of myself in a particular conceptual form. The log is a stiffened form of myself, the fully independent form-maker. This is the realization of shabda brahman of vyakarana darshana. This is the aham-idam state i.e., I am this.

The fourth level of perception called mantra is awareness of the universe as an interplay of primal building block concepts/entities combining into objects. These entities are mantras. In our running example, I conceptualize log-ness as comprised of rigidity, straightness and other properties of a log.

Each mantra is a perception of the one truth from a different standpoint or aspect. It is aware of itself as a part of the one truth.

The fifth level of perception called the vijnaanaakala is one step below the mantra level wherein the oneness with truth is absent, and the entity considers itself as separate from others. Its awareness of others is complete but identity with others is missing. In our running example, I identify myself as a log concept but am aware of other possibilities.

The sixth level of perception called pralayaakala is where I am a separate concept waiting to manifest at an opportune condition, and unaware of other possibilities.

Finally, the seventh level of perception is a manifest isolated concept in all its ignorance and isolation from the Truth, which is Universe and ourselves as we perceive normally. In the running example, I truly believe that I am a log and not a human acting like a log.

Pancha-kanchukas - The Five Armors that Perpetrate Multiplicity

In order for the Unitary chit to manifest multiplicity, it has to limit its power to act in multiple compartments that remain separate. This compartmentalization happens along five dimensions called pancha-kanchukas or five armors. 

The infinite kriyaa shakti which is all-capable, sarva-kartrutva, becomes limited in capability, called kalaa. The infinite jnaana shakti which is all-knowing, sarvajna, becomes limited in knowledge, called vidyaa. The self-complete icchaa shakti which is all-encompassing will, restricts itself to a limited craving or raaga for things it considers outside its grasp. As a side-effect, it creates two more limitations of itself in time and space - kaala and niyati. These are contracted forms of timelessness and all-pervasion. These cause chit to restrict itself to a point in time and space.

The 35 tattvas

Finally, chit manifests as the 35 tattvas that saankhya talks about as the building blocks of the manifest universe.

Organization as a Living Organism: A Vedic-inspired Model of Organizational Behavior

Modeling Organizational Behavior

The purpose of a model is to explain, predict and control the behavior of a system. In the case of an organization, its model should help answer questions such as the following:
1. Will this organization grow?
2. What are the hurdles for its growth?
3. Is the organization healthy i.e., does it have the resilience to survive and rejuvenate itself?
4. Can this organization handle an upcoming challenge posed by its environment - competition, industry, nation, ecosystem etc.?
5. What change is needed to rectify problems?
6. Is this organization relevant anymore?

Defining Life

What is the sign of life? According to Vedic wisdom, an entity that is living has a sense of self-identity (aatma jnaana), a will to preserve it and expand its power and influence over its environment (icchaa shakti), and the ability to voluntarily change its environment (kriyaa shakti).

The underlying motive for life is delight of existence and expansion.
In this sense, an organization can also be considered a living organism if it exhibits these qualities.
Vedic wisdom also offers a model to represent the mechanism of life. A living organism must have the following faculties:
1) ahamkaara or I-ness,
2) manas or faculty of experiencing the world and feeling the delight or perversion of it as pleasure or pain,
3) buddhi - or faculty to make sense of its environment for the purpose of interaction, and
4) chitta - or memory or record of its own existence, actions and their effects to help navigate its evolution efficiently.

These four faculties operate at 5 levels of substance or pancha koshas - 1. physical matter or annam, 2. conscious energy or praana, 3. manas or expanded feeling of others as oneself and buddhi or inclusion of others with same ideology as oneself, 4. vijnana or governing principle or dharma in line with cosmic truth, and 5. ananda or pure unconditional joy of existence. This Vedic model of human psychology is explained further in another blog.

All the four faculties are present in each of the five koshas or personalities of the organism. This 5x4 matrix constitutes the complete anatomy of the life form. Some of the aspects may dominate the life form's behavior, but all are present, whether dormant or active.

Each life form is a manifestation of a facet of the Truth of existence for the delight of manifestation. It experiences this delight at 5 levels i.e., the 5 koshas with the delight being more intense in the higher koshas. For instance, the delight of success of family members - manomaya ananda, is more intense and motivating than personal success - praanamaya ananda, which is in turn more intense than one's mere physical health - annamaya ananda. 

An organization is the coming together of individuals to manifest a truth or power of reality that they cannot manifest individually. If an organization is merely a union of its member units, it has no purpose to exist. It has to have its own identity and existence and delight beyond that of its members. That additional value is what motivates and justifies its birth and existence. Hence to model an organization, one has to define its 5x4 matrix of faculties in koshas.

According to Vedic wisdom, the animating life force executes 5 functions as pancha praanas: infusion, elimination, distribution, sublimation/consecration, assimilation. What these mean in the organization's context needs to be identified.

To reason about an organization's behavior, one has to  define its 5x4 matrix.
1. What is the governing dharma?
2. What is the life force that animates it?
3. What does survival and expansion mean?
4. What does delight mean (stakeholder value)?
5. What is the binding force that ties individuals to the organization?
6. What is the motivation for this organization to support its ecosystem?
7. What are the forces that eliminate unwanted elements?

Now let's examine how to define various aspects of a Vedic model of organizations.

Organizational Identity

Organizational identity needs to be defined at 5 levels corresponding to the pancha koshas.

• Annamaya or physical identity is the set of employees, wealth and physical assets. This is the most visible identity.
  
