Servant-Leadership And Beyond (III)

In the Srimad Bagavatam, we find that God has six opulences- renunciation, wealth, beauty, fame, strength and knowledge and all of these provides Him with alternative ways to express His power. People search for power both individually and collectively and it is this search that creates societies. Actually, a king is not controlled by destiny but rather controls destiny. Similarly, the king is not controlled by the particular age in which he appears. Rather, he sets the tone for the age by his standards of consciousness and rule. How the leader uses power determines how the people under his charge evolve.
Conversely  the state of evolution in a society determines the type of power the individuals in that society will be inclined to access. Darwin was not far off when he said that life is about the struggle for power, or survival of the fittest. In the primitive societies, physical power rule. This is also true about animals. The leader is the one with the most physical strength and a willingness to use it in a particular way. Sometimes bulls go grazing and sometimes fight one another. Interestingly their senseless battling comes to a halt when they realize that one is stronger than the other.
The winning bull then claims the female cows as his prize for the fight, while the defeated bull wander off. The next time the defeated bull comes near the winner bull, it does not fight again but continues to recognize the winners superior strength. In more developed societies, social power has more effect than physical strength. Social power is resource power, relationship power, and institutional power. It is based on who one knows and what one knows. Most of today’s societies are based on social power. With whom one is connected determines how well one is able to function example, proximity to the President determines how much power one can wield.
Another type of  power is emotional power. This also influences many people. Various entertainers wield emotional power. People worship actors, singers, athletes, etc. These entertainers are able to manipulate an audience’s feelings. In return, they achieve new heights of fame and wealth. They are respected, sought after and emulated. Then there is mental power, which wields most of its effectiveness through the academic world. Academia is a culture of its own, but still makes tremendous impact on the way we think and what kinds of things we think about. What modern day professors represent as knowledge and truth, we come to believe as actually being so.
As society continues to evolve, mental power becomes more important and scholarship more respected. The fact that this is no longer true in this country is a sign of our social degradation. Many of the scholars, scientists and priests are frustrated. They have no way to share their knowledge. Many of our best scientists are working on classified projects, and are forced to either lie about what they are doing or are not able to reveal their work.
This mental power has also been used to exploit people, as we have seen in the development of nuclear and biological weapons and other destructive technologies.
At  the same time, it has been used to benefit others – to discover cures for diseases, to create vaccinations for epidemics and for other such purposes. Thus mental and intellectual power is a distinct category. There is also intuitive power. Often artists or others in touch with creative energy and those involved in paranormal, possess this kind of power. People working with intuitive powers are important in more evolved societies, where they serve as seers or workers with the subtle arts. All of those forms of power are subservient to sacred power, which when properly accessed, can incorporate all of the prior forms for a better visionary sustainable and servant oriented leadership.
Furthermore, let us dwell more into these ten points food for thought by J.  Bradley keens that indicates the demise of a culture or civilization. I would like to state that by looking closely at these ten points, we can see signs so indicating the demise of our dear culture.
1.    A society which no longer worships or acknowledge God. As we see in all grades of life including strong positions of atheism and materialism.
2.    Define of Family: Divorce is at all – time high, no – fault divorce laws are being enacted everywhere, mothers working and fathers not at home.
3.    Low View of Life: abortion as a right, partial – birth abortions, assisted suicide, euthanasia and genetic engineering.
4.    Prevalence of Base and Immoral Entertainment: like Rome with its gladiators. TV and cinema treat perversion as normals, rap music and hard rock.
5.    Increase of violent crime among young people change, violent sports (i.e., one newspaper article called the fighting that goes during soccer matches TT like”), and cities are becoming like battle zones. The hospital emergency rooms are overrun with trauma cases daily.
