ETHICS REVISITED

WE talk about ethics and practicing ethics in organization, but are we seriously doing that
or we practice unevenness and we all suffer from its many vices namely greed, envy,
pride, anger and hatred subconsciously waiting to come out somewhere or the other.

Its just not happening today, the same question is still hanging in the Olden times of
Ramayana and Mahabharata – Let’s take few examples from Mahabharata.

Mahabharata – one of the greatest epic to study, Dharma, Karma (Geeta) and unevenness.
We worship Lord Krishna who himself taught his friends and disciples – the Pandavas to
win the war through deceit, lies and treachery.

Why is that?? Why did Krishna choose to do that, the simplest explanation to it would be
that because Duryodhana and shakuni planned the evil tricks of defeat for Pandavas in the
Game of Dices.

But even Mahabharatha does not give an explanation that Shakuni did cheat to win the
game where Yudhishthra lost everything, including himself, his brothers and their shared
wife and Queen Draupadi. Although it is mentioned that Shakuni and Duryodhana did
talk about cheating but there is no clear evidence of the same anywhere in the epic, but it
is evident that Lord Krishna did make the Pandavas win the war by trickery and deceit
and not by Skills.

Being one of the major epics of Dharma and Karma- don’t we expect some ethical
behaviour from the Pandavas and Lord Krishna, or may be some explanation for their
behaviour.

Dharamraj Yudhishthara the eldest of the Pandavas, had also faltered, otherwise the one
who practiced ethics would not agree to stake his beloved wife in the game of dices.

Ultimately after winning the war, troubled by the hollowness of the victory he decides to
retire to the forest. Lord Krishna dies a prosaic death got killed by the arrow of a hunter
who killed him by mistake.

Is it all because that we human beings have somewhere in our subconscious mind the so
called unevenness present in some or the other forms. True it is.

No I’m no one to question the greatest epic of the History, but these are some of the
things which trouble my mind as well.

What goes around up ultimately comes back down! Life is cyclic in nature and intent.
Checking in on ethics-related beliefs and behaviours can be enriching to an organisation.
For Instance- Few examples from Present

What happened suddenly with Satyam’s B.Ramalinga Raju, why he committed the
biggest fraud in the Indian Corporate History by swindling Rs. 7000 crores
approximately? What made him do that when everything was going so smooth, Satyam
has the best clients, best human resources, technologies and everything else. For his own
greed he did not think of the loss of Investors who lost approximately Rs.23000 crores in
the value of shares.
Also more than 50,000 employees faced an uncertain future.

Greed is too easy an answer for this, As Gurucharan Das – The writer of “The difficulty
of being good” says.

It’s like cigarette smoking – to say you’re ‘only smoking half a pack instead of two a
day’ is good, but it’s better to say that ‘I have finally stopped smoking’, and stop.

Another example: The Chief of HP was accused of Sexual harassment and has to leave
the company, not only because he was proven guilty but also that he could not live up to
the reputation of the Organization.

Why can not we ward of the evil of unevenness and try to be ethical.

These are some of the ways to be ethical found in the Mahabharata:

• Teach by example: not by ethical prophecy

• Societies are held together by Laws, customs and moral Habits and it is these adapting
which we can be ethical.
• Win the trust of the people by your deeds not misdeeds
• As Bhishma adviced his prince “A man who wishes to profess goodness at all times will
come to ruin among so many who are not so good. Hence it is necessary for a prince who
wishes to maintain his position to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge
according to the necessity”
• Be true to oneself
• Have tolerance and patience in handling the teams and different work groups