Management lessons from our Puranas

Occasionally, I have the privilege of listening to the discourse by His Grace Ramrupa Prabhuji of ISKCON, who is periodically invited by an ISKCON devotee in our building. Prabhuji’s discourses are unique and highly inspiring for he intersperses his discourse from Bhagvad with relevant incidents from our Puranas and interprets them for real life situations. What l look for in his messages is the practical wisdom that can be applied in our day to day lives to better our existence. 

He narrated the mythological story of Dhruva, who’s advised by his step mother to seek God ( Narayana) and take rebirth from her womb to be eligible for being heir to his father’s throne and his affection. 5 years old Dhruva goes to forest to seek Narayana, where he meets Narad Muni, who advises the young boy to recite a mantra and seek Narayana with pure heart. Happy with his devotion, Lord blesses Dhruva to seek whatever he wants and he asks to rule a kingdom that’s larger than Brahma’s. 

To cut a long story short, his ambition is large, rather the largest, but he’s not seeking it through a backdoor or short cut, but by treading on the path of Dharma or truth. Management lesson here is that there’s no short cut to success. Also, it’s alright to aspire for the moon but the journey towards goal must be on a righteous path.