INDIVIDUAL DYNAMICS AND LEADERSHIP – BOOK REVIEW
The Difficulty of Being Good by Gurcharan Das

CONTENT

S. No. Topic Page No.
1. Introduction and summary 1
2. Objective of study 1
3. Method of study 1
4. Critical Analysis of Chapters 2
4.1 Duryodhana’s Envy 2
4.2 Draupadi’s Courage 2
4.3 Yudhishthira’s Duty 3
4.4 Yudhishthira’s Remorse 4
4.5 Arjuna’s Despair 5
4.6 Krishna’s Guile 6
4.7 Bhishma’s Selflessness 6
4.8 Karna’s Status Anxiety 7
4.9 Conclusion 8
5. Key Learning 9

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY
The Difficulty of Being Good by Gurcharan Das is an attempt to study and analyse the Mahabharata and the relevance it holds in todays’ world. The author realises that the great warriors in Mahabharata were essentially human beings and they had their own follies. Their moral dilemmas and behaviour arising out of the choices they made are very much relevant even today. The Mahabharata is essentially about our incomplete lives, about good people being faced with ethical dilemma and making choices that are not always right. They find themselves caught up in difficult situations, unable to decide what is right & what is wrong for ‘Dharma is subtle’ and its difficult it is to be good & righteous in this world. Essentially it’s the pursuit of Dharma by human beings and the moral dilemmas encountered on the way , that the author seek in this book.
In each chapter, he critically analyses different characters of the epic and relates their dilemmas and actions with ours.
Duryodhana – Scorched by envy towards his prosperous cousins Pandavas, Duryodhana tries every means possible to get the Pandavas out of his way. He justifies his actions as the dharma of a Kshatriya which says that the enemy should be vanquished. Eventually his character grows and we see him as a man of integrity who succumbed to his envy.
Draupadi – Draupadi personifies courage. She handles her adversity with aplomb and challenges the status quo of the society by raising very intense questions. She is resilient, eloquent and an inspiration to all women to challenge the status quo.
Yudhishthira – Yudhishthira is known for being the epitome of Dharma and was respected for his integrity. Yet even he succumbs to deviating from dharma. During the war we see his turmoil as he tries hard to keep on the path of dharma.
Arjuna – Though he was the greatest warrior of all, he portrays helplessness. He was unwilling to go to war and kill his kin, but he was forced by Krishna to take up the arms and fight for the good of all.
Bhishma – Bhishma was respected for his justice and selflessness. He kept his word and was fair to all. But even he made an error of keeping quiet when Draupadi was being disrobed. He didn’t stood up for justice and here again, Mahabharata shows the difficulty there is in being good.
Krishna – Mahabharata depicts Krishna the God in a negative light as well. He was shown as being inclined towards the Pandavas. He also manipulated the war in favour of Pandavas. His actions lead the author to question whether Krishna was indeed a God or a mere human.
Karna – Karna is known for his loyalty and friendship. The book emphasises on his status Anxiety. The status was compared to different caste system in India and also compared with American and European culture.
Ashwatthama – He was shown with a revengeful attitude and believed that end justify means. Due to his low emotional stability he made some unethical decisions

OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
The objective of the study is to understand the human behaviour when faced by dilemmas and tribulations. Mahabharata presents ample instances of such situations and this study was an attempt to understand the message given out by this epic. The end objective was to study the personality traits of characters of the Mahabharata and relate it with the theoretical framework so as to develop a better understanding of the academic theories.
METHOD OF STUDY
The group did a reading of the book and then discussed the important points and key learnings. The second stage was allotting chapters to individual members so as to come up with the critical analysis of each. Next, the individual analysis were shared and discussed to reach to the final conclusion and understand the moral of the book.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS AND THEORITICAL FRAMEWORKS