6.    Declining Middle Class: Middle class is becoming more defined as the working poor class.
7.    Insolvent Governments: Cannot manage a balanced budget in trust.
8.    A Government that Lives off of a Society’s Moral Decay: Agencies that foster society’s decline, that is lottery, beauty pageants, and some might even question the FBI and CIA. Perhaps those agencies are headed for this category.
9.    The Ruling Class Loses it’s Will: Such as those we just discussed. Previous presidents and others who say one thing and act differently, and who look fidelity, morality, proper ethics, and who look fidelity, morality, proper ethics, and who assault the minds of pious people.
10.    Failure of people to see what is happening, even though it is obvious: Even though all the other nine categories are present in society, the majority of people cannot understand the implications or the dangers.
The dangers looms from above and below, but the people are lost in trying to catch a few drops of honey. In a serious note, J. Bradley Keens observes that these ten categories are becoming so dear that our culture is in a serious state of deterioration. Therefore, we ask you, our leaders and readers to look closer, to look for animated servant – leaders who have the passion to help others: leaders who are deep lovers,. Who know how to use money and power to empower others, who help people feel happy and secure, and who create lasting value. Servant – leaders are philosophical because they are always seeking truth. They lead from the inside – out, with the clarity that character is power. They are principle – centred, because they rely on universal principles and laws rather than relativisms.
They  are powerful visionaries because they are concerned with a culture of excellence that continues to provide for those they love. They keep people engaged according to their propensities, realizing that this is the best way to honour their existence. They are expert at delegation and empowerment because they see themselves as stewards rather than autocrats. Most important, their life is a message to others, and they have a culture of enduring excellence behind them. To properly honour such leaders, we must understand the importance of all of these qualities. Moreso, blind leadership some how goes with blind fellowship and people are generally made to understand the intricacies that goes with blind fellowship with the following analogy.
There  is a story from the Vedic tradition that reveals the danger of blind following and of not doing the right thing with knowledge, in the right way, at the right time. The story centres on a rather simple poor man – a washer man, who had a donkey to help him carry heavy loads. A dhobi as an Indian washerman is called, would pick up people’s laundry, wash and dry it, and then return it back to them. This man’s donkey was dear to him, because it was such a help to him in his laundry business. One day, the donkey died. The man was so distraught that he decided to observe the same right one would observe if a family member had died. According to the custom of his village, he shaved his head and had to spend some time mourning before returning back to his laundry work.
This washer man happen to be the kings washerman, so when he approached the palace to collect the King’s laundry, the king’s priest turned to him and asked, “Why have you shaved your head”. With great emotion, the washerman, said. “Didn’t you hear? Sunanda – Gandharva died today. The name Sunanda Gandharva is a glorious name and refers to one among the angelic class of beings above. That someone would be given this name conveyed that he was of great nobility, if not divine. The priest was embarrassed that he had to be told by a washerman that someone of apparently great status had died. He immediately went to the river according to tradition, bathed and shaved his head to express his respect for the departed Sunanda – Gandharva. When the kings minister saw both the priest and the washerman with shaved heads, he asked why they were mourning. The priest replied, “Didn’t you know? Its such an important day today. Sunauda – Gandharva has died. The minister was so embarrassed not to have heard, and without delay went to the river, bathed and shaved his head out of respect. Being the king’s minister, he thought, he should have been the first to know about such an illustrious person’s death.
