Consciousness Approach To Management

April 20, 1974

The emergence of mind in Man has witnessed a reversal in the process Nature has been employing in her evolution. As long as the vital was the spearhead, Nature was to overwhelm the vital with her innate necessities and compel it to follow the course intended. When mind emerged, the process reversed. Mind's basic trait is curiosity and it is exercised in exploration. The civilizations, institutions, departments of knowledge that mind has created for humanity are of no mean achievement. They are a class by themselves. Mind not being the last term of human development, all the achievements of human mind have now come to face rough weather. The cities man has built are no longer a source of his pride. The great resources of earth on which he laid his irresistible hand are no longer inexhaustible. The huge multi-national corporations that are bigger than the erstwhile empires do not anymore have the creative urge for expansion. The problem that Population is, is proverbial. The cream of humanity, the youth, do not believe they have a world to step into. All that was once the pride of humanity is now a sure source of problems that lend themselves to no solution. The relationship between management and labour is one of them.

This approach which I prefer to call CONSCIOUSNESS APPROACH sees all this as negative symptoms of positive growth. Man has exhausted his mental creativity and if at all he can progress, he can only progress horizontally. For instance, scientists exploring the possibilities of solar energy declare that 2000 times the need of the world's energy requirements can be had out of it. The very fact that infinite possibilities in the horizontal expansion is present, shows that it is time for moving to the next higher stage of human evolution. The depth of man's ignorance of the call of the spirit can only be matched by his great intelligence in the mental plane. He persists in his ignorance and seeks solutions in his own mental way refusing to look beyond the mind and into the spirit. Surely neither the problem of the unruly youth, nor the corruption of the political system, nor the ecological imbalance can ever be contained within the dimensions of his mind. Problems acquire multi-dimensional character compelling the ignorant man to look into himself for the discovery of his spirit which is dimensionless. Man willfully persists; nature too persists and strikes him right on the head. She creates the oil crisis and administers a shock to world politics. The seeker needs no such compulsion. He lays out his path directing it towards the inner consciousness.

All problems of man are vital. Some are mental. This inner consciousness in the light of which his problems are considered now, is beyond the vital-mental fabric. What is a knot in the vital-mental man is no knot in the Consciousness. There is no human problem that does not lend itself to solution if considered in the light of Consciousness. The perspective of this consideration must be the ideal of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga. He has worked for man evolving into superman. This perspective has its extension into each segment of life. In the realm of world unity, this ideal expresses as a movement from the individual soul to the united souls of humanity. In life it is to eradicate poverty, disease and ignorance and replace them by prosperity, health and knowledge. There are grades of prosperity such as material prosperity, psychological prosperity, and spiritual prosperity. It is possible to achieve this goal in the area of management if we follow the principle of beginning where the problem is. Otherwise the application will be unreal. There is no situation or problem that can be classified hopeless. Only that the right beginning has to be made at the right point.

This ideal of Consciousness Approach to Management can be said to base itself on many principles. I propose to take them up for explanation and illustration wherever possible after first stating them. Some of them are basic; others are minor though significant in their own domain. In stating them or offering an explanation, I do not propose to construct a system. What I intend is to evoke a response to the existence of such a plane of functioning. An active consideration of this department of existence may arouse the interest and lead people to seek this knowledge by themselves. If that much is done, the purpose of this writing will be well served. To insistently apply the mind and construct a system will be to limit the seeking to the mental domain. That way the basic aim will be defeated. These principles were observed and evolved in the founding and running of Mother Estates for The Mother's Service. This system, if I may use the word, can only be 100% effective and not less, since as long as the effort is not saturated the effect does not show itself. Let me list the basic principles below:

• Work means to house Mother's Consciousness and express it in life. And there is no other work. All work done at any plane tends to this aim.
• Mother's Consciousness not merely helps and blesses, but it also is creative of faculties and capacities. It is creative of this creative Consciousness, too.
• For one who centers himself in this Consciousness, his highest reach is set to his own aspiration. It is only self-limiting.
• Observed carefully, one can find a finely grained system of correspondence between life events around and character trains inside. Not one outer event can ever claim exception to this system. All circumstances are moved by pressing inner keys only.
• Growth of Consciousness is a continuous process. It is everlasting. Consciousness is timeless and for that reason the present includes the past and the future.

o No future work can ever be done by neglecting the present work.

o No present work will move even an inch if the past lapses are left uncorrected.

