The causes of social change affect or characterize every aspect of society across the world. On a macro scale, they shape all of our major social institutions (economics, politics, religion, family, education, science/technology, military, legal system, and so on. On a micro scale, they shape our values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors.

It's the continuous efforts of awaken Hindus that are bringing positive changes in the society and we have these days in front of our eyes where we can see inclusion of our Hindu scriptures becoming part of elite institutes.

Do you want to learn values and ethics, understand behavioural orientation or managing self as part of lessons from Bhagavad Gita and the life of Lord Krishna? Joining the list of prominent educational institutes launching courses based on ancient scriptures, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) is set to launch a course on Bhagavad Gita for corporate professionals to teach management lessons.

The program that will commence from December 13 will include lessons and chapters from Gita to ‘to explore contemporary management concepts, conflicts, dilemmas, and trade-offs in business.’

The great Indian epics of Mahabharata and Gita has inspired many institutions and corporates to extrapolate the life lessons learnt from the epics in real life. As per the IIM-A website, ‘Lessons from Bhagawad Gita suggest powerful ways to promote management practices that are consistent with the business model and yet ethical.’

“Lessons from Bhagawad Gita suggest powerful ways to promote management practices that are consistent with business models and yet ethical. This course is focused on early reflections on those learnings,” said an IIM official while speaking with Ahmedabad Mirror. 

About the course

The course has been divided into 06 sessions of 03 hours each. The objective of the course is to develop insights into making effective choices, strengthen concepts of contemporary management and value-based leadership, develop an understanding of leadership excellence and more. 

Anyone familiar with Bhagwad Gita would already be well aware of the great learnings from the Krishna-Arjun Samwad, Arjun’s dilemma before stepping into the battle and Krishna’s role as a guide. 

“The course will also enable participants to develop competence to face challenging times in their career with confidence. The program aims to sensitize them on ways to develop themselves into effective leaders in the corporate world,” the official had added further. 

The content that will be taught using a mix of case discussion and video films, will include value lessons from the Gita, understanding behavioural orientation, role conflict and outcome amongst others. 

The program is intended for professionals having 5 years of work experience. Anyone wanting to learn management techniques in decision making, leadership, motivation, strategy planning, negotiation, persuasion and building teams can enrol for the course. 

The program fee is Rs 64,000 and the registration for the same closes on November 29.

Objectives of the Course

The course is designed with the following objectives and learning outcomes:

• Gain insights into ethics and values to promote meaningful impact in organisations.
• Develop insights into how to make effective choices.
• Strengthen concepts of contemporary management and value-based leadership.
• Develop an understanding about leadership excellence.
• Acquire insights about how to lead a life with excellence and happiness.

Programme Contents

The key areas to be covered during the programme include:

• Values and ethics – Lessons from Bhagavad Gita
• Understanding behavioural orientation
• Understanding role, role conflict and outcome
• Essence of leadership excellence
• Managing self – A journey towards excellence and happiness

‘If we have to teach managers, what better way than the life of Lord Krishna?’

While speaking with the media, course creator Professor Sunil Maheshwari said, “We teach through a case study method. And if we have to teach managers these skills, what better way than the life of Lord Krishna? His is the best life example to teach effective leadership.”

While speaking of the course, the professor informed that he conducted a survey amongst corporates before designing the course. “What struck me the most is that the credibility score was very poor, meaning there should be more credible managers and leaders in corporations if we want to move in the right direction.”

“Lessons from Bhagavad Gita help managers live a purposeful life leading to excellence in everything they do. They need to have high credibility, ethics, and a value system,” he said further.  

Similarly, in January 2021, senior members of the board of studies at BHU had passed the proposal to begin this course after long deliberations. Apart from Indian students, foreign students will also be able to join this course.

BHU starts India's first Hindu Studies course with topics on ancient warfare, military strategy, women in military

VARANASI: For the first time, Hinduism will be taught as a subject in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and students will learn ancient knowledge, tradition, arts, science and skills under this course in the University’s Faculty of Arts. The university is starting the Hinduism course of two years with 40 seats. An entrance exam will be held on October 3 to shortlist the students for the course.

BHU vice chancellor Vijay Kumar Shukla said "It will be the first degree course of Hinduism in our country. Earlier, only a diploma course was running in Himachal university. We are teaching other cultures, traditions like Christianity, Islam in universities while Hinduism was not on streamline".

The MA course on Hindu Studies, a joint effort by BHU’s Department of Philosophy and Religion, Bharat Adhyayan Kendra, Department of Sanskrit, Department of Ancient History, Culture, and Archeology, is the first of its kind in India.

Professor Sadashiv Dwivedi, Coordinator at Bharat Adhyayan Kendra BHU, said that the aim of the course was to prepare scholars of ancient India wisdom, including philosophy and languages. Students would be able to understand Indian culture and Hinduism from a scientific perspective.

Other central universities will also begin the Hindu Studies course soon. As per BHU Vice Chancellor VK Shukla, the course is being started because Christian and Islamic countries have various religion-based courses in their countries but India was lacking in the same.

He said smart classes will be organised for students in varsity and students from other countries can also be part of the course. He said a large number of applications from foreign students indicates interest of other countries in Hinduism.

References:

opindia.com - OpIndia Staff
ahmedabadmirror.com - Niyati Rana
web.iima.ac.in