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Perspective
Krishna and
Leadership: A Leader Instills Confidence
by
Satya Chaitanya
Scene 1: Kamyaka Forest
The hair-raising scenes of the Dice Hall of Hastinapura are past now.
Yudhishthira has for a second time lost his kingdom and all that was
his. As per the conditions agreed to before the game started, the losers
had to live twelve years in jungle and one year in hiding, during which
year if they are discovered, they have to repeat the cycle of thirteen
years again. Accordingly the Pandavas have surrendered their kingdom to
Duryodhana and are now living in the Kamyaka forest.
While all this was happening, Krishna was away from Dwaraka, fighting a
war with Salva at Saubha and had no knowledge of the dice game or of the
subsequent events. When Krishna reaches back Dwaraka after the war,
Satyaki informs him of the sad, terrible events at Hastinapura and
Krishna leaves everything and rushes to Kamyaka to meet the Pandavas and
share their sorrow. He knows they need him with them at this moment of
loss and only his presence can give them the strength they need now more
than ever before. Many Bhoja, Andhaka and Vrishni chiefs join him.
Draupadi�s brother Dhrishtadyumna, Chedi King Dhrishtaketu, the prince
of Kekaya and many others too reach Kamyaka to be with the Pandavas in
their hour of need.
 Draupadi
breaks down in front of Krishna and speaks of how she was dragged into
the assembly and humiliated there during the dice game. How could anyone
drag a woman like her into a royal assembly, she asks Krishna. A woman
who is the wife of the sons of Kunti, Dhrishtadyumna�s sister and his,
Krishna�s, friend? And that too when she was in her monthly period and
dressed in a single piece of cloth stained by her menstrual blood? She
tells Krishna of how the sons of Dhritarashtra wanted to �enjoy� her
like a common slave woman. And that while the Panchalas were alive,
while the sons of Pandu were alive and while the Vrishnis were alive?
Shame upon the strength of Bheema, she tells Krishna, shame upon
Arjuna�s Gandiva, that the two of them stood watching their wife being
thus humiliated before their very eyes.
Tears fall ceaselessly from the wailing woman�s eyes, drenching her
breasts. She wipes her eyes, sighs deeply again and again and, her voice
choked with grief and unspeakable anger, declares: �I have no husbands,
Krishna. I have no sons. I have no brothers, no relatives. I have not
even you, Krishna.�
Recalling Karna�s exultant laughter at her humiliation still resounding
in her ears, Draupadi reminds Krishna that there are four reasons why he
deserves to protect her:
he is related to her,
she is a noble woman who deserves to be protected, |
they are friends, and
he has the power to protect her.
Krishna does what any man of honor should do under the circumstances. If
Draupadi�s words are powerful in their appeal, Krishna�s words are power
itself. His words terrify us and at the same time, send a thrill through
us. �Lofty woman, grieve not,� he tells her. The women of the men who
have enraged you too would wail as you wail now. They too would lament
seeing their men lying dead, their chopped limbs lying scattered on the
battlefield, their body bathed in blood, pierced by the mighty Arjuna�s
arrows.�
Krishna speaks with the voice of destiny itself. And those words instill
strength and confidence in Draupadi�s [as well as in the Pandavas�]
mind. And in doing so he gives us a lesson in true leadership: a leader
instills confidence. Later Krishna would risk his own life to avoid the
war by going to Hastinapura on a peace mission. But at the moment he
knows it is not talk of peace that would help a shattered Draupadi
gather herself together but of vengeance and that is precisely what
Krishna does.
Krishna shows this uncanny ability to restore confidence in people
through his words and actions again and again throughout the
Mahabharata.
Scene 2: Thirteen Years Later
The Pandavas live twelve years in the jungle and one year in hiding in
Virata to fulfill the terms of the dice game they had lost. When they
claim their kingdom back at the end of it, Duryodhana refuses to give it
back to them and instead asks them to go on another round of twelve
years of life in the jungle and one year in hiding, as the conditions of
the dice stipulated, saying that they had been discovered just before
they completed their year of life in hiding. War becomes inevitable but
Krishna decides to make yet another attempt at establishing peace. He
gets ready to go to Hastinapura with a message from Yudhishthira. The
message is: peace at any cost. The Pandavas would settle for as little
as five villages. Give these to them, and there would be no war.