DURYODHANA’S ENVY
“What man of mettle will stand to see his rivals prosper and himself decline”
‘If envy were a fever the whole world would be ill.’
Envy is an emotion basic to all human beings. Arising from need for self-esteem (Maslow’s Need Hierarchy), envy finds its roots in the distress the envier feels when he sees the good fortune of others. Envy is a strong emotion with high negative effect that overwhelms the envier with mental stress, tension and depression, making him mentally ill.
Duryodhana is a classic example of how envy in its extreme has the potential to consume a lead to a calamity like the Mahabharata. His envy arises when he goes low on self-esteem (Maslow’s Need Hierarchy) but has a high need for power and achievement (McClelland’s theory). Unable to bear the prosperity and fortune of his Pandavas cousins he indulges in surface-acting and invites Duryodhana for a ‘friendly game of dice’ and cheats him under the conspiracy. Also, the perception (cognitive component) that the Pandavas are more accomplished than him leads to the feeling (affective component) of envy and combined with his Machiavellianism results in his multiple plots to kill the Pandavas (behavioural component).Duryodhan also suffers from over-confidence bias that since he had all the great warriors combined with a vast army (including Krishna’s army), he would win the war against Pandavas. Even as he lay dying he is confident that he would have won if the war had been fought fairly.
However, we also see that Duryodhana’s political skill is mostly influenced by his uncle Shakuni. As the story progresses, we see that he adheres to his principles. The folly lies in the principles being wrong in the first place. Towards the end he comes across as a heroic leader, unrepentant & consistent with his beliefs. We feel a sense of empathy towards him for we all have experienced although in varied intensity what he has felt.

DRAUPADI’S COURAGE
‘Whom did you lose first, yourself or me?’
Draupadi is the queen & heroine of the epic known for her intelligence and courage. Yudhishthira stakes and loses her in the ominous game of dice. She is raged and devastated to know that she has been staked and lost to the Kauravas on a game of dice. Under calamitous situation of being dragged to the court filled with people, only to be disrobed, for no folly of her own, she displays high Emotional Quotient. She keeps her felt emotions of rage & contempt on hold and courageously puts forward two very insistent questions to the assembly. These questions if answered genuinely would change her status as a won over slave to Kauravas and get her freedom. Here, it’s her proactive personality on play that questions the status quo in order to improve her & her husbands’ situation.
She puts forward legal question as part of the prashna strategy and when that fails, she asks a second question –
‘What is left of the Dharma of the Kings?’
The questions together posed terrifying social & moral challenge to the society at that time. Acknowledging and answering Draupadi’s question at that time would have required a ‘paradigm shift’ in the society’s traditions & way of operating. Eventually the questions remain unanswered till the end of the epic.
Draupadi shows toughness and courage, when faced with adversity, which is undoubtedly admirable. She is eloquent, assertive and resilient and fits into the investigative type of personality as per Holland’s Typology of personality. Terminal values like self-respect, family security and freedom and instrumental values like capability, courage & independence form her value system.
However, like any human being, Draupadi’s persona is not free of flaws. She stereotyped against Karna and refuses to marry him calling him a Charioteer, even though he wins her hand fairly through a difficult test. She disagrees that Yudhishthira knowingly joined the fateful game of dice and voluntarily staked his wife, which seems to be a selective perception, because she ignores the affinity of Yudhishthira towards the game. YUDHISHTHIRA’S DUTY

‘I act because I must’

Yudhishthira says that ‘I act because I must’ which shows his firm commitment towards his duties. He also persists in his Faustian search for Dharma until the end and displays an intrinsic motivation towards it. During the course of the story, the terminal values that Yudhishthira believes in are – family security, a world of peace, moksha. The Instrumental values that we can observe in him are - honesty, responsibility, capability, truthfulness, compassion and righteousness. He displayed the emotions of – remorse, burning grief and guilt.

Yudhishthira goes on to play a second game of dice with the Kauravas. He loses again and is banished for thirteen years which displays his Escalation of commitment bias in decision-making. Yudhishthira’s answer to the constant goading of Draupadi implies that consequences or ends do not justify the means which shows his low Machiavellianism. Yudhishthira has very less emotional stability. He lets his emotions overcome him at times. He has low agreeableness in that he typically is unwilling to listen to people around him and has his own way. He craves solitude in his guilt, and he is unable to relate to others which shows the negative affect mood dimension in him.

Yudhishthira in the end chooses not to become a ‘non-violent’ hermit. He elects to become a just king, who he knows will have to resort to non-violent punishment, in the pursuit of justice. He tries to modify his natural feelings which illustrates Deep acting.

