(Nov 25,2013 ) Spiritual (Story) Message for the Day – Ways of a Good Administrator

Ways of a Good Administrator

Divine Life Society Publication: The Organism of Administration by Swami Krishnananda

The principle which keeps the administration in order is inside the set-up of the administration and is a part of the administration itself. I will recite to you a small anecdote which is of a very instructive character and also may appear a little humorous.

It appears that during the reign of the king Raja Bhoja (in the early mediaeval times of India), who was a great patron of Sanskrit learning, a poet sought entry into his court. All learned men at that time were patronized by this king. One great Sanskrit poet wanted to get admission into the court of this king. He was standing at the gate outside and told the watchman, "May I have an interview with His Highness? I want to be one of the court – poets, if possible."

The person in charge went and conveyed the message to the king: "There is a learned man; evidently, he seeks admission to the court." The king said nothing. He asked someone to bring one tumbler of milk filled to the brim, and told the assistant, "Take this cup full of milk, and give it to the poet standing there, and say nothing." The tumbler full of milk was handed over.

The poet asked, "What is the order from the king?" The gentleman said, "There is no order, he has said nothing. He has only given you this milk – that's all." "Oh, I see, this is the reply. Please listen," he said. The poet took a handful of sugar, poured the sugar very slowly, carefully, into the milk which was full to the brim, and told the assistant, "Please take this milk back to the king." The milk was brought back.

 When the king asked, "What is this? How is it that the milk is returned," it was told to the king that the poet said nothing, just as he himself said nothing, that the poet had only poured sugar gradually and slowly into the tumbler full of milk, and there it was.

The king seems to have said: "Very good, here is the man. I want him." The poet was admitted. No one knew the secret, what the mystery was of this milk, this sugar business.

The idea was this. The king wanted to convey the message that the court was full. There was no vacancy. That was the meaning of the milk filled to the brim in the tumbler. "I have no place." But the poets' answer was: "Even if there is no place, I can find a place, just as sugar can find a place in the milk, though full to the brim." And not only that; the sugar has been so effective that it has sweetened the whole of the milk. "My presence in the court will sweeten your court in the same way as the sugar has sweetened the whole of the milk. Secondly, my presence in the court will not be felt and I will not be an unwanted man, or an extra person, even as one cannot see the presence of sugar in the milk."

This is an anecdote which should give illustration to the ways of a good administrator. Every person who can be regarded as a real leader, a true administrator, is not to be outside the set-up of the administration. He is not just one individual among the many, rather he is a super-individual power. Are we not more than a physical system or disconnected parts? We have an impersonal significance in us, beyond the bodily limbs. This is something which the Yoga will tell you. We are not persons but vehicles of impersonality. The more you are able to develop this impersonal character in your personality, the more will you be a successful leader of people, because impersonality is nothing but the capacity to enter into the personality of other people. But, if you are also to be merely one of the personalities, you cannot enter into others' hearts. Your dimension of outlook is to be wider than the dimension of the outlooks of other people. You are to be a power, rather than a person. You have significance as a force rather than as an individual, and when you become a true administrator, you become a super-individual element, unknowingly.

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Ways of a Good Administrator - The Organism of Administration by Swami Krishnananda
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