Has the Bhagavad Gita replaced The Art of War as the hip new ancient Eastern management text?
Signs of worldly success abounded as members of the Young Presidents’ Organization met at a mansion in a tony New Jersey suburb. BMWs, Lexuses, and Mercedes-Benzes lined the manicured lawn. Waiters in starched shirts and bow ties passed out vegetarian canaps. And about 20 executives–heads of midsize outfits selling everything from custom audiovisual systems to personal grooming products–mingled poolside with their spouses on a late September evening. After heading inside their host’s sprawling hillside house–replete with glittering chandeliers, marble floors, and gilded rococo mirrors–the guests retreated to a basement room, shed their designer loafers and sandals, and sat in a semicircle on the carpet. The speaker that evening was Swami Parthasarathy, one of India’s best-selling authors on Vedanta, an ancient school of Hindu philosophy. With an entourage of disciples at his side, all dressed in flowing white garments known as kurtas and dhotis, the lanky 80-year-old scribbled the