After thirteen harsh years in exile, Yudhishthira assumes Job responsibility. It was he who gave the fateful order to begin the war, and leads the Pandavas to victory.
Yudhishthira has evolved from a guileless idealist who stands for absolute moral standards into a pragmatist who understands the limitations of those who have to rule a state. He imbibes deep acting to display organizationally desired behaviour.

He displays Utilitarianism by saying that in times of trouble one’s duty alters and that in dire situations one may perform normally improper acts for the greater good. As he takes charge of the war effort, and assumes ‘complete control of his brothers and his allies’ displaying his Employee-oriented Leadership. He becomes a more pragmatic person and says that he is just as capable of peace as he is of war, as he is of gentleness and severity thus displaying a high sense of Openness to Experience. He starts being realistic and pursue only what is attainable, instead of blindly following ideals. Yudhishthira is no longer willing to be exploited and starts displaying Agreeableness. He was aware that repeated actions had a way of changing one’s inclinations to act in a certain way to build a character which illustrates Classical conditioning. Yudhishthira shows by his own example that there is another way to live and one need not assume that a competitive, self-centred life dedicated solely to self-advancement is the only way, displaying a sense of Self-monitoring.

YUDHISHTHIRA’S REMORSE

‘This victory feels more like defeat to me’

Yudhishthira believes in gentler values of ahimsa and compassion; at other times, he realizes their limitations, such as the moment when he makes the decision to go to war. He is attracted to the contemplative life, but he is reminded of his Kshatriya duty to live the active life of pravritti. The two sets of values coexist within his tormented character indicating Cognitive dissonance.

Yudhishthira displays Overconfidence bias when he believes that with Karna and Arjuna beside him, he could have conquered even Indra’s heaven. When he comes to know of Karna’s secret from Kunti, in torment he curses all women: ‘They will not keep secrets! – which shows his stereotyping of the female clan.

Yudhishthira is overcome with guilt and shows a low level of job satisfaction and negative attitude when he says to Arjuna that to get a piece of the earth they totally abandoned men who were equal to the earth, men whom they should never have killed to satisfy their greed for kingdom. He considers himself ‘a sinful wrongdoer’ who has caused the deaths of ‘people who should not be slain’. He holds himself responsible for the deaths of his teacher Drona, his brother Karna, his nephew Abhimanyu, and many others. He therefore believes he is unworthy to rule and atones by renouncing his crown despising the Kshatriya-way responsible for the disaster. He refuses to ascend the throne because he is convinced that the demands of kingship and dharma are inconsistent.

After Bhishma’s pacifying advice, eventually he is calmed and reconciles to the demands of kingship which shows his Agreeableness. He becomes resigned to the tragedy of war and the imperfect human condition. He realizes that renouncing the throne is an escape, not a solution and that he must learn to live with it. He displays Emotional stability in doing so. It is notable that he qualified as an authentic leader by not letting go of his core values while adapting to the demands of kingship. Yudhishthira displays Social awareness in empathizing with the undeserved misfortune of others. As soon as the war is over, his first thought is to the Kauravas’ mother, Gandhari. He goes to her and begs her for forgiveness.

Yudhishthira says he would let the lie come into the world, even dominate the world, but not through him. He deeply reflects and makes a deliberate choice between following his Kshatriya-dharma or the dharma of his conscience. He decides rather than succumbing to self-deception and compromise. Yudhishthira reflected and showed the courage to choose between two kinds of lives. He made this choice identifying with all human beings, and this led him to the heart of Dharma. This is an exemplary example of Core Self-evaluation.

