Alipore: Mythology holds the answers to some of the dilemmas that businesses and business people often face, author, illustrator and speaker Devdutt Pattanaik told an audience of industry leaders on Sunday evening.

"In mythology, Indra is never happy. Because he has everything, everybody attacks him. If you have the best thing in the world, your neighbour hates you. If you have food and the neighbour doesn't have, he will attack your home," Pattanaik said, capturing the essence of "Lessons in business from mythology".

Enabling others to live fulfilling lives should be one of the objectives of business, according to India's most prolific mythologist. The list includes employees of an organisation, its consumers and people within the family.

Pattanaik, whose website describes him as someone who "writes on relevance of mythology in modern times, especially in areas of management, governance and leadership", cited examples from mythology to impress upon his audience that thinking about self-fulfilment is not always the right option.

Pattanaik said the most fundamental thing in life was prakriti (nature). From a business point of view, he equated the market with nature. Just like nature doesn't love or hate anyone, markets rise and fall without emotion. To control the inconsistencies of markets, people create sanskriti (culture), whose equivalent in the world of businessis an organisation or a company, he said.

"Ultimately, businesses are about people. You understand people, you understand business. Employees are people, customers are people, partners are people, investors are people.... The more you understand culture, the better leader you will be."

Pattanaik said business leaders could choose from Swarga, Kailash and Vaikuntha in their quest for success. "Swarga is a place where all your wishes are fulfilled. There is great prosperity but you are always under siege. Second is Kailash. There is no hunger, what we call spirituality. Kill your hunger. There will be no bhoga, no bhaya," he said.

Vaikuntha, the third option, is about the "other".

"I have meaning in life when I am able to give meaning to others' lives," he explained.

When asked if the epics or mythology could provide any lessons on how to resolve family feuds, Pattanaik said: "The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are about family feuds. Within the world that is family there will always be a quarrel over who should get what and that's never going to change. So to be aware of it, not about solving it, is to manage it."

Shashwat Goenka, the president of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, had introduced Pattanaik as someone he was very fond of. "There is a big shift nowadays. People are looking back and learning from history," Goenka told Metro when asked what led to the symbiosis of mythology and business. "Krishna always questions Arjun. He always says, 'Think before you act'. I find that very interesting," he said.