• Each man is endowed with a certain amount of mental, psychological, physical and social capacities. When he genuinely exhausts all his known capacities, life moves in a big way and a splendid execution of work begins. As long as some areas of these capacities remain untapped, nothing moves. It stagnates with a vengeance. Where Man Ends, The Divine Begins.
• Lack of effort, unwillingness, extraneous motives, etc. in the colleagues lead to a grinding halt of work. All that can be consecrated by the central person in the work (or for that matter by anyone in the work) by identification with the persons and the problems. When the Consecration is complete, work begins to move.
• No act is isolated. It is part of a universal movement.
• In the measure one identifies himself with Mother's Consciousness in work, that work becomes a representative work, representative of the universal work.
• No movement like anger, need for mental work, etc. will cease coming until and unless one exhausts in himself the need for it.

o Positive things are to be experienced.

o Negative things are to be allowed to run their course.

• One cannot introduce himself to the higher consciousness and later consciously reverse it without causing damage.
• The best way to help a person of low consciousness is to prevent that consciousness doing damage to the higher consciousness.
• All principles enunciated herein are fully at work in all walks of life. Only that there it is subconsciously working; and we make that working conscious.
• In collective work any single person can follow all these principles effectively and keep the work fully moving. Only that he must work silently and must keep his consciousness perfect at one level higher than that of the work.
• The persons around us are human representatives of our characteristics. The events that surround us are life representatives of the same.
• Conscious inner compromises are negative in character and cannot pass for adjustments called for by the external situations. Each such compromise brings one's consciousness to a certain minimum level; and that minimum is the maximum reach of the individual as long as that compromise lives in him.
• If one lives in an atmosphere of good will, Grace moving towards him announces itself as a happy incident. If the atmosphere is one of ill will, incoming Grace is heralded by an act of disturbance.
• In a collective work, anyone can feel what is known as Consciousness-responsibility for the entire collectivity. It means he must first of all be aware of everyone's characteristics, mental and temperamental, capacities, psychological inheritance, etc. At his own level of consciousness all these will have direct or indirect or inverse representations. To be able to feel responsible for what a colleague does outside as it has emanated from his own corresponding traits, is consciousness-responsibility.
• Thoughts expressed:

a) In a general atmosphere of goodwill, positive thoughts expressed accelerate effectuation; sometimes even create by virtue of having found expression.

b) If the atmosphere is negative, thoughts expressed tend to destroy possibilities. Sometimes this is known as expectation.

(Principle: The spoken work is creative. In a strong spiritual atmosphere its creativity is accelerated; in a weak spiritual atmosphere its creativity turns into destruction).

• There are times when great work shapes. Favourable atmosphere shapes well; man is willing and ready. Every tiny little thing hastens to cooperate. But the WORK itself never gets initiated. Such moments still require an initiation. A token act of initiation sets the entire atmosphere moving. In the scheme of things such tokens are essential.

There are times when there is no such atmosphere. When built up, it refuses to take shape. Thoughts or ideas find no echo in men's minds. Everything is either hostile or unhelpful. And there is not the least sign of anything moving. At such times one determined act, however small, but well conceived and executed meticulously can mature into great work, CREATING the favourable atmosphere mentioned above.

• Acts or events outside in a certain plane reveal their full significance in the next higher level of perception. In the same plane they are seen as a matrix of symbols, tokens, etc. There is a system of correspondences between these acts and the symbols, the relationship is either direct or indirect or inverse.
• When the higher consciousness draws on the lower consciousness the lower plane of consciousness, instead of shrinking, grows in intensity and moves towards the higher.
• Persons of the higher consciousness if they want to reach out to other people, the reaching out must be in the inner plane, silently, to create in them the aspiration for the higher consciousness. One has to wait till the others come forward with material service, the right symbol of their aspiration.

