Soul based ethics going beyond the senses

Jayashree Sadri and Sorab Sadri
SOUL BASED ETHICS
GOING BEYOND THE SENSES
Professor Jayashree Sadri
And
Dr Sorab Sadri

TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
 The soul based school looks upon
spiritualism and the equilibrium between the
heart soul and mind to determine values and
ethics.
 The mind based school looks upon the
willingness to be ethical and the ability to be
ethical to determine values and ethics.

TWO FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES IN
UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL REALITY.
The Phenomena : what we
perceive through the five sensory
organs.
The Noumena : what we perceive
beyond the five sensory organs.

REALITY
 There is no doubt that we see what we
want to see, hear what we want to hear
and understand only what we want to
understand.
 Hence our perception of reality is by
nature subjective and person specific.

The Dichotomy
THE DICHOTOMY BETWEEN SUBJECTIVE AND
OBJECTIVE PERCEPTIONS IS FALSE.
We cannot be objective without using a scientific
method which only allows us to approximate
objectivity and not attain it fully.
To claim to be objective is itself a subjective
notion!

THE LIMITS OF MAN
 Man’s intellect is too miniscule to
understand the larger reality that is nature.
 What we understand of the totality is
conditioned by the limits of our own
intellect.
 Hence at any point of time our knowledge
is limited unlike Mother Nature that is
limitless.

Is Social Reality A Constant?
 Social scientists have always said that
social reality is mutable or is constantly
changing.
 If the social reality is mutable then our
perception of it is also mutable.
 If our perception is mutable, how can we
lay claim to being consistently objective?

The Two Views
 Mind based thinkers
talk of the rational-
ethical view involving
the ability criterion and
the willingness criterion.
 They are restricted to
the interplay of the
heart and mind.
 Soul based thinkers talk
of the spiritual-ethical
view involving man’s
relation with the Higher
Being.
 They are restricted by
their own understanding
of this relationship.

The Rainbow Concept
 The mind based thinker
says that perfection is a
rainbow that can never
be reached but we can
only move towards it.
 The soul based thinker
says that man can be
so evolved that he can
be one with the Higher
Being and thus attain
perfection.

The Difference
 Mind Based Thinkers
are Epicureans.
 Man is an economic,
political, social and
rational being.
 He has relations, wants
and needs that are
socially determined and
that have to be gratified.
 Soul Based Thinkers
are Stoics.
 Man is a spiritual being
created for a divine
purpose.
 His relations, wants and
needs are pre-
determined by a Higher
Self and they have a
definite purpose.

Three Views
Charvak Karma Yoga Bhakti Yoga
Man is born to
enjoy in a God
less world.
Unfulfilled
desires need to
be satisfied
though karma.
Acceptance of
reality as it is
and living within
it in harmony.

Ethics and Man
 How man looks at ethics is determined by which
of the three views given above has been accepted
by that individual.
 Ethics is guided by spiritual laws that are
constant, time tested and scientific.
 Values are inherent to man and is conditioned by
the level of his consciousness.

Soul Based Ethics
 Man is a spiritual being.
 Man is governed by the laws of Mother
Nature.
 Man has to live in harmony with Mother
Nature.
 This harmony is the fountain head of ethics.

TRUTH
Mind based thinkers say that all truth is
relative and that the only absolute truth
is God or the Larger Immensity.
Soul based thinkers say that truth is
absolute at all times and under all
conditions.

MIND BASED
Death is the only thing that is absolutely
certain in life.
Even birth and relationships are not
certain. There is no room for destiny,
karma or anything supernatural.

SOUL BASED
Three things are pre-determined by
Nature and so are definite in life:
Birth
Life partner
Death

Their Similarity
Both views believe that man is the beginning
and the end of all science. That man is both
the subject and the object of all inquiry.
Both views have an inherent respect for man.

Their Difference
 God made man for a definite purpose according
to the soul based view.
 Man saw God in his own limited image according
to the mind based view.
THIS LIMIT OF UNDERSTANDING THE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAN AND GOD (FOR
BOTH SCHOOLS) IS DETERMINED BY THE
LEVEL OF MAN’S CONSCIOUSNESS.

Mind based view
Man must pursue three things:
Gyan : knowledge
Buddhi: Intellect
Vivek: Consciousness.

Soul based view
Man has to fulfill his ultimate and pre-
determined purpose in life.
Man develops himself spiritually i.e. beyond the
body, mind and intellect levels.
Man takes along this developed spiritual
knowledge alone with him after death to be born
again with the same level.

The Kriya Maan Karma
If a man refuses to develop his consciousness he
can regress backwards and take a lower form of
consciousness in his next life.
Higher level beings on earth can assist a man in
his path of spiritual development.
When a person is fully prepared then the higher
level being (guru) seeks him out.
This guru is always prepared to help others.

Mind based thinkers have given man the
birth right to live as he/she feels fit as
long as he/she does not disturb or hurt
others or acts to impede their freedom.
The concept of “free will” is very much
important to life and liberty.

Soul based thinkers say that man has
every right to achieve higher levels of
consciousness and always live in
harmony with nature.
Progressively man can even be one with
his Maker. {Ahm Brahmasmi} and declare
the Maker is I {Tatwam Asi}.

The mind based thinker says
that rational choice dictates all
action including ethics.
Hence man must be both willing and
able to act ethically under the
circumstances in which he finds
himself at a given moment in time.

The soul based thinker says that all actions
are pre-determined but man has the choice
of either following nature or going against
it.
In either case the results or fruits of the
actions will have to be borne by the doer
since he/she is ultimately responsible for
what he/she does.

THE INDIAN
MANAGERIAL SCENE
The fact however remains that a large majority
of Indian managers take the Praxis route when
faced with an ethical dilemma. Yet they talk of
free thought and rationality all the time.

POSITIVE ASPECTS OF
PRAXIS MANAGERS
 THEY ARE GOOD TEAM WORKERS.
 THEY CONFORM EASILY TO THE
CORPORATE CULTURE.
 DECISION EXECUTION BECOMES
PREDICTABLE AND HENCE POLICY
OUTCOMES ARE KNOWN.

NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF
PRAXIS MANAGERS
 MANAGERS ARE NOT WILLING TO STAND
UP AND BE COUNTED.
 MANAGERS THRIVE ON MEDIOCRITY AND
PROMOTE ONLY THOSE WHO TOW THEIR
LINE.
 INNVOVATION AND CREATIVITY GETS
SIDE LINED IN THE PERSUIT OF
CONFORMITY.

THE CONFUSED INDIAN
MANAGER
On one hand the manager is rational,
professional and uses the acceptance /
conformity option in daily life.
On the other hand this manager believes in
fate, destiny and the supernatural.

Given the Indian Psyche’
It is more plausible and easy to look at
managerial ethics in terms of the soul
(spiritualism) than in terms of the mind
(objective rationalism).

FUTURE AGENDA FOR SOUL
BASED RESEARCH IN INDIA
 TO VALIDATE OR REFUTE THE XLRI-
NITIE STUDY.
 TO SEE IF BEHAVIOUR PATTERNS
CHANGE WITH STATUS AND GENDER.
 TO NOTE IF BEHAVIOUR PATTERNS ARE
INDUSTRY AND PROFESSION SPECIFIC.

Which kind of a thinker
are you?
THANK YOU

Soul based ethics going beyond the senses

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