Mahabharata – the beehive of teachings and knowledge. Each phrase, sentence, paragraph and plot leading to deep philosophical answers and each answer further leading to pandora of questions. No other epic would probably come close to satiating the needs of the mind and equally igniting the volcano of thoughts!
So, as the legend goes, Krishna’s cousin Shishupala was born with four arms and three eyes. When his parents were about to cast him off, a voice from heaven informs them that the abnormality will vanish by the touch of a person but then, the same person would in-turn be responsible for his death. On a visit to his uncle’s palace, Krishna takes Shishupala in his lap and all his abnormalities fade away. Shishupala’s parents, realising that their son would be killed by the same Krishna, requests him not to do so. Krishna promises that he would pardon hundred mistakes before beheading him. Years later, Shishupala develops a soft corner and wishes to marry Rukmini but she elopes with Krishna making Shishupala develop strong hatred towards Krishna. On one occasion, Pandavas invite Krishna to be a special guest at their yagna. During the event, the irked Shishupala starts abusing Krishna and Rukmini. Krishna patiently waits till he finishes his 100th mistake. At the 101st abuse, Krishna shoots off his Sudarshana Chakra beheading Shishupala instantly.
The Krishna-Shishupala story is a common episode in many television serials and movies made of Mahabharata. In almost all of the narrations, Krishna would be seen with a pleasant smile on his face, patiently nodding his head at the abuses hurled at him. At the 101st abuse though, his body language changes to that of a punisher and his Chakra does rest of the talking.
For a moment, let’s bring the same plot to the leadership styles that many of us adopt. I would dare to say most of us tend to do the same :)! We bring the same kind of pleasantness to our demeanour till our directs make that 101st mistake. Honestly, any one who has gone through a decent amount of “managerial upbringing” would realise that is not how you manage performance. You would possibly provide ample amount of warning, coaching and giving improving opportunities before you officially “fire” the guns! But do we really do that?
My inquisitive mind fails to understand the anti-pattern followed by Krishna in this case. Krishna being a Guru of all Gurus – the one who epitomised ‘Saam’, ‘Daam’, ‘Dhand’, ‘Bhed’ like no other. Couldn’t he have warned or coached Shishupala of the impending danger to his life!
… and there lies the pertinent question…
Did Krishna did what he did because it was pre-determined!
The plot of Krishna-Shishupala is bereft of logic at multiple levels. Why didn’t the parents of Shishupala let him know that he better not mess with Krishna and that his death is imminent in his very hands? Why didn’t the people stop Shishupala from hurling abuses at Krishna and that his countdown has begun? And most importantly, who determines whether the act of Shishupala were mistakes or questioning the authority of Krishna! How can Krishna be both the referee and the opponent here? Was Krishna kind enough to give Shishupala a 100 chances to correct himself or was he simply waiting for him to commit the 100th mistake and put an end to his story! At the end of the day, Krishna had the weapon and Shishupala’s neck was meant to be slayed! Isn’t the snapping of Krishna at the 101st mistake the very anti-pattern that the leaders are meant to avoid?
As managers/leaders, we often fall into the very same anti-pattern of weaving a web around pre-determination! Once pre-determined, it is then just a matter of 100 mistakes! We start seeing everything through the magnified glass and possibly do a skip-count even to reach the pre-determined end quickly! We fancy making data-driven decisions, but as we get into this anti-pattern, we generate data that confirms to the pre-determination!
So, hope you will be able to relate to this the next time you task your “sudarshana chakra” 🙂
Hope you enjoyed this analogy on pre-determination. Look forward to hearing your thoughts. Varied thoughts more welcome!
