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BE A MANAGER, NOT AN OWNER
excerpts from BE TENSION FREE
By Kinkar Vitthal Ramanuj
Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath
There is one way to win peace and happiness in life and it is to renounce our deep sense of possession (ownership) in all our things. As a matter of fact, we are not the true owners of anything in the world. There is but one lord and master of all things—One Supreme Being the Almighty! This is well-expressed in the dictum of world-renowned saint of Shirdi, Sri Sri Sai Baba— “Sab Kaa Maalik Ek”!

Sri Sri Balananda Brahmachari, a great saint residing on the banks of Narmada, said: “Be a Manager, Not an Owner.” Sri Sri Thakur Omkarnath expresses the same truth in the words: “The real Master of the world is God; we are all but His servants.” We see that all the holy men mentioned above express the same truth in different ways. If we follow their advice and walk the path enjoined in the Bhagavad Gita, this world full of sorrows, misfortune, worries and malevolence can turn into an abode of sweetness, bliss and prosperity for all beings. All the tension will be abolished. There is no easier way than this to rid the mind of its tensions.

Be the true servant in your attitude; if you are more enthusiastic, be a manager but don’t ever be the owner. If we look at the stress that the owners of large business enterprises go through, it is evident that the managers and employees serving in these companies are not as stressed as the owners. This is because the managers and employees aren’t as attached to the business as the owners. They are not so much concerned about the profits and losses for which the owners alone have to bear the brunt. Nevertheless, the employees continue to discharge their duties with full dedication. If he or she doesn’t work sincerely, the promotion is denied and the employee’s record is also tarnished. In the same way, you must perform all the duties of samsara with love and devotion, like an employee or manager, treating it as a service to God. Thereafter, the good and bad results must be surrendered at God’s feet.

Be a Manager, Not an Owner”— this dictum is the supreme means to procure happiness and peace in one’s life. Bharat of Sri Ramayana is the best example of this philosophy of life. When Sri Ram was exiled and left for the forest, Bharata’s mind was greatly distracted with grief because he missed Sri Ram, but he continued to perform his duties all the same. One day, in a moment of great need (of the sovereign) in the headless kingdom, when the priests and panegyrists at the court began to sing Bharata’s glory naming him “the reigning monarch”, this praise felt like poison to Bharata. With tremendous grief, Bharata told Shatrughna, “Please stop this nonsense! Stop these misplaced eulogies! In the kingdom of Ayodhya, there is but one king and he is Sri Ram. We are but all his servants.”

The famous meeting of the brothers in Chitrakuta is well-known. It is true, Bharat failed to bring Sri Ram from the forest, but he cannot be said to have returned empty-handed. He brought with him Sri Ramachandra’s sandals. Installing these sandals (of Sri Ramachandra) on the throne in Nandigram, Bharata pledged:

Chatram dhaarayat kshipram aaryaapaadaavimou matau
Aabhyaam raajye sthitho dharmah paadukaabhyaam gurormama

(Srimad Valmikiya Ramayana: Ayodhya Kanda 115/6)
Promptly place the canopy upon the pair of sandals of Sri Ramachandra, the venerable one among Aryas! The entire moral governance of this kingdom will be carried out by the pair of sandals of Sri Ramachandra. This pair of sandals represents His lotus feet.

Goswami Tulasidas puts the same thing so wonderfully in the following words:

Nita Pujat prabhu paavari priti na hridaya samaati
Maagi maagi aayasu karat raaj kaaj bahu bhaati

(Sri Ramcharitmanas: Ayodhya Kanda 325)

Bharat worshipped the sandals of Sri Ramachandra everyday and his joy knew no bounds. Treating them to be the king and seeking assent from them, he looked after all the affairs of the state.
If this ideal of Bharat can be adopted in every home, the worries and agitation, the dearth and hatred which is raging in all directions, can be reduced considerably. In fact, what Bharat has shown is the ancient ideal of this nation. One could see these values practiced in homes as recently as twenty-five years back. In some homes there was lordship of Lakshmi-Narayana, while in others either Ram-Sita or Radha-Krishna or Shiva-Durga were installed as Masters of home, or the Gurus of respective households reigned. Every job was conducted in their name. Raghuveer was the Lord of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa Dev; Brajanath was the Lord of Sri Omkarnath and Mahadevji, the Lord of Sri Shankaracharya.

Look at the condition prevailing today! In every house instead of gods and goddesses, we have a Chatterjee-Banerjee, Trivedi-Chaturvedi, Kulkarni-Nadkarni, Juneja-Saluja as the master. One’s own name is emblazoned on the name plates, rings, bags, house-doors, offices and so on. Well, it doesn’t matter if your name is written all over in the external world, but at least in the core of your heart inscribe this:

Main Gulaam, Main Gulaam, Main Gulaam Tera
Tu Diwan, Tu Diwan, Tu Diwan Mera


I am Thy slave, Thy slave, Thy slave!

Thou art my Lord, my Lord, my Lord!

Not only this, everyday at least for three or four times commit to your mind: “This world belongs to my Ramji to my Guruji etc.” Developing a sense of service towards them perform the respective duties with great love and devotion. After this, whatever joys and sorrows beset your path, if you keep offering them like Bharat at the feet of Lord Ram; you are bound to move from stress to relief. Keep performing duties nobly and selflessly for your home, office, friends and relatives, society or the country and with all your heart say: “Lord! Whatever I am doing, it is indeed your worship.” Then all this karma will turn into karma yoga. This is the kind of karma that will help you relate with God and unite with Him.