The persons of higher consciousness seeking material help from others is a mental movement in the plane of consciousness whereas the former is a consciousness movement in the material plane.

• Silent Communication:

a) General sympathy with another and common dedication to work, make possible silent intercommunication of thoughts, feelings, etc.

b) Harmony between the subconscious and the conscious in oneself (which is generally prevalent in periods of growth) makes it possible for the conscious to receive communication from the outer through his subconscious.

• When alternatives like:

Progress                                      vs      profit

Long term ideals                        "       short term interest

Convention                                ...     convenience

Effort                                         ...     comfort

Sublimation                                ...     diversion

Confrontation                            ...     appeasement

Compromise at a higher level     ...     confrontation

Institution's welfare                   ...     department's welfare

Wellbeing                                   ...     welfare

Truth                                          ...     falsehood

Vertical expansion                     ...     horizontal expansion

Present, the choice of the former leads to growth and incidentally includes the possible benefits of the latter, whereas the choice of the latter leads to stagnation in periods of growth and deterioration in formative periods.

• Inter flow: All one's relationships with others, positive, negative, ethical help or service, psychological joy or cruelty will in the next cycle recur as consciousness consequences, the consequences being determined by the strength of the relationship. The persons involved may change but the plane of consciousness and the type of processes will remain true to its character.
• Growth of different parts of the being is not generally simultaneous. They grow in turn. A certain harmony in the central being is needed to keep up the maximum rate of this growth of parts in turn.
• One will be compelled in life to follow social, mental processes in preference to consciousness processes only to the extent his mind gives consent, positively or negatively, to these processes.
• Having accepted Mother's Consciousness, expansion of life activities is not merely horizontal but is vertical too because Mother's Consciousness is not merely expansive but is creatively expansive.
• Maximum growth for an institution is possible if,

1) Raw material, money, energy, available capacity are well utilized and exhausted in right time;

2) The men are constantly employing their capacities in full and are poised for learning new ones;

3) The systems, procedures, methods are thoroughly utilized and there is a felt need to upgrade them. (If these aspects are present in any institution a few symptoms can be seen).

a) Finished products will move fast;

b) Founding of higher institutions will be constantly present;

c) Numerous occasions for intimate cooperation between labour and management, between various departments will present;

d) Some of the members of the staff or employees will leave to found independent institutions;

e) Occasions for greater utilization of already well utilized things will arise.

To function effectively in a field of work, one must be able to comprehend the entire field simultaneously and with feeling.

Effectivity issues out of mastery; and mastery needs totality of vision.

• Grace responds in overwhelming measure to the initial promises of aspiration. Continued working of Grace needs continued aspiration.
• All rhythmic movements and all that facilitate such movements (e.g. cleanliness, orderliness, punctuality, regularity) are the life lines of this way of life.
• When you work on another, begin from where he is, not from where you can. There is no person, no situation that is hopeless for this work.
• All initial acts in consciousness have the look of being unilateral acts.
• The systems of symbols and omens represent an integrated understanding of LIFE at that level.
• That institution (industry) where there is an in-built facility for each individual to acquire the next higher skill (of his), will function richly and dynamically and will have only the problems of growth.
• For effective functioning (in this method) on others one has to be perfect at the next higher level.
• All life is of a piece and one can discern exactly the same consciousness in all the acts connected together at a given time or around a particular incident.
• Constant consecration of the future drastically changes the course of the future.
• Knowledge and will: If one is determined to do a thing after properly offering it, the necessary knowledge that one lacked earlier will reveal itself during the course of its early execution and vice versa.
• If a piece of work is to be well executed, the central person may invoke some silence in him and share it with others during the operation. Every other thing apart, this SILENCE has the power to complete the work.
• If work is conceived in consciousness and implemented on these principles during the operation ONE can feel the most intense spiritual atmosphere he has so far known.
• Work referred to Mother's Consciousness moves smoothly and any attending difficulty however great is dissolved in that consciousness. If some difficulties still persist they will represent fixed mental attitudes of the person. Until and unless such psychological attitudes are spotted and reversed, the problems will persist. If they are removed, the problem will vanish INSTANTANEOUSLY.
• Work done in this Consciousness has a personality of its own. That personality is a vibration of Mother's Consciousness. Persons devotedly doing such work will have this vibration deepened into an emanation of Mother's Consciousness. And that serves as his central reference.

