Importance of Work Culture

Vigorous and arduous efforts in pursuit of given or chosen tasks is what work culture is all about. Sri Krishna in Bhagawat Geetha elaborates on two types of work culture ,

Daivi work culture - involves fearlessness, purity, self-control, sacrifice, straightforwardness, self-denial, calmness, absence of fault-finding, absence of greed, gentleness, modesty, absence of envy and pride. - this is considered to be divine

Asuri work culture - involves egoism, delusion, personal desires, improper performance, work not oriented towards service - this is demonic in nature

However, mere work ethic is not enough. A terrorist shows a much better work culture than an ordinary person, but then he works to the detriment of the society. The work ethic has to be backed by ethics in work.

One needs to have skills related to work AND an equitable and focussed mind. There is an incident in Mahabharatham where Dronacharya was conducting a practical test for both Kaurava and Pandava princes. He asks them to shoot down a target which had the shape of a bird using bow and arrow. When one by one takes up position to shoot, he stops them and asks them what do they see. All of them barring Arjuna tells the guru that they can see the target, the tree in which the target is kept, his brothers, cousins, the guru, and almost everything that is around the target. Dronacharya did not allow anyone to take a shot. Finally it was Arjuna's turn. When queried, Arjuna said " Guru, I see nothing but the eye of the artificial bird" and then proceeds to hit the target with unerring accuracy. A pleased Dronacharya then extols the virtue of focussing only on the target and the need to be oblivious of the distractions and surroundings. Arjuna had the supreme skills needed of an Archer and a really focussed mind. It is why he is hailed as an Archer par comparison.

Concentration on the task for its own sake leads to the achievement of excellence ­ and gives true mental happiness to the worker. Thus, while commonplace theories of motivation may be said to lead us to the bondage or extrinsic rewards, the Gita’s principle leads us to the intrinsic rewards of mental, and indeed moral, satisfaction