ARJUNA’S DESPAIR
“I see omens of chaos, Krishna; I see no good in killing my kinsmen in battle.”
The sight of Krishna’s terrible power is too much for Arjuna, and he begs him to stop and return to his more tranquil human aspect. The experience makes Arjuna realize that his duty to fight is linked to Krishna’s divinity. The scenario gives clear picture of different component of attitudes wherein Arjuna after being shown the terrifying form of Krishna as creator and destroyer of the universe understands the need for the war and his duty towards his Dharma which exhibits the Cognitive component followed by realization of his weakness and feeling convinced about going for war which is the Affective component and Behavioural component is elucidated after he agrees for the war. Also he demonstrates self-monitoring personality wherein after Krishna’s reasoning of the need for war he adjusts himself to get ready to fight for his right.
Right from the beginning of the war and through the course of the war Arjuna was very low on Job Satisfaction due to the fact that he did not want his kin and the loved ones to die and also on the unfair means which he had to use to kill many Kaurava warriors.
When Arjuna hears of his brave son’s death, he weeps bitterly. Gradually, Arjuna’s sorrow turns into anger. He vows, ‘Truly, I swear I shall kill Jayadratha before sunset tomorrow. If he does not avenge his son’s killer, Arjuna declares, he will immolate himself. It shows Arjuna is very low on Emotional Intelligence as though he knew many would be killed in the course of war, he could not regulate his emotions and puts himself under a do-or-die situation.
He exhibited characteristics of Agreeableness as he was in all situations listen to what Krishna asked him to do after reasoning with him. And he was Conscientiousness as he considered himself responsible for what would happen or the consequences and also he was dependable as Pandavas side was mainly dependable on him.
Demonstrating the models of creativity, Arjuna had the expertise in archery and he used his creative thinking skills to kill Jayadrath in such a way that his head after being cut off by the arrow falls on his father’s lap thereby saving Arjuna from the curse.
Arjuna possessed instrumental value in a sense that he was Honest and considered himself responsible for the work he undertook and also bore responsibility for the consequences of the war.
His son’s death makes him full of rage and next day he kills more people in the battlefield than he had on previous days which demonstrates negative re-enforcement to Arjuna .effect of killing Jayadrath at any cost.
How can it be right to kill the ones you love and to leave your dear ones to get killed? Arjun was an employee-oriented leader who did not want his kin and warriors to die and at the same time did not want to kill his loved ones who are on the enemy side.
KRISHNA’S GUILE
“Casting aside virtue, ye sons of Pandu, Adopt now some contrivance for gaining the victory”
Krishna was a natural leader as from Henry Mintzber. He was the source of motivation and direction for Arjuna who guided him in the war.
He was Spokesperson from Pandava’s side who had gone to Kaurava’s court to make a final attempt for truce and to avoid the war. He was a crafty negotiator too when he when he tried to negotiate with them to first give Pandavas their share of land followed by warning them of the Pandava’s army strength followed by asking to part away with just 5 villages for them which will be sufficient.
Krishna was high on emotional intelligence due to the fact that even as he knew that many dear ones will be killed, he was determined towards the war and performed his duty and not letting emotions control him.
He posed the Machiavellianism characteristics as he wanted Pandavas to win the war at any cost and even influenced them to kill Kaurava warriors deceitfully.
He displayed a production oriented leadership style as he wanted Pandavas to win the war without even considering what everyone was going through and possible repercussions.
Krishna displayed an example of situational leadership and acted as a motivator convincing Arjuna to stick to his dharma when he was not willing to fight even though he had the ability.
Krishna was a Charismatic leader as he had a vision of taking Pandavas to win the war, took the risk of hiding the sun before the sunset in helping Arjuna kill Jayadrath which was unconventional & he was also sensitive to Arjuna’s emotions of not fighting the war.
BHISHMA’S SELFLESSNESS
“Be intent on the action,
Not on the fruits of action”
On the tenth day of the Mahabharata war, Dhritarashtra is informed that Bhishma has been killed in war. Then story then goes back in time when Arjuna is confused about killing Bhishma and Krishna consoles him.
Bhishma was the son of Shantanu, the ruler of the Bharata dynasty. Shantanu had fallen in love with Satyavati, the daughter of a fisherman. As a part of the marriage conditions, Satyavati’s father wanted Satyavati’s children to be descendants of the kingdom if not for which Bhishma would have been the ruler. Hence Bhishma chose not to marry and renounce the right to kingdom. Here Bhishma displays the quality of organisational commitment to the kingdom.
