Leadership Consciousness

3.21 Whatever action is performed by a great person, others follow.

They follow the example set by him.

3.22 O Partha, there is nothing that I must do in the three worlds.

Neither am I in want of anything. Yet, I am always in action

3.23 If I did not engage in work with care, O Partha, certainly, people

would follow My path in all respects.

3.24 If I do not work, then these worlds would be ruined. I would be the cause of creating confusion and destruction.

3.25 As the ignorant do their work with attachment to the results, O Bharata, the wise do so without attachment, for the welfare of people.

Here, Krishna talks about practical aspects of why a leader needs to act in a responsible manner.

There is a difference between the state of a leader and the status of a leader. Most of us want to attain the status of a leader but not the state. When you achieve the status of the leader, it is ego-fulfilling and you feel great. Most kings and politicians are great examples of what this status is. They will just exert the power of their position on others.

Understand how they got that position of power: they were a little more dominating and a little more convincing than rest of the people whom they were trying to dominate, that's all. It is not that they are more intelligent or more capable. They had more strength of whatever conviction they had and they were more energetic in convincing others about their conviction.

The state of the leader is something totally different. It is the state of the leader that affects people, whether it is people under a political leader or people in an organization in the corporate world under a CEO. Problems of all kinds, ranging from stress to discontentment and violence, result because the leader has achieved the status and not the state.

I always tell my disciples, 'Practice what I teach you. Don't preach what I teach. Only by example can you inspire others to follow you.' It is easy to utter words and intellectually talk about what you have understood from my teachings, but that understanding is very shallow.

True, deep understanding happens only by experience. Only when it becomes your own experience, the understanding becomes complete. Then you are unshakeable in your conviction. Otherwise, if the understanding is just based on words, it is based on somebody else's experience and not on your own. There is always the possibility that somebody can come and shake your belief. The roots of conviction, in this case, are not deep and strong enough to withstand all kinds of questions.

I tell my devotees, there are three types of people: the disciples or the followers, the leaders or the guides and the Masters.

Disciple is the one who has not yet experienced the teachings of the Masters but who is interested and has embarked upon the path. He needs some guidance on the path. He does not yet know how to practice what is being taught.

Master is the one who has had and is in the ultimate experience. He is already in the ultimate state. Out of compassion, he shows the path to his state to all those who would like to be in that state. It is not necessary for the Master to practice what he preaches because it is unnecessary.

A small story:

Once, there was a Zen Master who used to advise people not to smoke. But he himself used to smoke everyday.

One day, a disciple asked him, 'Master, how can you tell people that they should not smoke when you yourself are smoking?'

The Master replied beautifully, 'Understand, I am not in the same state, the same plane, as the person whom I am teaching.'

Masters are not in the same plane as the followers or the leaders. They need not follow what they tell you to do to come to their state because they are in a completely different state. They understand the unreality of the physical plane that their body mind system operates in. Whatever they may seem to be doing physically is out of complete awareness.

I always teach people to be aware and completely present when they eat. But, if you have been around me, you know, I will never concentrate on my food when I eat. Just when I eat, I will be reading something or talking to someone.

For you, you have to meditate to be aware of the food you are consuming so that you eat only as much as is needed and not more, as you usually do. But, for me, if I am aware, I will not be able to eat the amount of food my body needs. I have to distract myself and remove the awareness and only then the food will go inside.

So, followers are on one side of the spectrum and Masters are on the other side.

A leader or guide is someone who is in between the Master and the follower. He has not yet reached the ultimate state of the Master but he has had glimpses of that state. He is not as inexperienced as the follower. He is the bridge to lead the follower to the Master. I always tell my acharyas (ordained teachers) that it is their responsibility to practice what they preach because they are the bridges leading the people they teach to come to me.

One more thing: it is not that you have to practice so that others get inspired. Understand that the very practice will give deep understanding to you. That is the first effect, the actual result. Being an inspiration to others will be just a by-product. It will result automatically from the confidence that you radiate in your body language and words when you preach to people out of the strength of your own conviction.

In these verses, Krishna beautifully explains what walking the talk means through His own example. He says there is nothing in the three worlds, the nether world, earth or heaven, for Him to achieve. There is no duty that binds Him. Even though He has nothing to gain, lose or even to do, He is constantly engaged in action. Why?

Because people look up to Him as God, they would obviously follow the path He sets. They would simply follow what He does. He is now responsible for leading them on the correct path.

