Attached below is a chain of emails which led to this project.

What this project involves in highlighing key managment philosophies and comparing Jain principles which apply to them and any issues related to this. An example below:

Hello Nitin Bhai and Kirit Bhai,

Agree. LRP will take up this issue and several other issues that have come up recently – as listed below:

1. Current thoughts and practices of Management/Marketing/Leadership principles and how these relate to Jain Philosophy

NItinbhai:

Excellent point. I am forwarding this to Yogendra Jain, the Chairperson of the Long Range Planning.

Yogendra ji:

Could you please speak to Dean Deepak Ji during your next meeting and see if he can help us high light some of the management/marketing principles he is using based on Jain philosophy. You may also want to contact some of the others in academic world who may have such insight but did not have platform to discuss.

Thanks.

Kirit C. Daftary

____________________________________

From: JainismFuture@yahoogroups.com [mailto:JainismFuture@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Talsania, Nitin G

Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 12:05 AM

To: JAINA HQ; JainismFuture@yahoogroups.com; netrat@worldnet.att.net; Dilip Shah; vora5000@yahoo.com; Pravin K Shah; Tara Sethia; Sushil Jain; shahchandra@hotmail.com; Pravin C. Shah; bshah@kovair.com; chairs@yja.org; dhrumil@dharmaboost.com; dilipvshah@gmail.com; ilamehta@buckeye-express.com; jvmehta2000@yahoo.com; kdeepika@aol.com; latachampsee@usa.net; niravshah98@gmail.com; pravin.mehta@trane.com; profgaryshah@yahoo.com; udaijn@yahoo.com; Arvind Vora; Dhiraj Shah; Bal Patil; Pankz Jain; Sanjaybhai Kothari; Sanjaybhai Kothari; Shekharchand Jain; Arunkumar Mehta.; manilalmehta@msn.com; Sulekh Jain; Tansukh Salgia; Girish Shah, San Francisco; Pankaz Chandmal Hingarh

Subject: JainismFuture Management and Leadership Lessons from Bhagvad Gita

Jai Jinendra,

Interesting! There is so much "tatva" in our ancient scriptures. The same can be said about Jain principles. We should encourage development of a management/leadership course based on Jain principles.

Regards,

Nitin Talsania

Arrogance

Anop R. Vora

Rochester, NY

Arrogance is a serious destructive human emotion like anger, deception, jealousy, and greed. Encarta dictionary defines it as contemptuous pride-a strong feeling of self-importance that is expressed by treating others with contempt or disregard. Other equivalent words for arrogance are: Conceit, Egotism, Superiority, False Pride, Overconfidence, Superciliousness, Self-importance, and Condescension. Many world religions such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Taoism have described arrogance as a sin and condemned it in no uncertain terms.

If we study the history of mankind, we will find that it is replete with stories of people who fell from grace or were destroyed or were bruised badly by arrogance. These stories support the common knowledge that the people who are infected with arrogance usually become ‘blind’ and stubborn, live in a dream world, and cannot see what others see. Nor do they realize that they have a serious mental disease. Usually they walk around with a large ego, surround themselves with like minded selfish friends and they tend to see –with jaundiced eyes-arrogance in others, not in themselves! They are out to prove to the world how smart and superior they are compared to others.

Arrogance is very difficult to get rid of because the person who has this vice usually is close minded, tends to be vindictive and possesses a large dose of anger as well. Further more, very few people would be willing to bring this problem to his or her attention because of unpredictable response and even hostile reaction to any honest feedback offered. Clearly, the risk/reward ratio is very unfavorable for them. Likewise, well wishers like parents or spouse may try a few times but they also keep mum after a while out of frustration. So in the absence of genuine feedback and guidance, it becomes a lonely journey; making it very difficult to take any corrective actions. To make matters worse, most people tend to pamper the ego of the arrogant person, allowing the vice to take even a stronger hold on the person.

Although anger and arrogance-both are very bad vices, which one is worse compared to the other? In my opinion, arrogance is far worse than anger because anger at least needs a catalyst from outside while arrogance does not. We can hide anger but arrogance is apparent to all around us. Anger in most cases is transient in nature and it may subside in due course and may be easy to forget and forgive but arrogance is an ongoing phenomenon fueling fire on a continual basis. An arrogant person is constantly occupied in boosting his own ego and does not hesitate to employ devious means to earn undue respect, prestige or salutations.

