God is My Co-Pilot and my CEO

Hindus as a people are quite religious by nature. Before any undertaking there is usually a time of prayer or a show of devotion meant to persuade and appease the various Gods (and Goddesses) of the Hindu pantheon. Now in my time I have seen varying levels of devotion; from people who get up at four in the morning to offer up morning prayers (that last for at least an hour) to those who simply glance at photos of their family's Gods of preference prior to eating breakfast. I think it's the one good thing about the Hindu religion in that if you read the Bhagwad Gita (the holy scripture of the Hindus) then you will find that there isn't specific guidelines provided that say how and when a follower of Hinduism will pray or offer up devotion. In that text, God (in the incarnation of Krishna) explains that service to others with no thought of reward is the best form of devotion and that is the essense of Hinduism.

Somewhere along the way, formalized rites and ceremonies took presedence and from that time onwards, it became more about showing devotion in terms of how elaborate your offerings can be to how much you give to God by way of Ganesh idols to be immersed in the seas or how loudly you can celebrate or how many people show up. But it doesn't stop there apparently. Recently a business school in Lucknow, India announced that the chairman of the school would be none other than Hanuman, the Hindu monkey God who is featured prominently in the epic tale, the Ramayan. Apparently from descriptions released to the press, the chairman has an office which is filled with incense and will have a desk and laptop setup for the holy chairman. There are four chairs for visitors who come to consult with the chairman and as with any Hindu temple, visitors are told to remove their shoes before entering the office.

Now some may find this fascinating but I find it a little odd. I am all for having devotion to a deity and believing that the Gods will do good for those who do good for others but I just think that making a God the chairman of an organization like, that too a business school is sending the wrong kind of message. Devotion is good but I think actions like this fly in the face of common sense and what religion is supposed to be. I think far too many people take religion and devotion to whatever God or Gods they worship to be the end all be all answer to anything and everything that they want. When things work out the way that we want, we call it God's answer to our prayers. When things don't work out the way we want then we call it God's answer to our having made mistakes or not showing enough devotion. If God or all the Gods of the Hindu religion spent that much time on everyone of us, the world would be a perfect place full of smiley happy people. Why would there be any suffering in the world?

Expecting that by naming Hanuman the chairman of the business school will mean good blessings on the school is a nice gesture but what about in the entire decision making process. Will they other members of the Board sit and wait for a sign from on high informing them of what decision the erstwhile chairman is making? What if the sign is completely against the decision the board wishes to make? What if the signs point to them doing the opposite. Is it really Hanuman or God making the choice or is it just happenstance. You can have an entire theological discussion on this topic and argue both sides just as poignantly but in the end it comes down to just one thing. Faith. If you believe that God is involved in every decision that you or your organization makes, then you will continue to believe it. I just think that it's a convenient means of shoveling the blame or accolades on someone else for decisions which for good or for bad can affect a lot of people.