After a while, the king saw the minister, his priest and the washerman with their shaved heads, the king asked – why they were mourning. The minister quickly informed the king that his great subject, Sunanda – Gandharva, had passed away. The king so loved his subjects, even if he didn’t know all of them by name, and so he too went to the river, bathed and also shaved his head. And when the queen saw her husband and so many others with shaved heads, she too asked about the situation. The king said, “my great subject, Sunanda – Gandharva has passed away”. Who is Ghandarva Sunanda? The queen asked. Hmm, the king said, “I will ask. He then asked his minister to please tell him more about his great subject, Sunanda — Gandharva. The minister was delighted, as always, to render the king some service, but this time, he asked the king to pardon him while he went out to gather more information. The minister went to the priest, but the priest didn’t know anyone by the name Sunanda – Gandharva. The King’s priest felt inadequate to present any details, so he suggested he ask the washerman, who was the original source of the information. The priest eventually tracked down the washerman and conveyed the message: “The king wants to know everything about Sunanda – Gandharva. You must tell me everything you know of him. As soon as the priest pronounced Sunanda – Gandharva’s name, the washerman was overcome with emotion. He cried, life has not been the same since Sunanda – Gandharva left. We are so close, I thought of him at every moment. We wanted nothing more than to be together always. Sunanda- Gandharva was such a wonderful helper to me”. By then the priest was becoming inpatient, “please tell me clearly who is Sunanda – Gandharva”.
In an equally emotional voice, the washerman said, “oh, Sunanda – Gandharva was my ass. He was a most wonderful donkey”. The priest was astounded. “You mean Sunanda – Gandharva was your ass? He was simply a donkey? How could he go back to the king and tell him that he had shaved his head for a dead donkey? This is called blind following. Don’t be like a sheep. When one sheep dumps into a ditch, the whole flock will follow. If we do not have proper knowledge, we will tend to follow others blindly. If we do not communicate openly, or when we do things mechanically or ritualistically – and this happens especially when the leader himself does not have sufficient knowledge – we will together fall into crisis. “For warned is fore armed.” Moreso in every genuine servant leadership, protection of life and properties becomes a must if people are to feel valued. For if there is no protection, there will be no allegiance. Still, if a leader does not have a system to deal with Lawbreakers, more and more people will begin to break the law.
The servant – leader has the duty to make these systems clear so that people can be held accountable. If someone then chooses to break the law, he must be expediently and judiciously dealt with so that his bad example would not impact on others. The citizens must not be tempted by such unhealthy things. When a mother cares for her young child, she maintains a constant vigilance over his environment. She watches for any dangers and immediately moves them away from her child, hopefully even before the child sees them. Children are notoriously curious, and are often attracted to things that could cause them harm.
The mother must also look from the present into the future to see what her child will need and she must work to secure those needs. Note that there is a wide difference between a servant – leader and a manager. A servant – leader is always interested in fulfilling needs rather than simply desires. This is one of the best forms of protection a servant – leader can give to others. When those who choose to break the Law are not punished or removed from society, the innocent workers are not protected. Not only does the Law — breaker himself continue to pose a threat, but the innocent people are left confused because they do not know the actual standards of behaviour expected of them. In this sense, people nowadays are less protected than people of the past. Few people know what standard they should fellow in terms of morals and behaviour.
There are so many sub-cultures within society that normalize deviation. Some of them have become so developed that their deviations have become part of the main stream. For example – pornography is one of the fastest growing industries in USA, generating over 14 billion dollars in revenue each year. At least fifty new pornographic websites are created every day. In the USA, gambling is now legal in most states, and it is estimated that 20 million Americans are pathological gamblers – that’s twice the amount of ten years ago. Governments are filled now with bribery and corruption, and the black market is now more active. In some place, the black market activity is on par with regular commerce.
In conclusion, we must therefore remind ourselves about one of the principle of community: we should develop a genuine community rather than a pseudo community. In a genuine community, the individual gains more from his relationship with the community than he would be able to procure on his own. In a pseudo community, it is the opposite. If the community leadership does not offer protection from undesirable elements, people will not get more out of belonging to a community than they are putting in, and will thus not remain loyal. Most individuals who feel unprotected in their communities think they would be better off on their own. Modern leadership needs a wake – up call in order to realize that leaders should be providing protection to their citizens or workers. Leaders should recognize that when people feel protected, they do not just give their hands, arms and legs to the tasks requested of them – they give their minds and hearts as well. Ultimately, they will help create a more dynamic and progressive organization. Both the leader and the led will be benefited tremendously.