Draupadi hears of Krishna�s peace mission and comes before her sakha �
her friend, Krishna. Her dark, curly hair is loose, as it has remained
for thirteen years now. She had been dragged by her hair to the assembly
by Dusshasana and she would tie it up only when it has been besmeared
with the dying blood of Dusshasana.
She tells Krishna of what wise men say: that not to kill someone who
deserves death is as much a sin as killing someone who does not. And she
does not want Krishna to be tainted by that sin.
The fire-born Draupadi�s words are always fire. She tells him she is
speaking words she has spoken earlier, asking questions she has asked
him earlier. Is there another woman on earth as unfortunate as she is?
Daughter of a king like Drupada; born from the heart of a burning
sacrificial pit; Dhrishtadyumna�s sister; and his, Krishna�s, friend.
She became the daughter-in-law of the illustrious Pandu and thus a part
of the celebrated royal family of Ajameedha. She married the five Indra-like
sons of Pandu and became the mother of their five sons. And yet she was
caught by her hair and dragged into the royal assembly. While the sons
of Pandu watched. And while he, Krishna, was alive. While the Panchalas
and Vrishnis were still living. Finding no help coming from her
husbands, she had called out to him, to her Govinda, begging for
protection again and again.
Draupadi then takes her thick, curly, long, dark, snakelike hair in her
hands and holding it up before Krishna, tells him: �Remember this hair
of mine, Krishna, every time you speak of peace with the sons of
Duryodhana. Keep this in mind, and also remember that if Bheema and
Arjuna will not fight for my honour, then my old father will do it for
me, along with his sons and my own sons, lead by Abhimanyu. My heart
shall know no peace Krishna, until I see the wicked Dusshasana�s dark
hand that touched my hair severed from his body and lying in the
battlefield covered with dust. I have been tending a fire in my heart,
Krishna, for thirteen years.� With this the beautiful Draupadi breaks
down in inconsolable tears before her only friend in the world.
Krishna assures her once again. �Just as you do now, the wives of the
men you hate too shall wail soon, unless the sons of Dhritarashtra would
listen to me. Those men too shall be food to dogs and jackals, slain in
the battle.�
�Hold your tears back, Krishnaa,� Krishna tells Draupadi, �the Himalayas
might move from their place, the earth might shatter into a hundred
pieces, the skies might come down along with the stars, but my words
shall never go wrong. I promise.�
Once again Krishna shows how well he knows how to give strength to and
restore the confidence of those who have neither.
Scene 3: Kurukshetra
Eighteen akshauhinis is a huge army: 393,660 elephants, 393,660
chariots, 1,109,700 cavalry and 1,968,300 foot soldiers. And this army
is standing face to face in the battlefield of Kurukshetra. The greatest
battle ever fought on the soil of India. Every king, small and big, from
all across the land is present there, each with his army. Conches have
already been blown, announcing the beginning of the battle. The armies
would clash any moment now. Arjuna asks Krishna, his driver, to take his
chariot right to the centre of the battlefield. �Take my chariot to the
middle of the two armies, Krishna, for I want to have a good look at the
warriors hungry for battle assembled here to please the evil Duryodhana.�
Krishna does what he is asked to do by the one man whom he loves more
than anyone else in the world � his friend, his cousin, his
brother-in-law and the greatest warrior on earth.
Arjuna takes a look around and what he sees is not two armies of fierce
warriors but his dear revered grandsire Bheeshma, his guru Drona, guru�s
son Ashwatthama and countless others near and dear to him. There are
fathers and sons standing there, uncles and nephews, brothers and
cousins all ready to maim and slay each other in a brutal war. His eyes
cloud, head reels, perspiration covers his body, legs give way under
him, arms lose their strength, the mighty Gandiva falls from his hands
and he collapses on the chariot floor, telling Krishna �I shall not
fight� and giving a hundred reasons why he will not. It is better to
live begging for alms than enjoying pleasures stained by the blood of
such near and dear ones, he tells Krishna.
