STORY - Nishkama Karma (Self–less Action)

Nishkama Karma (Self–less Action)


Nishkama Karma - Action performed without the taint of personal desire for results or reward.


A teacher had learnt about a wise-man who lived uphill. One day he decided to visit this man with his two students. On their way they had to pass through a meadow, where they found a shepherd with a flock of sheep. The shepherd seemed very angry and was seen time and again beating a sheep, which was limping slowly because of a wounded foreleg and was often left behind. At the same time there appeared an old man who was walking with a stick and was passing by the same flock. After some time the old man picked up the limping sheep, put it on his shoulders and kept walking. On the way he dropped the sheep at shepherds house and walked away calmly. Throughout the way this old man was seen to be walking patiently. The two students kept watching all this and started talking to each other.

Student I: Why should this old man carry the sheep? It is difficult for him to walk.
Student II: May be the sheep belong to him.
Student I: But he is not talking to anyone. I don't think he knows the shepherd or the sheep.
Student II: But even the shepherd could carry the sheep. He is quite young.
Student I: He must be making fool of this old man. He is not bothered.
Student II: (when the sheep was dropped) But the sheep seems to be thankful.
Student I: What about the old-man, he does not look tired, even he does not seems to be expecting any thanks from the shepherd.
Student II: Oh! The shepherd is a thankless person.
Student I: But why could not you or I pick up the sheep.
Student I: Come on, at least I am not interested in all this charity.

Soon the teacher and the student were climbing the hill and they reached the place where, they were to see the wise man. To their astonishment, this wise man was none else but the same old man. The old man welcomed them and offered them seats. They asked him: 'Sir we saw you on our way. You were carrying a sheep. But we wondered why were you carrying the sheep all the way when we could see, it is difficult for you to walk? Even the shepherd could pick it. He even did not have any feeling of thankfulness.' The old man did not reply and was quite and calm. The teacher took the students back.

On their way he told them that the wise man was above all these small things to expect gratitude or something else in return. He showed you what Nishkama Karma is. It is the Sattva Gunas like compassion and care which prompted him to pick-up the poor sheep. Even you or I could do that. We did feel concern for the sheep but did not have courage to carry it. This shows the wise man's ego-less state. He was not bothered what others might be feeling about him. Whatever job came his way he did it with full enrichment and thereafter just forget. Great men do not remember the good done by them. They just enjoy it. This state can be reached only when one performs his job as an offering to the divine.

Thus whatever work we do, we should offer it to the supreme - yat karosi, yat asnAsi yat juhosi dadAsi yat. Yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurusva madArpanam


This is a real mind enrichment formula in Nishkama Karma.

Become a Digger for Gold

Look for the Gold…..

As a young Scots boy, Andrew Carnegie came to America and started doing odd jobs. He ended up as one of the largest steel manufacturers in the United States of America. At one time he had 43 millionaires working for him. Several decades ago, a million dollars used to be a lot of money.

Someone asked Andrew Carnegie how he dealt with people, to which he replied, "Dealing with people is like digging gold. When you go digging for an ounce of gold, you have to move tons of dirt to get an ounce of gold. But when you go digging, you don't go looking for the dirt, you go looking for the gold." What is your focus? Become a digger for gold. If you are looking for what is wrong with people or with things, you will find many. What are you looking for? Andrew Carnegie's reply has a very important message!

There is something positive in every person and every situation. Sometimes we have to dig deep to look for the positive because it may not be apparent. Besides, we are so used to looking for what is wrong with other people and situations; we forget to see what is right.

People in the organizations should be developed, the same way the gold is mined. Leaaders should look for the gold not the dirt; the good not the bad. Like everything else, the more good qualities we look in people, the more we are going to find.

Someone once said that even a stopped clock is right twice a day!

Learning from Leadership Mistakes

Top 10 common business leadership mistakes !!

Everyone wants to lead, but at what cost? A careless approach to leadership can result in major losses for everyone.

Most of us can recall a leader who just wasn't cut out for the job. Being a leader is demanding; becoming a great leader is uncommon. Followers aren't particularly merciful to those who lead incompetently. Instead, they can respond with insubordination, decreased productivity, or a generalized attitude of confusion or frustration.

If you are a business leader or thinking about becoming one, here are some mistakes to avoid:


1. Don't lord it over your staff. No one likes a know-it-all. Assuming a cocky stance or a bullying attitude will strike a similar flint in the hearts of your subordinates.

