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Project and Personnel Management From the Viewpoint of the Spiritual Seeker · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Being a spiritual seeker and a manager of a business or a unit
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  or department or program are not incompatible activities.
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  The question that seekers raise is how to find the proper
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  balance that allows the work, including the management work
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  that they do, be part of their spiritual sadhna.
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  If they are interpreting that work according to a fixed
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  guideline of right or wrong, they frequently opt toward a
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  more severe and less forgiving form of management.
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  The manager's methodology is very much dependent on the guna
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  that predominates in his nature, as well as the standpoint of the
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  manager with respect to the spiritual sadhna.
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  The vital nature is a natural seat of rajas, and when rajas is
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  in the forefront, there can be a tendency toward bullying,
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  domineering spirit and exercise of control or power.
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  What we call in the animal Kingdom the enforcement of a
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  pecking order. We see this very clearly in
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  terms of military training and hierarchy as well, where the
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  lower orders of participants are harassed and bullied and berated
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  into compliance with the authority of the manager in that
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  circumstance. This is in fact a very common
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  management method found widely throughout the world.
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  For the spiritual seeker, however, who wants to develop a
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  different way and who understands that the
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  relationships and stress that develop under this method are
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  actually counterproductive and the opposite to what he wants to
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  encourage in his spiritual growth, it is easy for the vital
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  nature to generally convince the mind to support its desires, so
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  there are no end of arguments as to why this may be the best
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  approach to develop the work. In the end, however, the seeker
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  finds that he needs to shift his standpoint to the parts of the
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  being that more directly align with his spiritual aspirations,
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  and that means with the emergence of the psychic being
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  and the increase of its influence upon the outer nature.
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  It is with the emergence of the psychic being that a new
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  emphasis arises for harmony, cooperation, goodwill, and
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  empathy. When the seeker is oriented from
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  this direction, his entire approach to working with others
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  and managing processes and projects undergoes major changes
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  and adjustments. There is more emphasis on people
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  learning and growing during the process, a concerted effort to
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  achieve harmonious and willing cooperation rather than
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  obtaining grudging support through pressure and domineering
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  controls. The goal can be kept clearly in
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  focus and a clear sighted understanding can be applied to
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  move the project forward without harming the development of
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  others who are participating in the process.
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  This also takes more trust in the process, the participants
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  and the efficacy of the means over the long term, Fierrobindo
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  observes. Quote Each human being is
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  composed of different personalities that feel and
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  behave in a different way, and his action is determined by the
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  one that happens to be prominent at the time.
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  The one that has no feelings against anyone is either the
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  psychic being or the emotional being in the heart.
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  The one that feels anger and is severe is a part of the external
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  vital nature. On the surface, this anger and
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  severity is a wrong form of something that in itself has a
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  value, a certain strength of will and force of action and
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  control in the vital being, without which work cannot be
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  done. What is necessary is to get rid
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  of the anger and to keep the force and firm will, along with
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  a developed judgement as to what is the right thing to do in any
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  circumstances. For instance, people can be
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  allowed to do things in their own way when that does not spoil
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  the work, when it is only their way of doing what is necessary
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  to be done, when their way as opposed to the discipline of the
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  work, then they have to be controlled.
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  But it should be done quietly and kindly, not with anger.
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  End Quote Reference Sri Aurobindo and the Mother,
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  Looking from Within, Chapter 2. Looking at Oneself and Others,
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  pages 47 to 48.