Satyopanisad

[Guest guest]

Swami! We often wonder at the way you instruct and advise your students. We

don't think that we, as parents, can ever do this in the same manner as you do.

You are great and benevolent, offering free education to our children. You also

teach them how they should conduct themselves as responsible citizens in

society. Your love excels the love of even a thousand mothers. Your love is an

ocean of fathomless depth. Some of the M.B.A. boys of your Institute of Higher

Learning are here. Would you please give them a message?

 

Education is not for living, it is for life. This has to be known first. It is

not the job or salary that matters. You have got to make use of your education

for the betterment of society through service. Education is not meant to help

you meet selfish ends and self-interests. It is very strange to see students

nowadays opting for courses with one eye on the salary they are likely to get

after their studies rather than on their aptitude. Parents also think along the

same lines. This is not proper or correct. It is most necessary to express

gratitude to the society in which you are born and brought up, and where you get

name and fame besides money. You must respect your parents, serve and please

them. You should make them very happy every way. You say that Swami's love is

equal to the love of a thousand mothers. You don't know even the love of your

own mother. How can you, then, know and estimate the love of a thousand mothers!

 

The MBA boys, after getting their degree, are going to be appointed as managers.

It is very good, no doubt But you should also know certain things that you don't

find in books. You have stuffed your brains with bookish knowledge. But you must

put it into practice. You should also know that it is not always possible to put

into practice all that you have read in books. You have to apply your knowledge

to the ground realities and work out solutions for the problems you face.

 

As a manager, you can't simply sit, dressed in a suit, and relax in a chair

under a ceiling fan, having your tiffin and other refreshments. You have to put

to yourself the question whether you are working justifying your salary.

Otherwise, you should consider yourself a cheat or a betrayer of the company.

You have to work sincerely. You shouldn't change your jobs and companies

frequently. No one will trust you because the new company you want to join for

higher emoluments will start feeling that you would quit any day for a little

more money, if offered elsewhere. You can come up in your company with your

skill, talent and hard work.

 

The MBA boys should know all the details with regard to raw materials, power

supply, accounting, finances, marketing, advertisement and machinery as well.

They should also be aware of the trade unions and their activities and the kind

of obligations of the company to the government. In no case should you

compromise on quality, because you lose your name in public. The rise and the

rate of profits may be slow and low initially, yet this should not trouble you.

One day it will stabilise. You should observe every worker and the way a machine

is handled by him. You should ensure that every worker is able to do all kinds

of assignments given to him from time to time such that you don't have to depend

on one hand or a few hands to run the factory.

 

As an MBA degree holder, in the capacity of a company's manager, you will be

under the control of the Managing Director or Board of Directors. At times, you

may have to consult them before taking certain important decisions. You have to

be very humble and polite in their presence. Even if you disagree with them on

any issue, you shouldn't condemn or contradict them outright. You shouldn't

oppose them openly then and there. Take another opportunity to meet them. Find

out their mood and when they are calm and cool, you meet and explain clearly the

pros and cons of the problem and try to bring them round to your point of view.

Then, there will be every scope for them to find a point in what you say.

 

Today you need to know another subject, Re-­engineering. When a factory or

industry is closed or bankrupt, you should investigate the reasons for its

closure. You should study every factor very clearly and find out proper

solutions to the problem and the appropriate steps to be taken to re-open and

revitalise the factory and make it effectively function thereafter. You also

have a paper on Rural Development in your MBA course. You need to know the

background, resources and needs of the village, its atmosphere and

socio-economic conditions even before you start working in a particular village.

Three or four of you may join and start an industry on your own. You have to

uphold the basic human values unconditionally and uncompromisingly. You are

valued because of this reason only. Always keep in view the needs of your

country, the systems to be adopted, the procedures to be followed, the national

resources and national development.