What is being fair??? The ethical dilemma

We all know that in the Mahabharata, Bhisma abducts three princesses of Kashi, and makes them marry Vichitravirya, his half-brother, who is not as strong. Bhisma uses strength to claim mates, just as animals do. But he does this for his weaker brother, an act of generosity that only humans can do. Is Bhisma being fair? Without Bhisma's support, his brother cannot secure a wife. The women on their own would choose a worthier groom, maybe even Bhisma. Is that fair? What about Vichitravirya's needs? Is it his right to get a bride?

Is it Bhisma's responsibility, as elder brother, to secure him one? What about the rights of the bride? If the women chose Bhisma, would he be obliged to be their husband? What about his vow of celibacy? Don't his wishes matter? These questions make up what is called a dharmasankat in Hindu mythology, an ethical or moral dilemma.

When a guy (let’s call him XYZ) took over as a director of a company, he observed that the company mostly hired men, that too from a particular community. There was hardly any representation from other communities. He felt the company was being very unfair, unethical and even immoral. He raised this in a meeting and this led to many unhappy murmurs.

Did the company exist to make profits for shareholders or solve social issues of inequality and discrimination? When XYZ argued passionately, the other directors told him the company owed its success greatly to its recruitment policy, which was never put down in writing but implicitly accepted across rank and file.

If XYZ has his way, will the company be fairer? Will it continue to be profitable? Who was willing to take the risk? Culture, or Sanskriti, is a man-made construct. Notions of right and wrong are artificial, not natural.

In the jungle, there is no notion of fairness or unfairness. Animals struggle to survive. In the quest to survive, the predator kills prey and prey seeks to outrun the predator. No animal is good or bad. Ideas of good and bad, right and wrong, exist only amongst humans. We are greedy, unlike animals, who stop eating once their stomachs are full.

Thus, humans have the capacity to be worse than animals (greedy) and better than animals (generous). Is generosity being right? If that is so, then culture cannot exist, for culture is based on destruction of nature. The question is not whether we are greedy or not, or whether we are generous or not. The question is how greedy we are willing to be and how generous are we willing to be.

Now that the company is successful, the directors may decide to the stay the same -a boy's club limited to a community. Or they can change into a new organisation that is more accepting of others, at the very least women and disabled people from the same community and then, heart and wallet willing, recruit people from outside. This journey of the head and heart is as much part of organisational development, as development of talent and skills.