So, even though He Himself has no reason to engage in work, He does so for the sake of the people who will follow Him. If He did not engage in action, people would follow His example and fall into inaction or tamas.

Every year, I take people to the Himalaya Mountains. The Himalaya Mountains are an energy field; they are living energy. It is a lifetime experience to be in the lap of nature, to be in the amazing energy field there. It can be a tremendous inspiration, a powerful transformation just seeing and living life in the Himalaya for fifteen days.

In the Himalaya, we do various puja and rituals at various places, at the char dham (the four sacred pilgrimage centers). Of what use are the rituals to me? But I do them for you so that you understand their significance and you get inspired to do them and benefit from them.

The Himalaya is really my home. I feel so ecstatic just being in the Himalaya. After enlightenment, I came from

the Himalaya to be amidst the people. I could have just stayed there happily and blissfully. But I have come here so that I can guide seekers and show them the path.

Seeing me work constantly, being intensely involved in work whether it is administration or giving discourses or planning for upcoming activities or healing people or teaching, whatever the action may be, I inspire people by my example to be engaged in work constantly, blissfully enjoying every moment.

I don't have to give words. You can see me and learn from my body language much more than from my words. I give you words only to silence your mind so that you can absorb my energy. Otherwise, if I don't talk, you will be chattering inside yourself and will miss my message.

As Krishna says, I need to be careful in what I do for the sake of those who follow.

The problem is that what I do is my experience. It is an expression of my experience. Unless you experience it yourself, it cannot become your truth. So the same action will have a completely different meaning and effect when done by a disciple than when done by a Master.

For example, look at a simple teaching by Buddha, 'Watch your breath.' This very simple vipassana meditation technique has led thousands of people to enlightenment.

But look at a seemingly powerful discovery of the principle behind the atom bomb: the Theory of Relativity. A great truth but when it came into the hands of an ignorant person who did not understand the implications of it, it resulted in so many countries piling up so many atomic weapons that the earth can now be destroyed multiple times over!

It is the energy behind the action, the energy of the being that decides the quality and hence, the effect of the action. It is not the external appearance of the action that decides the quality.

You must have seen that there are some people who can get away with anything, even something that would normally appear as a disrespectful action. But somehow, the action does not hurt people. It is because there was no negative attitude or vengeance behind the act.

Children get away with so many things like even hitting you, and you actually enjoy it rather than feel hurt or insulted. Can you imagine feeling like this if an adult hits you? The innocence of the child and the honest simplicity of the child's act is what make even the act of hitting beautiful. The energy of the child, its intelligence, is completely behind the action. This is unlike an adult whose intellect may be behind the act. Mind is behind the act but the intelligence is not there because there is a certain unconscious vengeance in the act.

Masters act out of pure compassion in whatever they do. That is why so many times even when I scold people with seeming harshness, the person does not carry vengeance towards me. Scolding is also for your good, for your ego to be removed. It will seem painful because the ego, which you have been thinking is you, is being pulled out. But your being understands it is for your good that what is not you is being removed. There is pure compassion even in scolding. That is why in the very next moment after scolding, I can be completely different, showering love. There was no vengeance to hold onto in that act of scolding. It was just complete truth at that moment, pure compassionate energy.

But what happens when you get angry with someone and scold him, say your child? The anger takes you over. Instead of you controlling the anger energy, it controls you and you misuse it because you are not conscious during the action.

You are driven by your past perceptions, by your memories of similar incidents in the past when your child did not behave as you expected and you react with more anger than his act deserves. Anger is also energy but you need to handle it with respect. Just like you respect money and hence you never pay someone more than needed, similarly, when you realize the power of the anger energy, you respect it and do not pay the other person more anger than needed.

If you give just the right anger energy, it can be transformational but your negative attitude behind the action creates undesired result and the person carries a certain vengeance towards you which even he may not be conscious of.

Be very clear, this person's vengeance is the result of your very own vengeance, which you did not realize was there in your own action because you were not completely aware when you were scolding.

I always tell people, 'When I am compassionate, I cheat you. When I scold you, I teach you. Either way, you grow.' When I scold you, you are jolted into the present moment. Suddenly, in a flash, you get the awareness that you have been missing. The energy behind my words is purely for your transformation. There is only pure compassion. There is no vengeance for anyone or any vested interest for myself.