Satyavati has two children and Bhishma brings them up his own brothers and also ruled the kingdom as their guardian and regent. After they grew up, he get gets them married too. Bhishma here displays job engagement. When Satyavati wanted Bhishma to sire children on her daughter-in-laws after the death of her children, Bhishma declines it and says he cannot go back on his word.
Between the time when Pandu renounced the throne and retired to the forest and Dhritharashtra took over and Duryodhana’s promotion to the kingdom, Bhishma continued to administer the duties of the kingdom. Even though he had his sympathies towards the Pandavas, he continued to serve as the supreme commander of the Kauravas. Here Bhishma displays loyalty to his kingdom.
Bhishma’s core value was dharma or self-righteousness. Bhishma tells the Pandavas that he cannot be defeated in the battle and he can be defeated only when he is unarmed. He also informs them that he wouldn’t fight with a woman or someone who had been a woman. So when Sikhandi, who was born a woman appeared before him, he would lay down his weapons and then Arjuna could kill him. Bhishma here exhibits self-concordance when he sticks to and pursues his core values.
The only part in this chapter where Bhishma was shown in negative light was during the dice game when Bhishma did not stop the public humiliation of Draupadi. Though he had the authority to stop it, he was discussing about dharma. The Mahabharata war could have been averted if Bhishma had spoken up. Hence Bhishma had displayed low emotional intelligence.
KARNA’S STATUS ANXIETY
‘This lordly man deserves to rule the world!’
Karna was born to Surya, the son of god and Kunti, the Pandava Queen, when she was not married. As, she was not married she abandoned Karna and sets the infant afloat on river. He was then brought up by a charioteer, though being a brought up by a charioteer he acquired the martial skills and wants to be a champion warrior, this shows that Heredity is an important factor in shaping men’s personality.
When Drona holds a tournament to display the skills of Kaurava’s and Pandavas and after Arjuna displays his extraordinary skills , enters Karna saying that he can do better than what Arjuna does and he rightly proves his talent, next he challenges Arjuna to a duel, but , as he is not Kshatriya he is denied the right to fight. Here comes Duryodhan who shows a Cognitive Attitude and make him the King of Agna as a result the liking (Affective Attitude) of Karna is increased towards Duryodhan and he shows a positive Behavioural towards Duryodhan till the very end.
He exhibited characteristics of Conscientiousness as he considered himself responsible for what would happen or the consequences and also he was dependable as Kaurava’s side was mainly dependable on him. Also, he scored highly on the Extraversion character as he used to brag a lot about his achievements and constantly looked for new opportunities like display of his archery and martial skills in a tournament. In addition to this Karna’s score was very high in emotional stability which can be proved by the fact that when Krishna and Kunti revealed his true identity to him he still wanted to fight against Pandava’s and was unmoved by his true identity. This also shows his behavioural attitude towards Duryodhan.
He posed the Narcissism characteristics as he was self-important person who needs excessive admiration and kept bragging about himself, in addition to this he was a proactive personality as he himself went to Parshuram for his training, went to Sita’s swaymwar and went to a competition organised by Drona to display his martial skills.
Karna possessed instrumental value in a sense that he was Honest, Capable, Ambitious and Independent and considered him responsible for whatever work he undertook, this all values can be identified when he leads Kaurava’s Army after Bhishma and Drona.
The Status of Karna that he was a mere charioteer’s son led to many biases against him like Availability Bias. His status anxiety is dealt very aptly in the book here by comparing it with different caste system in India and there importance, also there are comparisons drawn between America and Europe status anxiety. Also, it mentions how the status of author changed when he married his daughters too high class people in the society.
Karna is always remembered for his friendship and Loyalty.
CONCLUSION
“With uplifted arms I cry, but no one heeds;
From dharma flow wealth and pleasure.
Then why is dharma not pursued?”
Throughout the book we see that the epic is about many things and the author concludes with quite a few points. We have taken the liberty to present points that are relevant to us from the view of academic and its theories.
The most important take away is the quality of “Anrishamsya”, i.e. compassion. Compassion for others as demonstrated by Yudhishthira and following the path of “sadharan-dharma”, which teaches one to behave with impartiality towards everyone. This being the set of values one should follow, Mahabharata also cautions us to stay away from some. Vanity being the foremost. Mahabharata gives abundant examples where vanity comes in the way of correctly engaging with people - Duryodhan’s envy, Dhritarashtra’s hypocrisy and Ashwatthama’s revenge. Vanity is the ego that enslaves human beings. The errors committed by these characters are still of relevance today as people continue to lose their focus due to vanity.
