Abstract
Teachings of Vedantic philosophy, developed in India several thousand years ago, are relevant to today's world. The most renowned script, theBhagavad Gita, is viewed as a treatise on management considered as action. Vedantic creation myths are examined for their approach to the creation, recursion, and closure of system: They prefigure these features in contemporary physics. A direct and startling comparison is made between the Vedantic creation model and the viable system model of current managerial cybernetics. Vedic mathematics is examined for its relevance to school teaching and to computers. The role of yogic meditation in management training is briefly considered.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barrow, J. D., and Tippler, F. J. (1986).The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Beer, S. (1959).Cybernetics and Management, English Universities Press, London.
Beer, S. (1962). Towards the cybernetic factory. In von Foerster, H., and Zopf (eds.),Principles of Self-Organization, Pergamon, Oxford.
Beer, S. (1963). Prediction and optimal decision.Philos. Sci. 30(1).
Beer, S. (1966).Decision and Control, Wiley, Chichester.
Beer, S. (1972).Brain of the Firm, Allen Lane, London.
Beer, S. (1979).The Heart of Enterprise, Wiley, Chichester.
Beer, S. (1985).Diagnosing the System for Organizations, Wiley, Chichester.
Bhagavad Gita (1944). Prabhavananda, S., and Isherwood, C. (transl.), Vedanta Society of Southern California, Chapter X.
Churchman, C. W. (1961).Prediction and Optimal Decision: Philosophical Issues of a Science of Values, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Churchman, C. W. (1968).The Systems Approach, Delacorte Press, New York.
Hawking, S. W. (1988).A Brief History of Time, Bantam Press, London.
Hope, M. (1991).Time: The Ultimate Energy, Element Books, Dorset.
Kanigel, R. (1991).The Man Who Knew Infinity, Washington Square Press, New York.
Kashyap, A. (1991). Vedic mathematics, some ramifications. In Khare, H. C. (ed.),Vedic Mathematics, Rastriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan, Delhi.
Maturana, H. R., and Varela, F. J. (1980).Autopoiesis and Cognition, Reidel, Dordrecht.
Murthy, P. N. (1988). Towards 2000 and beyond, Thirtieth Sri Mokshagundam Visvesaraya Memorial Lecture, Institute of Engineers, India.
Murthy, P. N. (1989). Some philosophical perceptions about design as a creative process. Address to the Fourth Indian Engineering Congress at Bhubaneswar.
Peat, F. D. (1991).Superstrings, Scribners, New York.
Paramhans, S. A. (1991). Mathematical heritage of ancient India and its transmission. In Khare, H. C. (ed.),Vedic Mathematics, Rastriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan, Delhi.
Siegel, L. (1986).The Dream of Reality: Heinz von Foerster's Constructivism, W. W. Norton, New York.
Skukla, K. S. (1991). Vedic mathematics: The deceptive title of Swamiji's book. In Khare, H. C. (ed.),Vedic Mathematics, Rastriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan, Delhi.
Sir Aurobindo (1970).The Mother, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, India.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
An edited version of this paper was first published as a tribute to C. West Churchman inInterfaces.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Beer, S. May the whole earth be happy:Loka Samastat Sukhino Bhavantu . Systems Practice 7, 439–450 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02169364
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02169364