Lead An Orderly Life

Deccan Herald

One of the principles of management is self-planning or living an orderly and systematic life. It is of the highest importance. In the absence of proper ordering, our energy gets dissipated. The disciple has to plan where he will concentrate his energy, on serving the teacher or on deep study.

Lord Mahavira  laid down a code of conduct comprising twelve vows for the householder.That code is in reality a code of self-planning.

One element of self-management is "managing your needs". It was on this basis that Mahavira gave his code.
Acquiring wealth is essential. So are food, water, clothing, shelter. But along with them, proper ordering of one's needs is also essential. We mistake all our needs as necessities. After all, what is the criterion of defining necessities? A little reflection will severely limit our needs. If a man has requisite competence, he should be able to limit his needs.

Greatly misleading arguments are given in favour of acquiring wealth. It is said that a factory owner has to do it, else how will he give employment to a large number of workers? However, this is a specious argument. And this idea has lured people and also misguided them. In reality, every individual has his task to carry out.

Our Prime Minister gave a new direction to the Panchsheel programme. The five point programme of Panchsheel has been freshly defined. The main thrust of it is on rural development.

Gandhiji said that every person must have his own work to do. Spinning was not an absolutely new discovery. But the most important point was that every person must have the means to earn his livelihood or satisfy his basic needs. Man cannot live without bread.

Gandhiji made the spinning wheel a symbol of individual labour and self-employment. Unfortunately the lesson has not yet been understood. The plain fact is that if the motive behind opening huge factories was to provide a living to large numbers of people, why are mechanisation and nationalisation, including computerisation and use of robots being increasingly introduced, for they do just the opposite of the proclaimed aim - they result in large-scale redundancies and retrenchment.

All these things are done for self-aggrandisement and personal glory.