Krishna's Management Mantras!
By Sumit
Paul, New Age Islam
15
November, 2023
The
faculty of Commerce at Allahabad University (AU) has started a five-year
integrated BBA-MBA course from this academic session in which students can
learn the management mantras of Lord Krishna through the Bhagavad Gita,
Ramayana, and Upanishads, as well as those of Chanakya.
While
one can understand Chanakya's role in modern management studies and contexts,
Krishna's vague and often deceitful teachings in the Gita must be avoided.
Years ago, when NY University intended to introduce Jesus' teachings and their
effects on humans as a subject, Dr Edward W. Said wrote to the management, ‘Let
the students of Theology, Mythology, and Religion study and analyse all these
speculative issues. But the students of general streams must not be exposed to
religion and mythology, however ‘relevant' they may appear.' The advice of the
world's leading public intellectual was taken seriously, and no such subject
was introduced to the management and general curriculum of the university.
Shouldn't
this also happen in India? I'm sure many level-headed and sane individuals in
India are against this decision, which has clear religio-political hues. But
the question is, will the university management listen to them, especially when
Allahabad (sorry, no Prayagraj) is the nerve centre of UP's saffron politics?
In
recent times, especially in the Saffron regime, all mythological characters
have become parts of syllabi. Students are being urged to emulate these
‘revered' mythological characters. Their lives and teachings are being taught
for moral upliftment and edification! This is ridiculous, nay, objectionable.
The
Gita and other scriptures are relevant for students of comparative religions.
And in comparative religions, all these characters are taken as symbols and
metaphors, not as entities with flesh and blood. When you clutter the brains of
future CEOs and mandarins with all religious and mythological rubbish, how can
you expect modern and dynamic organisational thinking from them?
…
A
regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative
religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the
world's premier publications in several languages, including Persian.
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