 Krishna
gives him the teachings that the world today knows as the Bhagavad-Gita
Gita, the immortal spiritual classic generally acknowledged as the most
beautiful spiritual gem in the world. Arjuna wanted to desert his horrid
duty and escape into a life of renunciation and Krishna teaches him what
true renunciation means and how it is not running away from the
battlefield of life but standing there facing it. When Krishna finishes,
Arjuna picks up the Gandiva from the chariot floor, straight, energy and
power coursing through his veins, confidence resonating in his voice. He
is now ready to wage the war for which he has been preparing all his
life.
Scene 4: Indraprastha, before the Rajasooya
The Bharata kingdom has been divided and Pandavas have been given
Khandavaprastha, the wilderness around modern day Delhi. They clear the
land and establish Indraprastha there, a splendid capital city by any
standards. Yudhishthira turns out to be a just, loving and competent
ruler and the glory of the Pandavas spread wide. For the glory of his
dead father, Yudhishthira now wants to conduct a rajasooya sacrifice
which will declare him as the most powerful ruler on the earth. He
consults sages and brahmanas, his ministers and his brothers, all of
whom advise him to go ahead and do that, but he is still not sure. How
does he know that everyone is advising him to go ahead just to please
him and not because they feel he should do it, he asks himself. Or maybe
they all have something to gain from it and it is for their selfish
reasons that are asking him to do the sacrifice. But there is one person
who would give him advice he can trust totally � Krishna. Yudhishthira
sends word to Krishna telling him he wishes to consult him and Krishna
comes to Indraprastha. Yudhishthira places his concerns before him. He
certainly wants to do the rajasooya, but he is not sure he should do it,
nor even that he can do it.
Krishna, as always, looks at things from the higher standpoint. For him
it is not a matter of Yudhishthira�s or the dead Pandu�s glory, nor even
the glory of the Bharatas as a whole, but a matter of the welfare of the
world, the one goal for which he has lived every day of his life �
lokasangraha.
Krishna paints a very detailed picture of the dark political situation
of the land at that time. One by one he takes the names of the kings of
the land and tells how Jarasandha has conquered or subjugated each. The
list includes many who are very close to Yudhishthira and who cherish
love for him in their hearts, but such is the evil might of Jarasandha
not one of them is able to take an independent stand against him,
barring a rare king here and there. The dungeons of Jarasandha at
Girivraja contains eighty-six kings he intends to sacrifice in a final
ritual � he is waiting the number to grow to one hundred. The day the
number is completed, a hundred crowned heads will be ritually sacrificed
by him. No rajasooya will be possible unless Jarasandha is eliminated.
Eliminating him is not only a political necessity for Yudhishthira if he
wanted to perform rajasooya, but is the need of the hour. Dharma calls
for it.
Krishna also tells him it is impossible to eliminate Jarasandha through
a war. He is too powerful for it. But he has to be eliminated, there is
no alternative to it. And Krishna tells Yudhishthira the time is right
to do so.
Krishna himself has fought seventeen battles with Jarasandha, all forced
upon him by the evil emperor, but eventually had decided to move away
from Mathura to Dwaraka for the safety of his people. Jarasandha has a
personal grudge against Krishna. The wicked Kamsa, Krishna�s uncle whom
he killed, was Jarasandha�s son-in-law and Jarasandha wanted vengeance
for the killing. However, in the seventeenth and final battle they
fought, a happy thing happened. Kansa had two ministers, Hamsa and
Dimbaka, brothers who were totally devoted to each other. In the battle
some other king by the name Hamsa was killed and when Dimbaka heard of
this, the jumped into the Yamuna and committed suicide, thinking it was
his brother who had been killed. He did not want to live without his
brother. And when Hamsa heard this, he too jumped into the Yamuna and
killed himself. This has weakened Jarasandha to some extent, as has the
death of Kamsa. It is the right time to strike him.
