Trinity, Holy Ash and Organizational change

Many summers ago, I met a wonderful person (a practicing Christian) by chance, and he taught me a couple of profound lessons on Hinduism. He told me – Deepak, Hinduism is not a religion; it is rather a way of life. The Hindu Trinity or the three main Gods are Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma, as you may already know is the Creator, Vishnu is the protector and Shiva is the destroyer. But do you know why this split of responsibilities exists across these Gods and what it really means to our lives?

1. Brahma – The Creator – In our life, there is always a need for new things. We always need new energy, new experiences, new possessions, new relationships (like our friendship for example) and something new needs to bloom around us all the time for us to feel charged and renewed
2. Vishnu – The Protector – While new things need to emerge, it is very important to also preserve many things that we already have in life and this means preserving and protecting ourselves, our possessions, our relationships and those who depend on us
3. Shiva – The Destroyer – Now it is also important that we terminate and end some parts of our lives, be it some of our thoughts, some of our possessions, forget our bad experiences and even end some of our relationships. The destruction of some aspects of life is essential to acquire new aspects of live and preserve the remainder of what we have

 And then he asked – Why do you think Hindus apply the Holy Ash in their foreheads? The idea of the Holy Ash is to remind ourselves every single day that in the end, no matter how big our stature, our achievements, our wealth or our ego, our final state is exactly to become this ash. So never get deluded, never get overwhelmed and always remain grounded by remembering your end state.

These two lessons are so easily transferrable to organizations and can help us understand how the concept of the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva helps organizations to evolve.

1. Brahma – Creation – Every organization needs new creations, new innovations, new strategies, new processes and new people. These new aspects infuse life in to the organization and helps create the future of the organization
2. Vishnu – Preservation – Organizations need to preserve and protect themselves. They need to safeguard good people, processes and culture in order to sustain themselves and successfully deliver the mission that they have set themselves to deliver
3. Shiva – Destruction – And finally, organizations need to also need to stop doing things that no longer relevant, end projects or products that are no longer valuable and even have a churn of people who do not contribute towards the purpose of the organization

Just like the Hindu way of life, organizations need to go through the cycle of Creation, Preservation and Destruction to stay relevant and sustainable as time progresses. Hence all three of them – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are essential for the sustenance of organizations.

As for the Holy Ash lesson, it is for all of us Change Agents to remember that while we should take our Change agendas seriously, we should never take ourselves too seriously. The organization always comes first and we as individuals only come in to play our part, contribute and move on. Remember your final state is like that of the Ash.