Modern Management is Essentially Violent As It Is Based on Consumption

Consumption as the root cause of violence

- Devdutt Pattanaik

Consumption is violence. Bhoga (food) demands Bali (sacrifice). Something has to be destroyed to produce the food that you consume. This is natural law. So, the elements are consumed by trees. Trees are consumed by animals. Animals are consumed by animals. Nature is designed around consumption that demands violence. There is no escape from violence.

Gandhiji introduced the world to the word 'Ahimsa' or 'non-violence'. It became popular as a tool for political dissent against the powerful state which uses violence to control people. It acquired moral even spiritual overtones. Gandhi traced its roots to Indian spirituality. But in spiritual traditions, Ahimsa was used as a tool to break free from the wheel of rebirths, not to overthrow a tyrant. Since violence was equated with consumption, nonviolence was equated with non-consumption. In Jainism, the ultimate act of non-violence is not eating anything and fasting to death. Gandhi alluded to non-consumption as an aspect of non-violence when he dressed and lived like a hermit. But this idea is not amplified. For consumption is the cornerstone of business.