“Bhagavad Gita” or the “Song of the Lord is one of the most ancient spiritual books in India, which provides the essence of the Vedas, and was delivered by Lord Sri Krishna to Arjuna more than fifty centuries ago at Kurukshetra. It gave the virtue to the world of getting things done through and with people- more ‘efficiently and effectively’! The values of Bhagavad Gita can be viewed and used for multiple aspects. The different phases of Gita can be used in developing managerial effectiveness in today’s time.

The learning from Gita is bequeathed as ‘Excellence at work can be achieved by being real yet detached through setting priorities by managing time & stress with the help of innovation, change and team work by making people committed and efficient’.

You must be astonished to see the concepts of the modern business world being talked about in an ancient epic. Similar was my reaction when I read it for the first time. It made me realize that our religion through various avatars has already depicted all these aspects of management. The epic contains timeless principles like “Change is the only thing that is constant” that people, organization, cultures and belief systems are still in debate for.

Mahabharata defined that success can only be achieved when you have a unique character with particular number of strengths and weaknesses. That is why leaders are born and not created; people carrying the right blend of this character are the ones who become leaders.

Through the narration of the first phase of Gita, Lord Krishna dubbed strategizing, giving directives, working in a team through operational coherence as the core competencies in every country, organization, department, team and role. Imagine someone predicting these terms at a time when not everyone was as professionally proficient in management. That is the beauty of this epic.

In India, 35 years ago, the first campaign for educating the girl child was started. However, it was initiated and emphasized by Lord Krishna many centuries ago. In Gita, the Lord has spoken about the empowerment of women. He said “Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra devatah”– which means, “Wherever women are respected, empowered and worshipped, there lays divinity and prosperity”.

A learning after reading this great epic for numerous times that I have seen getting proved time and now- “Change and control can never happen together, so if you want to control then you can’t change and if want to see the change then you have to let it go”. Believing in Change is like believing in God. You can’t see him but you can feel his presence; similar is the aura and impact of a good leader. Even if he is not around, you still follow, remember and learn.

Disclaimer: This article has been written by Rucchi Kashyap, a Senior Trainer at Fortune Institute of International Business- an MBA college in New Delhi.