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 abroad. Vinoba connected and grafted this idea to Indian ethos and mind with his deft hand. ;

I believe that ideas from Western management techniques can be poured into the crucible of Indian experience, setting them upon a base of Indian philosophical tradition, and thus can be converted into an Indian management system. This book is spurred on by that thought.

‘If no one else has done that, then why shouldn’t I be the one to do it?” without disturbing the basic Indian philosophical postulates, 1 am willing and mentally ready to change completely and adapt to all that is modern in transient matters. Basic belief in democracy, gender equality, and free will of individual are some of the ideas which are articles of faith for me. Irrespective of what is stated in any books of the past I want to remain faithful to those ideas. Most important in my opinion is action according to these thoughts. I am not satisfied with high falutin spiritual thoughts or intellectual convictions alone : I want to see them tested in action before subscribing fully to them. Our thoughts, speech and action must flow in the same direction. I am interested in action in conformity with thoughts and words.

In the first ten chapters of this book I explain the theoretical base in the tradition of Naradeeya Kirtan (awa ita) as purva rang (qaXaT), the following eight chapters narrate stories of my experiences as the uttar rang (SRT) and the ideas of the first base are confirmed by the examples in the next eight. There is some repetition in this scheme of presentation.

Ideally, the eighteenth chapter should represent the beginning of an Indian management system as people working in this field could take up these ideas and contribute their experiences thereafter. This is just the beginning of the journey. I started looking out for the distinctness of Indian management after I attended a Seminar on Management by Values in 1992. I hope my readers treat this book as a similar starting point for recording their own quest.

When Western authors present a new idea or technique of management practice, they assume base of their culture as given. These assumptions are present in the writer's and reader's minds. The foundation of Judaeo-Christian thought is deeply ingrained in their minds. We can read those ideas as an intellectual input despite a different cultural foundation. While we read them as words; they are not a part of our beliefs. As Indians we believe in essential identity of Universe Advait, (3#¢e1) call it ‘Wart Get faut ag-ut aéfa(Ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanti ) which can be paraphrased as ‘All roads lead to one truth’, as a matter of belief. On a related theme: Acceptance of plurality in action and beliefs is the

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