Individualism v/s Collectivism

Why do people join group? Human being is social animal. The answer lies behind the human being mind set to discover oneself, to be a part of something and to go beyond what he is. People lived life in solitude have either possessed super natural powers or they experienced the harmful affects like madness, illusions, memory loss.
The group behavior could be categorized in two worldviews: Individualism and Collectivism. All the people you find around could belong one of these categories or they may show one of the above characteristics at a particular situation. Individualistic could be termed as “I” or “Me” while collectivism as “We”. Individualist or Idiosyncratic theory revolves round the benefit of oneself before the group while the Collectivist theory put the group’s goal on priority.

World of Individuals
Everyone in this world in unique and in my opinion, whole world is just full of individualist. But if it so, then why a person sacrifice his interest for a group or society. Why shouldn’t he always do what he wants to do? Well, the answer lies behind the benefit the individual reaps by putting himself into social/group norms. Hence, it’s a trade-off between individualist and collectivist.  An example of it is that many people do not want to marry, or spouse does not want to conceive a child but just to conform to the society principles, these individualists do these against their will and in the result they reap benefit of affiliation, social status, power, and respect from society. Hence, unknowingly the individualist for their benefits shows collectivist behavior. This is how society works as Collectivist from Individualist. Coming to myself, even I believe I am an Individualist with Collectivist compromise with society. :P

Human Psychology
Most people prefer not to admit their faults, limitations. People readily embrace +ve feedback, but they question comments that are critical, they make mistakes they blame external factors but when they succeed they quickly claim credit.

One very important fact is about social comparison and social support. It has been found out that Misery Loves Company, Miserly Loves Miserable or More Miserable Company, Embarrassed Miserly Avoids Company. I could relate it with my real life examples: I met with an accident thrice, got fractures and hospitalized. The misery it brought me to lead me to keep searching for people like me with whom I may discuss, share my misery. It used to give an ultimate satisfaction. Even today if I find someone is some kindda same situations, I can easily empathize.

Leadership

As people have different minds, it’s important for a leader that he must understand the individualist and collectivist behaviors of people and act accordingly. As people do not like critics, leaders should always try to give positive feedback for improving people rather than criticizing them. Recognize their achievements and bring open and conducive environment so people even admit their mistakes. 

My Unravellings

 Learning should never stop. Hopefully, someday, sometime my quotes will be said by someone with my name under it. :)
I will keep writing my unravelling. It could be an excerpt from any book, my thoughts, my take or my experience.

1. Never criticize anyone as it is always taken negatively, always give +ve feedback for improvement.
2. Chocolate distribution to all students is the best way of punishment in classes. 
3. Every manager should learn how to manage their mail-box.
4. "One cannot be everything to everyone but one can be everything to a select few."
5. " Recruiting the right genius for the job is the first step in building many great collaborations." - Bennis and Biederman
 


Keep checking for more everyday...

Group Dynamics and Leadership

A group is a collection of people with a sense of attachment. It could easily be differentiated with a category which is just a collection of people with something in common. Basically the idea of group is very vague and depends a lot upon the context and situation. A real life experience with me makes it clearer. I was required to catch a bus from Delhi to my native, Meerut. When I reached at bus stand, there was a huge crowd waiting for the bus from a long time. I started waiting with them when bad news just passed that buses have stopped plying for my city. Suddenly that collection of people who even did not know each other became together and went to talk to Bus Stand Manager about this unannounced decision. After long hours of altercations, the manager agreed to the “GROUP” of people and started the bus services. The example makes it so clear that when a mere collection of people become a GROUP of people. A group is a strong entity and has strong connection of belonging. However, we may have high sense of Group feeling or low sense of “groupiness” depending upon the situation, type of group, members and lot many factors. On very important quality of a group is that many a times the quality of the group could be very different than the members of the group. Also the outcomes of the group work could be outstanding many a times but could be worst of the entire world sometimes. This is what the Group, it could be miracle and could be a shackle. :)

Remembering another recent experience where Group created miracles was during Great Lakes-OBT where the difficult task were made just a game of tic-tac-toe by the various groups of Great Lakes.
(The tyre game during OBT )

(Our group celebrating after finding one card after a long time during Orienteering game at OBT which is just like a treasure hunt. From left to right, Varun - the member, Harsh - the counter, Tanya - the navigator, Venkat - the pacer, Swapnil - the reader, Jagadish - the runner. It was all great group work.)

