UPANISHADS IN GLOBAL MANAGEMENT EDUCATION

                                         

UPANISHADS  IN GLOBAL MANAGEMENT EDUCATION 

“ For him who sees everywhere oneness, how can there be delusion or grief?”…Isha Upanishad

The Upanishads found ardent Western admirers from the 19th century onwards, most famously the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who called them “the most profitable and most elevating reading in the world” and kept the 'Oupnekhat 'on his desk as “the solace of my life”; American Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman, whose notions of the Self and Over-Soul echo 'Tat Tvam Asi',  the quantum physicists Erwin Schrödinger, who kept them at his bedside and saw “the unity of Vedanta” in wave mechanics, Werner Heisenberg, who claimed “quantum theory will not look ridiculous to people who have read Vedanta,” Niels Bohr, who declared “I go to the Upanishad to ask questions,” and J. Robert Oppenheimer, who learnt Sanskrit to read them; poets T.S. Eliot, who ended 'The Waste Land'  with “Datta, Dayadhvam, Damyata” and “Shantih Shantih Shantih” from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad , W.B. Yeats, who translated ten principal Upanishads, and W. Somerset Maugham, whose 'The Razor’s Edge' takes its title from the Katha Upanishad; and psychologist Carl Jung, who drew on Upanishadic Atman for his concept of the Self, alongside Aldous Huxley, who grounded 'The Perennial Philosophy' in their teachings.

The foremost Muslim lover of the Upanishads was the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh, who in 1657 worked with Benares Pandits to translate fifty Upanishads into Persian as "Sirr-i-Akbar", “The Greatest Secret,” and wrote "Majma-ul-Bahrain", “The Mingling of Two Oceans,” to demonstrate the unity of Sufism and Vedanta; his Persian version later reached Europe as the Latin 'Oupnek’hat' and profoundly influenced Schopenhauer. Centuries earlier, the Persian polymath Al-Biruni studied the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Sutras in 11th-century India, comparing them to Greek philosophy in his book "Ta’rikh-ul-Hind". The Naqshbandi Sufi Mirza Mazhar Jan-i Janan speculated that the Upanishads contained revealed truth. In the modern era, Allama Iqbal drew on Upanishadic notions of the Self in "Asrar-e-Khudi " and "Ramooz-e-Bekhudi ", whilst Maulana Abul Kalam Azad blended Islamic philosophy with Upanishadic insight in "Tazkira" and "Ghubar-e-Qatir". Contemporary figures include Sri Mumtaz Ali Khan from Kerala, who holds discourses on the Upanishads at Kumbh Mela, and scholar Dr Intaj Malek, author of "Upanishads and Islamic Mysticism " , who equates Sufi Fana with Upanishadic union with Brahman; even TV anchor Suhaib Ilyasi found solace in the Upanishads during imprisonment. The 16th-century ,"Allopanishad" , though a later forgery written in Akbar’s court to promote Din-i-Ilahi and rejected by Swami Vivekananda and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, nonetheless reflects this long-standing Muslim engagement with Upanishadic thought as an expression of divine oneness beyond creedal boundaries.

The Upanishads are now part of MBA curricula worldwide, including at IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, Harvard, MIT Sloan, London Business School, Stanford GSB, Rotterdam School of Management, and INSEAD. Taught not as religion but as Indian Knowledge Systems, they address modern leadership gaps: ethics, self-awareness, and decision-making under ambiguity.

 Upanishads commonly taught are :

 

1.ISHA: Leadership with detachment_: “Tena tyaktena bhunjitha” is taught for sustainable stewardship.  

2.KATHA: Goal Clarity:  Nachiketa’s Shreyas vs Preyas_teaches long-term focus over short-term gains.  

3.KENA : Humility:  This Upanishad is taught to know “Who drives the mind?” And also taught to check the ego in decision-making.  

4.MUNDAKA: Wisdom vs skill: This Upanishad is taught to understand Para vs Apara Vidya to distinguish technical training from holistic judgment.  

