Project and Personnel Management From the Viewpoint of the Spiritual Seeker

Being a spiritual seeker, and a manager of a business, or a unit or department or program, are not incompatible activities. The question that seekers raise is how to find the proper balance that allows the work, including the management work, that they do, be part of their spiritual sadhana. If they are interpreting that work according to a fixed guideline of “right or wrong”, they frequently opt toward a more severe and less forgiving form of management.

The manager’s methodology is very much dependent on the Guna that predominates in his nature, as well as the standpoint of the manager with respect to the spiritual sadhana. The vital nature is a natural seat of Rajas and when Rajas is in the forefront, there can be a tendency toward bullying, domineering spirit and exercise of control or power, what we call in the animal kingdom, the enforcement of a ‘pecking order’. We see this very clearly in terms of military training and hierarchy as well, where the lower orders of participants are harassed and bullied and berated into compliance with the authority of the manager in that circumstance. This is in fact a very common management method found widely throughout the world. For the spiritual seeker, however, who wants to develop a different way, and who understands that the relationships and stress that develop under this method are actually counter-productive and the opposite to what he wants to encourage in his spiritual growth. It is easy for the vital nature to generally convince the mind to support its desires, so there are no end of arguments as to why this may be the “best” approach to develop the work. In the end, however, the seeker finds that he needs to shift his standpoint to the parts of the being that more directly align with his spiritual aspirations, and that means, with the emergence of the psychic being and the increase of its influence upon the outer nature.

It is with the emergence of the psychic being that a new emphasis arises for harmony, cooperation, good will and empathy. When the seeker is oriented from this direction, his entire approach to working with others, and managing processes and projects, undergoes major changes and adjustments. There is more emphasis on people learning and growing during the process, a concerted effort to achieve harmonious and willing cooperation rather than obtaining grudging support through pressure and domineering controls. The goal can be kept clearly in focus and a clear-sighted understanding can be applied to move the project forward without harming the development of others who are participating in the process. This also takes more trust in the process, the participants and the efficacy of the means over the long-term.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “… each human being is composed of different personalities that feel and behave in a different way and his action is determined by the one that happens to be prominent at the time. The one that has no feelings against anyone is either the psychic being or the emotional being in the heart, the one that feels anger and is severe is a part of the exte
al vital nature on the surface. This anger and severity is a wrong form of something that in itself has a value, a certain strength of will and force of action and control in the vital being, without which work cannot be done. What is necessary is to get rid of the anger and to keep the force and firm will along with a developed judgment as to what is the right thing to do in any circumstances. For instance, people can be allowed to do things in their own way when that does not spoil the work, when it is only their way of doing what is necessary to be done; when their way is opposed to the discipline of the work, then they have to be controlled, but it should be done quietly and kindly, not with anger.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 2, Looking at Oneself and Others, pg. 47