All books represent the innermost thoughts of their respective authors, who toil day and night to share their innermost thoughts and insights with the world. They not only provide the soul of the book but also give it an initial shape, much like a sculptor would carve out a masterpiece from an uncut rock. A team of editors then moves in to refine the same. Much thought goes into deciding the title and the subtitle. Many options are considered before a cover, as well as the blurb on the back cover, is frozen. The formatting team and the printers give the book the finishing touches it needs. The book is eventually born!
Once born, the book acquires a life of its own, waiting to be discovered by its target audience. It charts out a journey for itself, travelling far and wide, carrying the key message that its author wishes to convey. However, in the initial phase, it must be introduced to a select audience, with the basic message underlying the composition explained.
Over the last few months, my latest book, ‘Bhagavad Gita’s Guide to Corporate Dharma,’ has been fortunate enough to have travelled to four cities in India. Here are some key details which capture these events.
Pondicherry
A modest launch function was held at the Palais de Mahe. Prominent industrialists, businesspeople, senior managers, management scholars, spiritual gurus, journalists, and members of the public attended the event.
Mr R. Mananathan, Chairman of the Manatec Group of Companies, was the Chief Guest on the occasion Ms. Gayatri Majumdar, a poetess in her own right and the Founder-Editor of The Brown Critique Literary Journal, conducted the session. Her scholarly acumen can be gauged by the fact that it took her only about 10 days to read the book and formulate the questions she wanted to ask me about its contents.
Wide-ranging discussions took place, covering topics such as detachment, stress management, managing day-to-day corporate challenges, and different hues of happiness. The necessity of using humour to facilitate communication was mentioned.
Dr. Ananda Reddy, Director, Sri Aurobindo Centre for Advanced Research, concluded the session with insightful remarks based on Sri Aurobindo’s Essays on the Gita.
Amongst those present were Mrs. and Mr. S. P. Krishnamurthy, who drove all the way from Bangalore to grace the occasion. Mr Krishnamurthy was a colleague of mine at Tata International many decades back.
Delhi
Thanks to the unqualified support of Prof. A. Venkat Raman, Head and Dean of the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University, the event went off well. The presentation was attended by a few seniors from the industry, faculty members, research scholars, and management students.
Prof. J. K. Mitra, Former Dean, FMS, and an expert in the Bhagavad Gita, was the Chief Guest on the occasion. Like a true mentor, he brought in a fresh perspective to the teachings of this unique scripture on quite a few occasions and supplemented my arguments by quoting real-life anecdotes.
After the presentation, a sombre discussion came about, followed by a lively interaction with those present. A senior faculty member proposed a vote of thanks.
Those who braved the traffic blues in NCR and spared the time to grace the occasion with their presence included such long-time friends and well-wishers as Arvind Dang, Ashok Kalra, Bakul Bhatia, Hukam Chand Verma, and Rajeev Varma.
Chandigarh
Just like it happened in Delhi, the exaltation one feels upon returning to one’s Alma Mater cannot be captured in words. A whiff of nostalgia comes one’s way. The familiar buildings whisk one back into a comfort zone. Gandhi Bhavan nearby stands as gracefully as ever. The Students’ Centre nearby beckons one.
Thanks to the support of Prof. Parmjit Kaur, the present Chairperson of the University Business School at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and Mr. Kuldeep Kaul, Director, Metro Exporters Private Limited (and a batchmate of mine), the event rolled by smoothly. Industry seniors, faculty members, research scholars, and management students attended it.
Mr. D. P. Singh, the Head of Skills to Jobs with Amazon Web Services (India), had kindly consented to be the Chief Guest on the occasion. Having had a long stint with IBM and many other business houses as an HR professional, he brought in a cheery and light-hearted tone to the proceedings. Once the formal introductions were made, he asked me several searching questions, like the book’s origin, the intended target audience, my own favourite chapter/s from the book, and the like.
