Sadhguru: 'Secret of true management'

ONCE you step into the world, there’s going to be a lot of filth. There is corruption and there is so much nonsense happening everywhere.

There is a set of people who will develop an allergy for this filth. They usually run to the Himalayas. They want everything pure. But such a thing will not happen, because the filth of the world has, one way or the other, entered our minds. All the nonsense that can happen in the world you know in your head, isn’t it? So this set of people who develop an allergy and try to run away, they can never do it, really. Whether we empower that filth or not is all the option that we have. But we cannot avoid filth – it is there.

Another set of people, a large segment of people, unfortunately have come to think that anyway the world is full of filth, let me also become filth. So they have joined that, they have merged into the filth.

But what we call as filth can also become great manure. Indian spirituality has always used the lotus as a symbol – why? Because a lotus flower grows best where the filth is thick. This filth which stinks, which you can’t bear, has transformed the lotus into a beautiful, fragrant flower. This option is also with us, every moment of our life.

If the atmospheres that we live in make us, we cannot call ourselves managers. If we make the atmospheres that we live in, only then we can call ourselves managers. Being a manager means that we are going to create whatever we see as the most beautiful thing to happen right now. Allowing situations to create you is not management at all, creating the situations that you want is management.

But what we see with life for most people is that let’s say somebody got a job, the first day when they went and sat behind this table, this table was the most fantastic place in the world. But within a few years, behind the same table, they’re manufacturing blood pressure, diabetes, ulcers and what not. This is not because there is something wrong with the jobs that we do. This is not because there is something wrong with the world that we

live in. This is simply because we have not paid enough attention to ourselves.

You need to make yourself capable, not only in terms of management and other skills, but also capable as a human being. You need to be like a lotus flower, to be able to go through situations untouched. You need to be able to maintain your beauty and fragrance even if you’re in the filthiest of situations. If one has this, he will float through life untouched. If one doesn’t have it, life will eat him up in so many ways.

We must also know that when it comes to management, there’s no such thing as perfect management. It is just that if people give themselves absolutely to what they’re doing, things will happen. Management is your ability to be capable of inspiring people to do their best. And that’s all we can do. If everybody around us is doing their best, that’s the best possible management that can happen.

If you just learn to touch the core of his humanity, then you see that every human being is willing to do his best for you, always. If you just learn how to touch the very core of a human being who’s around you right now, you will see everybody is willing to lay down their lives for you. Only if people around you love you and they want to do their best for you, you will not get ulcers doing management.

If people around you are trying to pull you down, you will anyway get ulcers trying to manage situations. If we do not create the people who truly love us and are wanting to give their best, then management is going to be a pain, management is going to be a huge suffering. Only when people around us really want to do their best for you management can happen wonderfully.

Our lives become beautiful not because of what we do, our lives become beautiful simply because we have included everybody around us as a part of our dream of wellbeing.

Ranked among the 50 most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic, visionary and bestselling author. He was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, India’s highest civilian award, in 2017, for exceptional and distinguished service.