From the Index of Management Areas

The Bhagavad Gita on Accountability

Accountability is the willingness to stand where the consequences land. A leader who is accountable does the work that is theirs, says what was decided and why, and carries the outcome without passing it along the table. The Bhagavad Gita speaks to this with great clarity. Krishna asks Arjuna to act because the duty is his, and to let go of his claim on the result. The action belongs to you, and so does the answering for it, while the fruit was never yours to hold. Pondered upon this way, the verses below show a leader how to own a decision fully without being owned by its outcome.

The 19 verses the book gathers under Accountability

Chapter and verse, as listed in the Index of Management Areas, each with The Meaning as it appears in the book. The Teaching and the Reflect question for every verse are in the book.

1.38Arjuna says that since they can see the wrong caused by destroying the family, they should understand that they must turn away from this sin.
2.3Krishna tells Arjuna not to fall into weakness. This faintheartedness does not suit him. He should give up this small weakness of heart and stand up to do his duty.
2.21A person who knows that the self is indestructible, eternal, unborn, and imperishable understands that the true self cannot kill or be killed. Krishna asks how such a person can think in terms of killing the eternal self.
2.33If Arjuna refuses to fight this righteous battle, he will abandon his own duty and honour, and he will incur fault. Krishna is warning him that avoiding dharma also has consequences.
3.6Krishna says that a person who outwardly controls the body but keeps thinking about sense pleasures is self-deceived and is called a hypocrite.
3.8Krishna tells Arjuna to perform his prescribed duty because action is better than inaction, and even bodily life cannot continue without action.
3.12Krishna says that the devas, nourished by yajña, give what is needed and desired. But one who enjoys their gifts without offering back is like a thief.
3.16Krishna says that one who does not follow the sacred cycle of yajña and lives only for sense pleasure lives a wasted and harmful life.
4.36Even if a person has committed great wrongs, true knowledge can carry them across all sin and confusion like a boat crossing water.
6.5You must raise yourself through your own disciplined mind and should not pull yourself down. Your own mind can become your best friend or your worst enemy.
7.6Krishna says that all beings arise from His lower and higher energies. He is the source of the entire world and also the one into whom it dissolves.
9.18Krishna says that He is the goal, sustainer, Lord, witness, abode, refuge, and friend of all. He is also the origin, dissolution, foundation, resting place, and imperishable seed of existence.
9.30Krishna says that even if someone has very bad conduct, if that person worships Him with exclusive devotion, he should be regarded as saintly because his resolve is now rightly fixed.
10.29Krishna says that among Nāgas He is Ananta, among aquatic beings He is Varuṇa, among ancestors He is Aryamā, and among regulators or restrainers He is Yama.
13.3Krishna says that He is also the knower present in all bodies, and true knowledge means understanding both the field and the knower of the field.
13.14Krishna says that the Supreme is present everywhere, with hands, feet, eyes, heads, faces, and ears everywhere, pervading the whole world.
13.23Krishna says that within this body the Supreme Person is present as the witness, permitter, supporter, experiencer, great Lord, and Paramatma.
14.8Krishna says that tamas is born of ignorance and deludes all embodied beings; it binds through negligence, laziness, and sleep.
16.8Krishna says that people with demoniac tendencies believe the world has no truth, no foundation, and no divine order. They see life as arising only from desire and mutual attraction.

One verse in full

Chapter Six, Verse 5

उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत् ।

uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānam avasādayet |

आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः ॥

ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ ||

The Meaning You must raise yourself through your own disciplined mind and should not pull yourself down. Your own mind can become your best friend or your worst enemy.

Sustainable leadership begins with self-management: the leader’s own mind can become the strongest ally or the biggest obstacle.

In the book, this verse is followed by The Teaching and a Reflect question.

Every verse under this area, with its Teaching and its Reflect question, is in The Ethical Leader’s Gita. For copies for your leadership team, see corporate and bulk gifting.

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