Followed by the presentation, a lively interaction took place. As Sir P. G. Wodehouse would have put it, the occasion turned out to be a feast of Reason and flow of Soul.
Mr. Kulbhushan Khullar, Mr. Kuldeep Kaul, Mr. Lalit Kapur, Mr. Praveen Malik, and Mr. Sunil Jain spared their valuable time and graced the occasion. So did Prof. Ashvini Agrawal, another friend, who made it a point to attend the event.
Hyderabad
Kanha Shanti Vanam is like an oasis in a desert. It is located around sixty kms from Hyderabad airport, off the Hyderabad-Bangalore highway. It is the global headquarters of Heartfulness Meditation Institute. (https://heartfulness.org).
Part of the 1,400-acre complex is a lake, known as Kanha Sarovar. The head, Mr Kamlesh Patel (Daaji), was on a walk around the lake when I could see him briefly to present a copy of my latest book.
I reminded Daaji that he was kind enough to provide a Foreword to this book a few years back. Somehow, it got delayed in getting published. His remark: “Chalega. Good books take time to get published.”
One is reminded of these lines from Robert Frost:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
The book’s journey continues, aided and abetted by many insightful and glowing remarks from those who have had the occasion to go through it.
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Praise for the book on the Bhagavad Gita and Corporate Dharma
Posted in Management Lessons, tagged Bhagavad Gita, Book, CEOs, Comments, Leadership, Management, Managers, Praise on March 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »
What do professionals think of this book?!
Here are some words of praise from people across different professions, diverse backgrounds, and from varied geographies.
Anatoly Yakorev
Mentor for Conscious Enterprises Network, Montenegro (Former Director, Centre for Business Ethics & Compliance, Moscow, Russia)
Managers face mighty challenges while delivering results. Ashok Bhatia cleverly alludes to the Bhagavad Gita’s lessons they can learn and begin to practise such concepts as detachment, and equanimity. He provides relevant examples from the corporate world to illustrate his arguments, making this book an interesting read.
Dr Bharat Nain,
Arbitrator & Management Consultant,
PhD, MBA, BE(Mech), FSIArb, MCIArb, Pune, India.
Ashok Bhatia, through his excellent book, propounds an alternative path that draws on the spiritual aspect of what is regarded as the foremost “religious book” in the Asian context, the Bhagavad Gita. Differentiating between the “mind and intellect”, he has used an ancient spiritual text to convey his message very simply and with humour.
Dr Ananda Reddy
Director, Sri Aurobindo Centre for Advanced Research, Puducherry, India
I am of the view that business leaders and managers may not consciously want it, but they really need it. It offers the only remedy for correcting mankind’s lopsided growth and bringing him sanity, inner and outer balance, peace, and harmony. The book by Ashok is a commendable effort. I wish the book and its future readers the very best in life.
Dominique Conterno
Conscious Enterprises Network (CEN) Co-Founder
United Kingdom
This book is a rare, business-friendly bridge between timeless Gita wisdom and the lived realities of modern organisations. Ethics and values are made to feel operational rather than ornamental. It speaks directly to pressure points leaders recognise, from stress and burnout to ego, desire, conflict and office politics. Karma Yoga stands as skilful action with steadiness in success and failure. It offers a calm, practical case for inner resilience, detachment, and better judgment in uncertain times. The book’s light humour keeps profound ideas accessible without diluting them. It finally acknowledges the technological moment, including the challenges of Industrial Revolution 4.0 and AI-era complexity. It leaves the reader with a clear invitation to go deeper into the original scripture, guided by a grounded corporate lens shaped by Ashok Kumar Bhatia.
Late Dr (Prof) G P Rao,
Founder-Chairman, SPANDAN, India
(Former Senior Professor and Founding Head,
Department of Management Studies, Madurai Kamaraj University, 1981–1997)
Ashok Bhatia paints a wide canvas of the kind of strategic and tactical issues business owners and managers face in their routine lives. With a calm objectivity, he demonstrates how the same could be resolved by imbibing what the scripture says. The undercurrent is essentially that of following high values and ethics in management, so a business may run on a sustainable basis.