• Praanamaya identity is the affinity the employees feel towards the organization. It is their combined manomaya kosha that indicates their affiliation and pride in the organization. The stronger the sense of belonging, the more robust the life of the organization. This is the dominant aspect of western approach to defining organizations. The capitalist motto of "Greed is good" stems from preoccupation with this identity for self-expansion.
  
• Manomaya identity is the set of other individuals or organizations whose welfare gives joy to the organization. Joy is in being loved and accepted by the community as a member. Live and let live is the formula. Sorrow is rejection by the community. The cooperative industry clusters in the unorganized sector of India are strong in this identity. For such organizations, transactions happen on the basis of relations and trust rather than contracts. This is totally ignored in the western approach to management. For organizations preoccupied with this identity, the focus is to build an entity that can last for generations, not merely predatory self-expansion.
  
• The buddhigata or intellectual identity is the core set of ideas, worldview, products and IP that sets the organization apart.
• The vijnanamaya identity is the cosmic truth or dharma that the organization is manifesting. Not all organizations have a clear vijnanamaya identity. Only social, cultural and spiritual organizations have a clear sense of this identity. The main preoccupation of this identity is to be known as the upholder of a noble cause such as philanthropy, compassion, equality, fraternity, etc.
  

The identity reflects in the products or services delivered. An organization's vision statement should be an articulation of its identity at all koshas, especially the higher ones.

Like any living entity, the purpose of an organization's existence is to experience organizational delight through manifestation and assertion of its identity at all these levels. Who experiences this delight? Its members i.e., stakeholders. They experience organizational delight as their manomaya ananda in their community self.

Varnas:Types of Organizational Functions

Just like an individual, an organization's functions or actions can be classified into 4 major categories denoted by the 4 varnas i.e.,

• Brahmana - setting the vision and direction,  ideology, worldview etc.
• Kshatriya - protecting the identity of the team, keeping it cohesive
• Vaishya - procuring resources necessary for the team to accomplish its tasks, planning and scheduling for efficiency 
• Shudra - skill to execute the tasks by employing domain knowledge and tools.

These actions happen at all koshas with the objective  of asserting and expanding the personality of those koshas.

Gunas: Motives for Action

There are 3 possible motives for action at any kosha, and they are denoted by the 3 gunas:

• Sattva - enthusiasm to serve a higher cause, become the fittest instrument for the purposes of higher koshas
• Rajas - the urge to assert and expand one's identity  at a kosha, also called egoistic assertion
• Tamas - the urge to maintain status quo, resist change and maintain stability

Tamasic urge keeps an organization stable. Rajasic urge causes predatory expansion. Sattvik urge enables broader impact for universal good.

Motivational Strategies

 

Any of the various functions in an organization fall into a combination of the categories denoted by the varna. Every individual has a natural affinity for actions of a particular varna category. Varna indicates one's affinity, not ability. Sometimes it is a combination, such as a primary and subordinate category. It is important to assign people to functions of matching action type or varna to ensure job satisfaction and performance. While varna determines what kind of job an individual or a team enjoys doing, the guna determines what motivates one to do a job. Identifying the guna helps devise the right incentives to motivate an individual or a team. What works for people of one guna backfires for those of another guna. Hence, leaders need to be aware of the gunà of their team members for maximìzing team effectiveness.

Vedic wisdom recognizes four broad strategies for motivation.

• Saama - convincing,  works for those with a sattvic disposition.
• daana - incentivizing, works for those who are  rajas dominated i.e., ambitious for personal growth,
  
• bheda - competition, works for those having rajas with a tinge of tamas.
• danDa - threatening or insulting, works for shaking people out of tamas.

A healthy organization has a judicious blend of activities representating all varnas. 

Performance

To perform its actions well, an organization or individual needs three capabilities or shaktis - icchaa or will, jnaana or knowhow and kriya or skill and energy/resources. So an organisation's performance in its chosen activities can be boosted by enhancing these three capabilities. Icchaa by motivation, jnaana by education, and kriya by training and facilitation. Performance assessment can also be done along these dimensions.  

Finally, an organization's or individual's health and wellbeing can be measured by its delight being experienced in each of the 5 koshas. That is its 5-component delight vector.

Vedic Psychological Profile

In summary, the complete psychological profile of an individual or organization is a matrix of the following aspects along each of the 5 koshas:

• The four faculties, viz., 
• ahamkaara: a clear conception of its identity and distinction from others
  
• manas: passionate stakeholders who feel for the organization
  
• buddhi: intelligence to sense and respond to its environment
  
• chitta: accumulated organizational experience
  
• Varna denoting preferred action types,
• Guna denoting the prime motive for action,
  
• Shakti denoting the capability for performance in the action, and
• Ananda denoting its current level of delight experienced which is a measure of its health or wellness

Now let's see how this model can be used to answer behavioral questions posed earlier. Below, we give a brief pointer on the approach to answer the questions.

1. Will this organization grow?

• Assess the shakti and Ananda of its pranamaya kosha.
  

2. What are the hurdles for its growth?

• Identify lacuna in shakti.
  

3. Is the organization healthy i.e., does it have the resilience to survive and rejuvenate itself?

• Is there clarity in identification of the 4 faculties?
  

4. Can this organization handle an upcoming challenge posed by its environment - competition, industry, nation, ecosystem etc.?

• Assess the guna of pranamaya kosha.
  

5. What change is needed to rectify problems?

• Devise ways to boost rajas, or to enhance shakti.

6. Is this organization relevant anymore? 

• Assess the Ananda being experienced in various koshas.