Understanding groups’ dynamics is a complex task but it’s important to understand how a group behaves and works to become a successful leader. Sometimes, the members of the groups are highly varied in nature, quallities or what so ever but still they are required to be oriented towards a single goal. Orienting all the group members towards one goal requires team skills as well as great leadership powers. So anybody who is interested in honing leadership skills must know how group works, how they behave in a group and how to manage a group.

Bid Adieu Dr Suryasekar

Dr Krishnamurthy Suryasekhar – School of Accounting, Florida International University

Sometimes you meet with people who in just a small span of time put a great influence upon you. You just never forget the person. Well I must say Dr Surysekar is one among of those unmforgettable people with whom I met in my life. He is the visting faculty for 20 hours, for financial accounting at Great Lakes, Chennai andhe started with his course in 1st week of May, 2009. He is super cool and his attitude and ways of teaching are just awesome. The Best thing of Dr Suryasekar was that he take each and every question of student with complete sanctity and ensures that not even a single question MUST not remain unanswered. His ways of teaching made accounting a lot more simple (not that simple though ;)) than my expectations. He don't teach through any book, rather put his experience and his fundas of accounting directly into real application which makes subject far much easier to comprehend. It was disappointing to let Dr Surya go after completing his course but it's all business, honey. In a rush, I managed to get a snap the HERO with me after his last class. He is the HERO of Term 1 at Great Lakes and everybody at Great Lakes misses him.
Thanks Dr Suryasekar to come at Great Lakes. It was a privilege to be your student and part of your wonderful and knowledgable sessions.

Great Lakes Calendar 2009-2010

Karma yoga - The yoga of Action

Karma yoga - The yoga of Action by Swami vivekanand.

8th May, 2009 - Karma yoga session at Great Lakes by Dr Venkat Krishnan

So this is the next topic. Believe me reading all this could make you and your life better in one or the other way. I am not saying that the complete text is an enlightenment. But yes, it contains many topics and common issues of life with which you may relate yourself directly or indirectly.
The books definitely contains something for everyone.

The Karma yoga tells about the significance of work in our life, what are our duty and what should we try to get out of our work. It says that all works are great in his own place and it's the devotion to your work which matters. Work through Freedom, work through love, work like master of our own mind not like slaves for the physical matters. Selfish work is slave's work. So work with unselfishness. Karma yoga talks about what is duty. It also tells that when we do something good, we actually help ourselves not the world because it is a great privilege that for us to be allowed to do something for the world. The world owes nothing from us while we all are debtors of this world. Attaining Freedom is the ultimate goal of all things in the universe. Freedom from bondage, happiness and pains, wealth and miseries. The freedom comes from unselfishness, non-attachment, complete self-abnegation. Karma yoga gives us the method to help us in giving up all attachments, though it is indeed hard. There are two ways to attain freedom and non-attachment: Neti(not this) and Iti(this). Neti is the negative way in which you give up attachment directly by reasoning and the mind & body obey the will. It's very very difficult way. The other way - Iti is the positive way, the way through the world, making use of all the bondages themselves to break those very bondages. It is done slowly, by knowing things, enjoying things, experiencing them until the mind let them all go at last and becomes unattached. This way makes you attain non-attachment throght work and experience.
Neti is part of Jnana yoga while Iti is the part of Karma yoga.
Good and evil, light and dark are the part of the world and any of them will never be vainshed until another one is eliminated. The idea is in attaining this intelligence and work for non-attachment and freedom accordingly.

The fundamental of unselfishness and non-attachment is really hard to comprehend in the real and mean world but Swami Vivekanand tries to clarify them beautifully with examples. Working without selfish goals really looks to be impossible but it's true that we have become mere slaves of these goals. We remain unhappy even after attaining our goal because probably thts not the ultimate goal and life means something else.

Jnana Yoga - The yoga of knowlege

Jnana yoga - The yoga of knowledge by Swami vivekanand.

6th May, 2009 - Jnana Yoga session at Great Lakes by Dr Venkat Krishnan
Yes I am reading it at Great Lakes.
We have been asked to pre-read few topics upon Jnana yoga before coming to class. Initially I was a bit apprehended about reading such topics while in MBA. But just after reading few pages of the Swami Vivekanand's book, I have understood the importance of the subject. The subject is not meant just for MBA but it is meant for the life and you as overall. BTW preachings of Jnana yoga are not for common man because it tells you to practice non-attachment directly which is actually not possible by everyone. There is another school of thought and priciple - Karma Yoga, which is the better way for a common way to self-realization.