Marco Suomalainen,
MMM Enabler at UHM (Uncovering Hidden Meanings),
Kotka, Finland
The book enables one to keep learning about the precious jewels existing in India. Industrialists and managers who wish to understand the basic concepts of the Bhagavad Gita and improve their ability to handle challenges in a more constructive manner would find this book very useful.
Mohan Arumugham
Global Technology Leader; IT Director – ERP
Digital Technology
GE Power, USA
This book motivates me to look at the bigger picture in life, while at the same time remaining connected to my inner self. Using many examples of the kind of challenges we face in our careers, it makes us appreciate the deep wisdom contained in the Gita. The book, even though rooted in ancient Indian wisdom, has a global appeal.
Ashok Narayan
IAS (Retired), Expert in Indian Scriptures,
Gandhinagar, India
The author has done a wonderful job of demonstrating how the eternal knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita can be applied to the business world, thereby enabling managers and CEOs to achieve their goals with maximum efficiency and to deal with all the problems without accumulating stress or losing the balance of mind.
Chandra Shekhar Dwivedi
Ex-Vice President (Manufacturing and Corporate Planning)
HCL Infosystems Limited, Pondicherry, India
Mr Bhatia is back with his references to what he calls the ‘corporate jungle’. If the theme of his earlier book was about survival, this one addresses the issue of doing well in one’s career. However, his underlying message continues to be that of adherence to values and ethics in business, of corporate governance, of human values and of conscious management.
P R Ganguly
Member, Industrial Advisory Board, Manufacturing Department, Cranfield University, England
Ex-Deputy Chairman and Managing Director, Grenson Shoes Ltd, UK
The book is a great primer for CEOs and managers who are keen to get a basic grasp of the universal concepts highlighted in this unique scripture from India. The timeless lessons enshrined in the Bhagavad Gita have been innovatively presented by Ashok, with limited doses of subtle humour of a British kind.
Nilima Bhat
Founder: Shakti Leadership and Shakti Fellowship, Global Program for building Conscious Leaders & Change-makers, Co-convener Truth & Reconciliation Work, Distinguished Professor in Gender and Conscious Leadership. Business School and School of Humanities and Education, Tec de Monterrey, Mexico
I have no doubt that this book would be a valuable addition to the personal book collection of all leaders, as long as it does not merely remain either on their shelves or on their ‘To-Be-Read’ lists but gets quickly absorbed and put to practical use.
Ram Mohan Pisharodi, Ph.D.
Marketing Professor,
Oakland University,
Rochester, Michigan, USA.
Ashok’s latest book is like a scuba dive which gently nudges the reader toward experiencing a deeper sea-bed exploration of the original scripture itself!
Vasco Gaspar
Human Flourishing Facilitator
Portugal
Ancient works like the Bhagavad Gita offer a source of knowledge to help leaders have this inner guidance. The work of Ashok Bhatia offers a convenient bridge between these ancient pieces of wisdom and the modern fast-paced world, allowing leaders and managers to apply this knowledge to their own lives and careers.
Gayatri Majumdar
Author,
Founder-Editor,
The Brown Critique Literary Journal, Pondicherry, India
Just as in life, there are varied ways to approach the perceived challenges and stress in a corporate environment! How can one navigate this ‘jungle’ with equanimity and inner resilience by “controlling the wild horse called mind”? Answers to many of our predicaments can be found in the eternal wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita. Ashok Kumar Bhatia’s Bhagavad Gita’s Guide to Corporate Dharma is an extraordinary book for all. He elucidates profound ideas with great simplicity, tremendous authenticity and logic. This captivating book draws parallels with Arjuna’s dilemma on the battlefield, and can be invaluable for management students and corporate leaders alike. It can guide us to enhance the quality of not just own life but everyone we cross paths with.
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