Anger may exist without arrogance but arrogance is almost invariably accompanied with anger. Arrogance and anger form an explosive combination that can easily turn a person violent and make him lose his sense of discretion. He will hurt others and also hurt himself in the process. If we closely observe, we can easily identify people around us whom we can characterize as being arrogant-friends, relatives, political, religious, community leaders etc. It appears that the vice is inherent in humans and has been rampant through the time immemorial.

Humility has been identified as a very effective antidote for arrogance by the spiritual teachers all over the world and have recommended that parents become proactive during the formative years in inculcating the importance of humility through practice as well precept. This is an excellent way to nip arrogance in the bud. However, nowadays with so much focus on individualism, the modern trend is to move away from modesty and humility. The modern society as it boosts confidence in self, ends up boosting ego and false pride leading to arrogance. Early on, more and more competitive spirit is instilled in the child in sports and school achievement. Parents set bad examples by bragging about child’s achievements which forms basis for manifestation of arrogance. As we promote slogans such as “winning is the only thing that matters” or “win at any cost” or “achieving by hook or crook”, it not only increases the competitive spirits but also induces false pride, ego, dishonesty and most certainly arrogance in our youth. Consequently, arrogance gets ingrained in our character and manifests at different levels later in life.

How do we change ourselves? Is there any way to transform our arrogance into humility? A spiritual guide or a therapist can possibly steer us in the right direction, help us see the truth and more importantly our faults and put us on the right path. But ultimately it is we who have to follow the guidance and put it in practice. No one can do this job for us. Just like a doctor can diagnose our problem, prescribe us the right medicine but cannot take it for us, a spiritual mentor or a therapist can diagnose our problem and show us corrective solution but cannot do it for us. Our desire for corrective action must spring forth from within.

The following practical steps can help us in recognizing our problem and rectifying our behavior:

• Acknowledge the problem - The first step is the recognition and acceptance of the problem. Unless one accepts that there is a problem and is willing to do something about it, nothing can happen. If a sick person refuses to accept the fact that there is something wrong, he or she will not seek medical help.

• Do a reality check - One way we can deflate our ego is to see that there is always someone who is better than us no matter how inflated we feel about our wealth, power, knowledge, talent, appearance etc. We need to realize that the objects of our arrogance and good fortune could all disappear over night because every thing in life is transient and cyclic.

• Know that this too shall pass - Every time we go through an ego boosting situation, we need to come back to earth by remembering this important scriptural message:

• Remind ourselves that truth has many angles and perceptions are relative – Like the blind men describing the elephant, we must remind ourselves that ours may not be the only correct viewpoint. To find the right approach, we need to be polite and receptive enough to listen to the ideas and view points from people with different cultures and backgrounds. Some times we will discover that we were way off in our approach! Being polite does not mean a total agreement with the view points of the opponent. It only means listening to the other party consciously. Listening with a spirit of reconciliation cannot co-exist with arrogance!

• Humility produces positive results - We need to understand that humility generates respect, co-operation and pleasant vibrations while dealing with our fellow human beings. Arrogance on the other hand invites contempt, dislike and hate. Our choice should be obvious.

• Arrogance obstructs and humility fosters resolution of conflicts. More problems have existed throughout history because of ego clashes. If we show humility to others in resolving a conflict, even our opponents will calm down and show a way to get out of it. On the other hand, if we are perceived as arrogant, our opponents will play hard ball and devise ways to teach us a lesson, thereby lowering the chances of resolution.

Conclusion

Being polite is divine; being arrogant is like committing a spiritual suicide. Looking at the history of mankind and judging from the way arrogant people at all levels have fallen, we should be fully convinced that arrogance never pays in the long run. Having said that, let us also accept that very few of us lead a perfect life. We may have become arrogant at one time or the other in our interactions with others. But if we remain alert and examine our own behavior objectively, we will find that every time we became arrogant and asked our inner voice; it would almost always tell us that we were wrong in what we did. We will realize that our mind was overpowering us without being cognizant about it and we will feel sorry about own ignorance.

Going forward, let us be more vigilant and aware of arrogance and other destructive emotions that are our inner enemies. Just being aware of them is a giant step in the right direction. It holds the key to solving our problem. Next time, if we run into any trying situation, let us act with a spirit of conciliation and humility. We may get surprised at the positive results. This should motivate us to keep trying again and again until we lessen the intensity of our vice in a significant way. We will never know about the miracles humility can produce until we try!