Some of the important precepts from the Jnana Yoga are as follows (Thanks Mithesh for help):
Religion:
The book says that Religion is necessary. It is a force to mould the destiny of man, more powerful than race, descent, brotherhood. All religions claim their supernatural origins, not from logic.
Two theories of origin of religion:
i) Ancestor worship (egypt,china) : to keep the memories of the dead, alive.
ii) Nature worship: (aryan)

There are two big questions:
i) What happens after death?
ii) What is the power of nature?
These cannot be answered by the senses, need to go beyond.

Dream is a wonderful state, like a transcendental state. All founders of religion have gone into the trans state to get a glimpse of the spiritual kingdom, certain facts from it. Every religion puts forth an ideal, for every one to achieve. Man runs after infinite power and pleasure, trying to achieve infinite through finite. Ethics call for renunciation, the basis of ethics. Ethics based on society do not work, as society changes , they have to be based on religion.
There are two natures:
i) External nature: material focus
ii) Internal nature: working of the mind
Religion should be broad based, open to change and inclusive.

Real nature of Man:
The book poses inquisitions about what is the the real nature of man. What is real? If everything is momentary, what is real? It put forth lights upon various schools of thoughts based upon reality: Nihilism: which says live in this moment, only this moment is real. The other thoughts are of Vedic people who believe that we need to search for the real. The book also tells that this age is a corruption of the former self, degeneration continues till annihilation and then a fresh start will happen. It also counters the thoughts of scientists who say that this age is a evolution. Hindu belief system says that it is in waves, evolution pre-supposes an involution.

It also discusses about Religious superstition VS scientific superstition. Today we believe blindly about everything science says but don’t believe upon religion teaching and principle. Why so? In fact, religion should have the more or equal validity as science because it has been preached, practiced from thousands of years. It also ponders upon if the soul brought the body or vice versa? The answer to it lies in The Atman (which is independent of space, time, and causation) which controls the body via the subtle body (mind). Since the atman is Infinite , it is unique across and is just one. All soul are just the part of that infinite, Atman. The nature is hiding the reality, we are already perfect, we need to assert the Self, the Atman. Finally it tells that The Self (Atman) is the real nature of man, which every religion is trying to explain, Self is the centre of all ethical codes.

The utility of pursuing Self is happiness. Separation causes misery so to attain Self practice non-attachment. Realating to its practicality in the society, it says that Society has to accommodate the truth, not vice versa, the society has to be modeled to make truth applicable. So practise truth, practice, practice, practice. It narrates a beautiful Sheep lion story in which a lion is reared among sheep and start considering himself to be a sheep. It’s just one day that another lion make him realize that he is not a sheep but a lion. Same is the story of us. We human-beings have all that inside. But we try to seek everything outside. We need to recognize ourselves. We see outside what we are inside. Finally, book concludes to Teach everyone strength, not weakness. Tell everyone that they are the Atman and have come here for a big and noble cause i.e. Self realization.

Maya:
Well that’s my mother name as well. So it was obvious to read this topic with interest.
Few precepts about it are:
1. It is not a illusion, it is a statement of facts, what we are, what we see around us, the way the world works. Clinging on to senses, life, bondage, this is Maya. We are living in a contradiction of existence/non existence, optimism / pessimism. Inhuman progress is creating new avenues for pleasure and even greater number of avenues for pain. Vedantic philosophy takes things as they are, accepting their contradictions. The infinite is trying to express itself through the finite, when it realizes that it is futile, it enunciates itself, this forms the basis of religion.
Agnostics believe that Maya is everything while Vedantic says that maya is just a curtain beyond which we have reality of the Self. It also poses intelligent question like if every thing is maya then why should we work? It answers it wonderfully and logically that it is required to increase knowledge, decrease fanaticism from the world. To lessen misery, to remove ignorance is the only true source of happiness. Finally it concludes that Absolute freedom leads to personal god.

The conception of god

The book intelligently speaks about the conception of God. We must not perceive someone’s ideals/motives/gods by ours i.e. everyone must be judged according to his own ideal not of anyone else. Early religion had no good or evil, as society grew it needed restraint , so it modified gods as the ideal, powerful altruistic being which codified ethics.
It answers about why we have evil in this world in a way that good and evil both go together in this maya. There are to ways of attaining self: Paravratti and Nivratti. Para says “do” while niivrati says “Do not”, means Nivratti tells to control your desire, raise sprirituality while Para tells to do some given action which is part of Karma yoga
It says that Life is a Tantallus Hell: Sad are those who live in the senses, sadder are those who seek something greater, as it cannot be realized through senses or logic. India has social barriers not religious barriers.(buddhism , charvakas). All ideas emanating within maya are maya. Only freedom may lead to growth: one cannot control and yet let you grow. If their is any evil, then go to its root and remove it, denouncing does not help.