2. Don't be a softie. Just as a sharp edge can have a cutting effect, a marshmallow can quickly lose its shape. Being a people pleaser means that you will inevitably let someone down, so don't even try. Instead, focus on the job and make it work with everyone's interests as best you can without bending over backwards until you break.

3. Don't put on a over-confident front. If you need information, ask for it rather than pretend you have all the answers. There's nothing wrong with an honest question, but there's plenty wrong with someone who is afraid to ask.

4. Don't misjudge employees' abilities. Take time to read files, interview people, and observe performance before making staffing decisions. Put competent, trustworthy people in charge of important projects so that neither you nor the company will regret it.

5. Don't play favorites. Owing a favor or liking a person are two poor reasons for handing out raises and promotions. Feeling sorry for someone is just as bad. Use good judgment and fair play to make staff decisions.

6. Don't hold a grudge. If you don't get along with someone, stay away from the person; don't try to get even. Leaders who use their position of authority to take punitive action based on personal vendettas are likely to find themselves in trouble.

7. Don't take a casual approach to the budget. Get to know it thoroughly. Understand company growth patterns and long-term projections, as well as how your leadership can play a role. Being careless with money is dangerous and potentially costly in the business world. Careless mistakes take time to fix, and in business, time is money.

8. Don't overlook company shifts, goals, or problems. Study the "big picture" with a view to finding your place in it and growing with the company.

9. Keep an eye on industry trends. Know what's "hot" and what's not; that's how leaders keep leading. Otherwise, someone who is more knowledgeable than you may take your place.

10. Stay human. When mistakes happen, forgive others and yourself. Laugh and be friendly, but don't look foolish doing it. Avoid mechanical responses and a 24/7 mentality toward your job. Do your best, but then leave the rest of your job at work until the next day. It'll be there when you return. At night and on weekends, enjoy your family and have fun. You've earned it.

Becoming a leader is challenging. Follow these suggestions to avoid problems and help your company and your career reach their potential.

Source Unknown

Leadership By Heart

Leading With a Kind Heart!!

A leader who wants to consistently motivate people to meet tough challenges and achieve extraordinary results must have a kind heart.

Leadership is not about getting people to do what they want. If they did what they want, you wouldn't be needed as a leader. Instead, leadership is about getting people to do what they don't want to do (or don't think they can do) – and be ardently committed to doing it.

This paradox lies at the heart of all great leadership. Unlike management, which involves simply the care and feeding of your organizational elephant, great leadership gets that elephant to jump.
Anyone who knows anything about elephants knows that they may run, they may stand on their hind legs, they may kneel on their fore legs, they may roll over; but they don't jump.

And that's what leadership is all about: getting organizations to do what they usually can't do, i.e., getting great results consistently. Now, you can't do the jumping yourself. The elephant must do it. You can't push the elephant into the air. It must jump of its own volition. Making the elephant jump involves cultivating a special relationship between the leader and the people of the organization.

Many leaders misunderstand that relationship. They try to use fear and pain to spur the activity needed to achieve consistently great results. "Sure, I'll get this elephant to jump. Just give me a cattle prod!" But inducing fear and pain are habit forming and ultimately destructive both to the leader and the people.

To make the elephant jump -- not now and then but consistently, i.e., to lead people to consistently do great things -- deep, human emotional bonding between leader and people must take place. And fundamental to that bonding is the nature of the heart of the leader.

This is the secret: You can't get the elephant to jump unless you have a kind heart. Kindness in leadership means following the Leadership Imperative: "I will lead people in such a way that we not only achieve the needed results but they become better as leaders and people."

Most leaders focus on the first part "getting better results" and forget about the second part. But in truth, when you have a kind heart, getting results and helping people be better are not two things but one.

From now on, see every leadership challenge you face as a way of having people increase their knowledge, their skills, their courage, their tenacity, and their leadership abilities. Cultivating that perspective is a kindness.

But don't mistake kindness for being nice. Don't mistake kindness for having people simply feel good. Don't mistake kindness for allowing people to indulge the worst aspects of their character, laziness, inconsiderateness, selfishness, etc.

Furthermore, you may be kind and have people be frustrated with you. Many great leaders I've had relationships with got me frustrated as they had me go through the trouble of tackling challenges I might not otherwise have tackled. (In fact, deep, human, emotional bonding cannot happen without a great deal of frustration.) But I was motivated despite my frustrations because I recognized that they essentially had my best interests at heart.

Yes, through skill, persuasiveness, understanding, forcefulness, education, and guidance, you can get the elephant to jump -- as long as you do it through the kindness of your heart.

Brent Filson