Arrogance *** this is a version for JAINS ********

Anop R. Vora

Arrogance is a serious destructive human emotion like anger, deception, jealousy, and greed. Jainism places a very heavy emphasis on the elimination of these complex and intertwined negative emotions. In fact, it regards the destruction of these emotions all the way down to the subtlest level from one’s character as a prerequisite to achieving one’s highest potential leading to the liberation of soul known as Moksha.

Let us start with the definition of the word ‘arrogance’: Encarta dictionary defines it as contemptuous pride- a strong feeling of self-importance that is expressed by treating others with contempt or disregard. Other equivalent words for arrogance are: Conceit, Egotism, Superiority, False Pride, Overconfidence, Superciliousness, Self-importance, and Condescension. Major religions such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism and Taoism have described arrogance as a sin and condemned it in no uncertain terms.

If we study the history of mankind, we will find that it is replete with stories of people who fell from grace or were destroyed or ruined by arrogance. These stories support the common knowledge that the people who are affected with arrogance usually become ‘blind’ and stubborn, live in a dream world, and cannot see what others see. Nor do they realize that they have a serious mental disease. Usually they walk around with a large ego, surround themselves with like minded selfish friends and they tend to see –with jaundiced eyes-arrogance in others, not in themselves! They are out to prove to the world how smart and superior they are compared to others.

Arrogance is very difficult to get rid of because the person who has this vice usually is close minded, tends to be vindictive and possesses a large dose of anger as well. Further more, very few people would be willing to bring this problem to his or her attention because of unpredictable response and even hostile reaction to any honest feedback offered. Clearly, the risk/reward ratio is very unfavorable for them. Likewise, well wishers like parents or spouse may try a few times but they also keep mum after a while out of frustration. So in the absence of genuine feedback and guidance, it becomes a lonely journey; making it very difficult to take any corrective actions. To make matters worse, most people tend to pamper the ego of the arrogant person, allowing the vice to take even a stronger hold on him or her.

Although anger and arrogance-both are very bad vices, which one is worse compared to the other? In my opinion, arrogance is far worse than anger because anger at least needs a catalyst from outside while arrogance does not. We can hide anger but arrogance is apparent to all around us. Anger in most cases is transient in nature and it may subside in due course and may be easy to forget and forgive but arrogance is an ongoing phenomenon fueling fire on a continual basis. An arrogant person is constantly occupied in boosting his own ego and does not hesitate to employ devious means to earn undue respect, prestige or salutations.

Anger may exist without arrogance but arrogance is almost invariably accompanied with anger. Arrogance and anger form an explosive combination that can easily turn a person violent and make him lose his sense of discretion. He will hurt others and also hurt himself in the process. Well known historical examples of arrogance are that of evil king-Ravan and more recently of Adolf Hitler. Although they are extreme examples of the past, we can easily associate people around us whom we can characterize as being arrogant-friends, relatives, political, religious, community leaders etc. It appears that the vice is inherent in humans and has been rampant through the time immemorial. At the other end of the spectrum, we also find the examples of great figures such as Mahatma Gandhi who showed very high level of humility in his conduct. He showed that humility can indeed produce much better results than arrogance.

Jain masters have identified this vice, among others, going all the way back to Lord Adinath’s era, offered spiritual corrective actions and structured many religious practices to fix the problem. They are designed not only to soften one’s arrogance but also to soften other vices such as anger, deception, lust and greed starting from the early childhood. Some of these practices are:

• Salutations to liberated/enlightened souls through daily recitation of Navkar Mantra – By bowing to the purest of the pure, one seeks those qualities.

• Humility shown to monks, nuns and teachers – when one shows humility and bows to others, it reduces one’s ego.

• Respect shown to Parents and elders as ‘Vinay’ regarded as the birthplace of knowledge – as a practice followed from early childhood, it trains one’s attitude towards showing respect to those who are older in age and wiser .

• Samayik (48 minute meditation to improve self awareness) – meditation and dhyan calm the mind and one’s inner self. This improves clarity of thought and help gain equanimity.

• Pratikraman (Introspection and Asking for forgiveness for one’s mistakes) – this is an extremely powerful tool because it provides an opportunity to acknowledge one’s faults, seek forgiveness and reduce hostility that is associated with arrogance.

• Daily reminder of 12 Bhavanas (Reflections) – it serves as a reminder of the “truth”, the way things really are. It removes false beliefs and helps eliminate negative emotions of greed, arrogance, deceit, etc.

These practices- if carried out consciously and regularly- have the power to make one humble and ego-free. Every one of them has a purpose and has an additive value; sum total of which could have a profound impact on us.