April 22, 1974

Other principles less comprehensive, but significant in their own domain.

• The egoistic actions of others will affect us only as long as we are under the spell of our ego in that regard. The moment we are free of our egoistic motive with respect to that particular act, the ego-directed movement of no one will have an effect on us.
• Others' hatred towards us is, sometimes, felt as a sex desire.
• Use of materials with greed offends the consciousness in them and they tend to keep away from us. This is equally true when we give articles to greedy persons.
• In general there is a correspondence of inner movement and outer event.

• Goodness expressed in an act makes the act dynamic and helps the entire activity expand and continue in its flow.
• If one prepares himself for any work, the moment the readiness is complete, the work moves towards him (Grace always meets the aspiration with a field of expression).
• Mental or social act introduced into the flow of an act initiated in Consciousness, cancels the latter. (Two acts of different intensities of consciousness when mixed lead to the cancellation of a less established one).
• Arrears in effort, hesitation to do things, bringing in extraneous motives lead to non-availability of materials, breakdown in transport or general stoppage of work.
• The basis for general ill-will in us is a source of strength for those who attack us with ill-will. The best way to protect against ill-will is to examine the roots of such vibrations in us and eradicate them. The more we fight it from others, the more the inner roots are strengthened. They fight with added strength too.
• Any person well disposed towards one is a positive instrument in that measure. Persons ill-disposed towards one, can in that area very well serve as negative instruments.
• Persons who introduce and accommodate social attitudes into yogic life have only one use for those who seriously move towards yoga; they can be instruments of perfection for the latter.
• If light reaching one of the centres of the vital (viz. power, money, sex) is not expressed through that centre. E.g. each time light touched the sex centre of a person and he refused it expression, money moved towards him.
• Any material thing or idea or a method that comes from a person, carries the atmosphere of that person. And our work is informed of that atmosphere. When the thing is charged and surcharged with Mother's Consciousness in our work, not only his atmosphere is overcome but Mother's Consciousness reaches the previous owner through our use.
• Materials, machines, money, methods, systems, ideas, plants, animals, soil, water, energy and every known thing on earth respond to attention just like children respond.
• Weak men are better than men who pamper the weakness in others.
• Gossip is a willful, perverted misuse of the Consciousness. From it is derived an inverted sex satisfaction. As a rule gossip thrives between man and woman. If it is between the members of the same sex, the topic wanders to the other sex. In adults the gossip centres round their boss, i.e. the emotion involved is vital submission. The principle is the same.
• General activities can either be furthered or withheld by personal attitudes, either of oneself or of others with whom one is in sympathy.
• Mother seems to follow the order of growth generally seen in life. When devotees take to HER, the order of growth is often material plenty (physical health), mental capacities (psychological wellbeing), and spiritual prosperity.
• When a man is on the verge of great prosperity, he hesitates to ask even what is due to him. He even offers to give where he is not obliged to. When a man is on the point of losing everything he has, he begins to ask for more than he deserves.
• The surest way of bringing trouble in the relationship with anyone is to give him more than what he deserves.
• One who is wedded to Mother's Service cannot have human affection as an ideal. If he persists, human affection may come to him, but all the opportunities of service to Mother will be cancelled. Human affection sought from a member of the other sex, not merely cancels the work, but cancels the possibilities of even human affection. What remains is utility or convenience, often mercenary relationship. Loyalty in the relationship is conspicuous by its absence.
• Ignorance is not so great an obstruction as the insistence on ignorance which means mind is in the service of the vital.