5.TAITTRIYA: Values & motivation: The five sheaths( Pancha Kosa )  model from this Upanishad is used in OB and HR  for team development.  

6.CHANDOGYA: Inclusive Leadership: Tat Tvam Asi from this Upanishad drives empathy and stakeholder thinking.  

7.BRIHADARANYAKA: Strategic Clarity:  The Neti Neti concept from this Upanishad is taught as a framework to eliminate the non-essential in decision-making.

I was told by a MBA pass out from a prestigious University in the US that he learned the story of Satyakama from a professor during his studies for the MBA degree. The Satyakama Jabala story from Chandogya Upanishad (4.4) is taught in MBA programmes at IIM Bangalore, IIM Ahmedabad, Harvard, and INSEAD as a case study in ethical leadership. Satyakama was a boy of unknown parentage who wanted to study. The Guru asked his lineage. The boy honestly says, “I don’t know, my mother said she served many people  ”. The Guru says, “You are a real Brahmaṇa because you spoke the truth.”

Sent to tend 400 cows, he returns years later with 1000, having learnt from nature along the way. The lesson: leadership rests on Satya (integrity), Shraddha (commitment), and learning through action, not pedigree. B-schools use it to teach authenticity, merit over background, humility in menial tasks, and building trust through truth, framing character as the real credential in conscious capitalism. The story conveys that truthfulness, humility, and eagerness to learn are the real marks of a developed personality.

In India, Prof. S.K. Chakraborty of IIM Calcutta first introduced the Upanishads into management education in the early 1990s. He founded the "Management Centre for Human Values" at IIM-C and launched the course ,"Management by Human Values" , using the Isha, Kena, and Katha Upanishads to address ethics and leadership gaps in Western models. His 1995 book , "Ethics in Management: Vedantic Perspectives" established the framework, earning him recognition as the father of Indian Ethos in Management. Prof. Subhash Sharma and Prof. Peter Pruzan were early introducers of Upanishadic values in modern management science in Europe, while Prof. Bill George helped mainstream it in the US.

Upanishadic wisdom is taught in Japanese management schools, though mainly in electives and executive education. Hitotsubashi ICS has incorporated "Brahman-Atman" concepts into knowledge management modules, while Kyoto University and Keio Business School include the Isha and Kena Upanishads in "Spirituality in Business" programmes. The Upanishads are usually presented as comparative Eastern philosophy for global leadership.

In China, Upanishads are taught to management students mainly in executive and elective programmes at top schools. Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management includes the Isha and Katha Upanishads in its Eastern Wisdom and Leadership modules, while CEIBS Shanghai uses "Tat Tvam Asi" in Global Leadership" courses. Tsinghua SEM and Fudan School of Management also reference Upanishadic ideas in cross-cultural ethics and leadership electives. It remains niche, presented as comparative Eastern philosophy alongside Taoism and Confucianism .

In Russia, Upanishadic knowledge appears in management education only in niche settings. Higher School of Economics (HSE) Moscow includes the Isha and Kena Upanishads in Philosophy of Management electives, while Skolkovo School of Management uses ,"Tat Tvam Asi " and "Neti Neti" in Conscious Leadership executive modules. MGIMO University also references the Upanishads in Cross-Cultural Management courses covering Indian business culture.

I am informed that some Upanishads are also taught to management students in Pakistan in some select institutions : LUMS : The Suleman Dawood School of Business lists ,"Comparative Philosophy and Ethics" as an elective for Management Science students. Course outlines from the Humanities and Social Sciences department show the Katha and Isha Upanishads used alongside Islamic and Western ethical frameworks. At IBA Karachi, The School of Social Sciences offers philosophy and leadership electives where Upanishadic ideas on self-inquiry and detachment appear. They're taught comparatively with Rumi, Iqbal, and Stoic thought. However, the Upanishads are presented as comparative wisdom, not as management doctrine.

At IIMs in India , courses like “Leadership through Literature” and “Spirituality for Global Managers” use these texts as case studies for stress management, ethical leadership, and conscious capitalism. The goal: build leaders who combine competence with inner clarity.

( Avtar Mota )

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