Parents often play a crucial role-under the guidance of spiritual teachers- by inculcating the importance of humility during our formative years through practice as well precept. This is an excellent way to nip arrogance in the bud. However, now a days with so much focus on individualism, the modern trend is to move away from modesty and humility. The modern society, more so in the western world, as it boosts confidence in self, ends up boosting ego and false pride leading to arrogance. Early on, more and more competitive spirit is instilled in the child in sports and school achievement. Parents set bad examples by bragging about child’s achievements which forms basis for manifestation of arrogance. As we promote slogans such as “winning is the only thing that matters” or “win at any cost” or “achieving by hook or crook”, it not only increases the competitive spirits but also induces false pride, ego, dishonesty and most certainly arrogance in our youth. Consequently, arrogance gets ingrained in our character and manifests at different levels later in life.

How do we change ourselves? Is there any way to transform our arrogance into humility? A spiritual guide known as a sadguru can steer us in the right direction, help us see the truth and more importantly our faults and put us on the right path. But ultimately it is we who have to follow the guidance and put it in practice. No one can do this job for us. Just like a doctor can diagnose our problem, prescribe us the right medicine but cannot take it for us, a sadguru can diagnose our problem and show us corrective solution but cannot do it for us. In the absence of a sadguru, a therapist can also help but we have to take the initiative. Our desire for corrective action must spring forth from within.

The following practical steps can help us in recognizing our problem and rectifying our behavior:

• Acknowledge the problem - The first step is the recognition and acceptance of the problem. Unless one accepts that there is a problem and is willing to do something about it, nothing can happen. If a sick person refuses to accept the fact that there is something wrong, he or she will not seek medical help.

• Do a reality check - One way we can deflate our ego is to see that there is always someone who is better than us no matter how inflated we feel about our wealth, power, knowledge, talent, appearance etc. Karma theory (Cause & effect) teaches us that the objects of our arrogance and good fortune are the fruits of our karmas from the past and could all disappear one day because every thing in life is transient and cyclic.

• Know that this too shall pass - Every time we go through an ego boosting situation, we need to come back to earth by remembering this important scriptural message: All material things in life are temporary and come with an expiration date, a date which is out of our control. (Anitya Bhavana). History is full of so many examples. When Alexander the great was lying on his death bed, he was helpless even though he had conquered the whole world.

• Remind ourselves that truth has many angles and perceptions are relative – Like the blind men describing the elephant, we must remind ourselves that ours is not the only correct viewpoint. To find the right approach, we need to be polite and receptive enough to listen to the ideas and view points from people with different cultures and backgrounds. Some times we will discover that we were way off in our approach! Being polite does not mean a total agreement with the view points of the opponent. It only means listening to the other party consciously. Listening with a spirit of reconciliation cannot co-exist with arrogance! This is the main message of ANEKANTWAD.

• Recognize the equality of souls - We need to respect all life and all our human beings. Jainism clearly says: All souls are equal. This means that any temporary perception of superiority should not blind us and make us arrogant.

• Humility produces positive results - We need to understand that humility generates respect, co-operation and pleasant vibrations while dealing with our fellow human beings. Arrogance on the other hand invites contempt, dislike and hate. Our choice should be obvious.

• Arrogance obstructs and humility fosters resolution of conflicts. More problems have existed throughout history because of ego clashes. If we show humility to others in resolving a conflict, even our opponents will calm down and show a way to get out of it. On the other hand, if we are perceived as arrogant, our opponents will play hard ball and devise ways to teach us a lesson, thereby lowering the chances of resolution.

Conclusion

Being polite is divine; being arrogant is like committing a spiritual suicide. Looking at the history of mankind and judging from the way arrogant people at all levels have fallen; we should be fully convinced that arrogance never pays in the long run. Having said that, let us also accept that very few of us lead a perfect life. We may have become arrogant at one time or the other in our interactions with others. But if we remain alert and examine our own behavior objectively, we will find that every time we became arrogant and asked our inner voice (our soul); it would almost always tell us that we were wrong in what we did. We will realize that our mind was overpowering us without being cognizant about it and we will feel sorry about own ignorance.

Going forward, let us be more vigilant and aware of arrogance and other destructive emotions that are our inner enemies. Just being aware of them is a giant step in the right direction. It holds the key to solving our problem. Next time, if we run into any trying situation, let us act with a spirit of conciliation and humility. We may get surprised at the positive results. This should motivate us to keep trying again and again until we lessen the intensity of our vice in a significant way. We will never know about the miracles humility can produce until we try!