This vanity is what our academic terms as Narcissism. Narcissism describes a person who has a sense of self-importance, entitlement and is arrogant. Narcissists sometimes do come out as charismatic leaders but they are generally disliked and Mahabharata presents us with a perfect narcissist in Duryodhan. Duryodhan was a great warrior but his envy and vanity is what lead to his fall. Had he only focussed on his job, the war wouldn’t have happened. Mahabharata tells us that vanity ultimately leads to self-destruction.
Even though Mahabharata exalts the virtue of “Anrishamsya”, it takes into account certain truths of the real world and advises a more pragmatic approach. It is aware of the presence of antisocial elements in society and thus accepts the fact that violence is inevitable when one is up against an adversary. So in a world of power politics, the dharma of the leader cannot be moral perfection. Its advice is to adopt a friendly face to the world but do not allow yourself to be exploited. And this exactly is the reason why the war broke out when the Pandavas refused to be exploited. Yudhishthira, who epitomises high moral virtue, himself once said, “I am just as capable of peace as I am of war…as I am of gentleness and severity.” The message here is that a leader has to enforce the rod of force as and when a situation requires. This isn’t exactly in contradiction with the value of compassion, but just extends that value to a more prudent way so as not be exploited by others.
These two lessons might seem to be in contrast and it might put one in a dilemma of what path to follow – to serve selflessly and impartially or to use retributive justice and benevolence at the same time. The same dilemma was faced by the characters in the epic and is still faced by many of us in the present world. This, in short, emphasises and explains the title ‘The Difficulty of Being Good’. The story of Mahabharata is very much relevant even after centuries and one can gain a valuable insight on life by reading it.
The middle path that Mahabharata talks about can be somewhat related to Machiavellianism. One cannot satisfy all or garner everyone’s support when it comes to power and politics. Mahabharata is also a great political epic and here it gives some valuable lessons to all those in power. From Duryodhan to Yudhishthira to Krishna, everyone at one point or the other deviated from their belief and values to achieve the required result. They came down to use manipulation, lies and trickery to justify the saying that “end justifies the means”. We can safely say that Machiavellianism is not an entirely negative characteristic. We have to take into account that there are different kinds of people with values other than ours. If we need to get something done, we might have to use ‘unfair’ means. The Mahabharata shows us that it is alright to use such means in our practical life but only to a certain limit. One shouldn’t manipulates as Shakuni did to Yudhishthira in the game of dice but use this mean as a pragmatic approach to get out of some tricky situations. KEY LEARNINGS
The book ‘The Difficulty of Being Good’ took us back in time only to make us realize that human emotions and behaviours have remained unchanged through the ages. The moral dilemmas faced by the mighty characters of the epic give a sense of déjà vu to the reader and he can empathize with them as he as a human being has himself experienced their dilemmas. A critical analysis of the book shows that Mahabharata isn’t about a perfect ideal but is a story of imperfect heroes and humanly Gods and we understand that the ‘Dharma is subtle.’ Due to the thin line separating Dharma from Adharma, it’s difficult for humans to be righteous at all times. Even Yudhishthira, the ultimate epitome of Dharma, is seen to falter from the path of righteousness.
The book brings to light the complexities of human behaviour. Every human being has his follies. As prospective managers, we take from the book the key learning that we have to understand and empathize with the emotions and dilemmas of people around us. Its difficult to categorize people under theoretical concepts as human mind, thought and actions go way beyond the theories. That being said, there were few traits and characteristics that did come out and were duly noted. We learn the importance of following the pragmatic middle path. We should always look at the big picture and decide in the best interest of all, for dharma is subtle and the best way to decide what is right and what is wrong would be to follow the great Vidura’s advise-
‘To save the family, abandon an individual.
To save the village, abandon a family.
To save the country, abandon a village.
To save the soul, abandon the earth.’
REFERENCE
1. The Difficulty of Being Good by Gurcharan Das
2. Organizational Behaviour by Robbins, Judge and Vohra