Both Bheema and Arjuna too are of the opinion that this is the right
thing to do and that it can be done through the combined power of Bheema,
Arjuna and Krishna. Yudhishthira, however, does not have the
self-confidence that these three have. As he very frequently does, he
begins wavering, unable to make up his mind. He is also worried for the
life of his brothers and Krishna. He begins praising the virtues of
contentment rather than valor. Considering everything, in spite of his
great desire to do the sacrifice and become an emperor, he says it is
better to forget all about it. Rajasooya appears indeed to be difficult
and the best thing is to drop the whole idea, he tells Krishna.
Arjuna interferes and speaks of the need to act with valor. When he
finishes, Krishna speaks, telling Arjuna he has spoken like a true
Bharata and like a son of Kunti. The implication is clear: Yudhishthira
has not spoken like a son of the Bharatas or of a brave mother like
Kunti. Who knows about death, asks Krishna. Who knows about what will
happen tomorrow? A life lived in the fear of death and defeat is not
worth living. He speaks of the duty of killing Jarasandha � they owe it
to the kings imprisoned by Jarasandha. And Krishna does not care if they
are killed by Jarasandha�s people after they kill him. [He is saying
this because the plan to kill Jarasandha is fully formed in his mind. It
is going to be through neeti, indirect means, avoiding a direct war with
him. It is possible that after Jarasandha�s death, his army would kill
them. But Krishna is ready for it. Such is his commitment to dharma and
lokasangraha.]
Krishna finds that Yudhishthira is still does not have the confidence
required. Krishna explains his plan. Arjuna, Bheema and he would go to
Jarasandha and challenge him for a one-to-one dual. And Jarasandha would
choose Bheema � for he is a great warrior and for fear of ill-fame, he
would want to fight only the greatest among them. And Bheema would kill
him.
Perhaps Krishna still does not see the light of confidence in
Yudhishthira�s eyes. But slaying Jarasandha is the need of Dharma and
lokasangraha. And nothing would stop him from achieving that goal. He
knows there is only thing that would make Yudhishthira relent. And
Krishna does exactly that. He guarantees Yudhishthira the lives of both
Arjuna and Bheema [and by implication, his own too] � for Yudhishthira
is not confident of ruling his own kingdom without them, forget about
performing the rajasooya, which requests the conquest of all other
kings. As he says repeatedly, Bheema and Arjuna are his right and left
hands.
Krishna�s words here are moving and powerful. He says:
Yadi me hṛdayam vetsi,
yadi te pratyayo mayi
Bhīmasenārjunau śīghram nyasabhūtau prayachha me.
�If you know my heart, if you have faith in me,
then make over Bheema and Arjuna to me, as a pledge, without loss of
time!"
Finally Krishna has succeeded in instilling confidence in Yudhishthira.
The Kuru prince protests desperately.
�Achyuta, Achyuta, don�t say that, don�t speak so. You are our lord and
master, and we are your dependents.� He then agrees to Krishna�s plan
and declares he regards Jarasandha already dead, the kings imprisoned by
him already released and his own rajasooya, already performed.
~*~
Instilling confidence in his people is one of the basic functions of any
leader, whether in ancient days or in modern days, whether in a war or
in a business organization. A leader who fails to instill confidence in
his people fails to qualify as a leader, so fundamental is the
leadership function of instilling confidence.
The ability to build confidence is part of the referent power of the
leader, his most important power base as far as his dealings and
relationships with his follower are concerned. And this ability depends
on the leader�s integrity, commitment, courage and consistency. As a
leader, Krishna shows the highest level of integrity, total consistency
of purpose, absolute commitment to his goals and unsurpassed courage in
facing the challenges these offer. Any leader if he wants to deserve the
name of leader will have to show integrity, consistency, courage and
commitment so that he can instill confidence in his followers. It is
confidence thus instilled that gives wings to the followers and makes
the impossible possible.
Incidentally, J. Collins in the January 2001 issue of Harvard Business
Review defines Level 5 leadership as �the highest level in a hierarchy
of executive capabilities, who blend extreme personal humility with
intense professional will.� What Krishna shows is Level 5 leadership at
its best.
January 25, 2009
Illustration by Ashok Dongre
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