Leadership Lessons From ‘Sandhya Kaal’ - The Transition Period

Transition is tricky.

Whether it is the transition from youth into mid-life or the journey into a leadership role, change often brings with it uncertainty, ambiguity and longing for familiar ground. Human beings are creatures of patterns. We derive comfort from routines, predictability and knowing what comes next. It makes us feel secure. Any disruption from that leads to anxiety, resistance or annoyance.

The same is true for organisations.

A new job, a new role, a merger, a strategic pivot, a new reporting manager, a new culture. These are not just operational changes. They unsettle identities, relationships and assumptions. While some navigate this period with relative ease, for others, the ambiguity can be overwhelming. So pervasive is this discomfort that the fear of change even has a name: Metathesiophobia.

Most leadership models treat transition as a problem to be solved. The assumption is that ambiguity must be eliminated, uncertainty reduced and clarity established as quickly as possible.

Indic thought has a different perspective.

It doesn’t see change as a disruption to be brought to order. It sees it instead as a part of order itself: a rhythm to be aligned with.

Indic philosophy views change as a core of existence itself.

The universe is understood through the idea of Kaalchakra, the cosmic wheel, which keeps moving in an endless loop of creation, sustenance, stability and renewal. It is a continuous cycle that keeps the universe in order. The rhythm can be observed all around us in nature: day follows night, seasons follow one another, water cycle and human life itself is a cycle. When the cycle ends, another begins. The message is profound. Change is not an exception to the natural order. Change is the natural order itself.

A beautiful example of this change is Sandhya Kaal or the in-between time - when “two times met”. In Indic thought, Sandhya Kaal is considered sacred. When we were growing up, the elders didn’t tolerate any negativity at this time. It was the time for quietude. The children were told to sit down with a book or pray. The elders lit a diya or agarbatti and prayers were offered.

As a child, I could hear the hum of these activities in that silence. Crying, shouting and general tantrums were not tolerated at this time.

As a child, I often wondered why this time was reserved for contemplation and reflection. And then I read a beautiful story.

A young seeker (student) once asked his guru, “When is the best time to find the truth? In the clarity of day or the stillness of night?”

The guru smiled and said nothing. Instead, he asked the seeker to return at twilight.

When the seeker arrived, the world was in-between. Birds were flying back home, cattle hoofs were raising dust as they plodded back home, lamps were being lit, shadows were disappearing.

“Now,” the guru asked, “tell me is it day or night?”

The student paused. Nothing was fully one thing or the other. “It is both, and neither,” he replied.

The guru nodded and asked again. “And yet, does the world seem confused, chaotic?”

The student looked around and shook his head. There was no chaos. There was a rhythm to everything happening around him.

“This,” the guru said, “is why twilight is sacred. It teaches you to stand in the in-between without needing to resolve it and getting immediate and complete clarity".

Clarity is not something you force into existence. You will never get clarity for your entire life.

Just enough probably for the next step is enough.

It is something that becomes visible when you create just enough light to move within it.

This made me understand change in a profound way. It is like going through a misty mountain.

If you look at it from afar, it looks impenetrable and impossible to cross, but if your compass is in place and you trust your bearings, you can step inside the mist with confidence. With each step, the mist parts just enough to reveal the next few metres.

In our professional life, mist represents change, ambiguity, reorganisation, market shifts, or any situation where the future is not clear. The compass is leadership which keeps the following in check: Swadharma (your prescribed duty as a leader), purpose and principles.

Another hidden lesson is Sandhya Kaal. The world prepares itself for what comes next - the birds fly back to their nests, the flowers start closing their petals, the stars appear in the evening sky and farmers return from the fields.

That transition is not a pause; rather, it is a time to prepare for change. You don’t just stop where you are and wait for things to come back to “normal” because change is not abnormal.

Therefore, it is not a time for pause, but to prepare - to upskill, to adapt, to get ready. As a leader, if you make the mistake of treating change as a dead-time, you risk instability. The teams need reassurance, the clients need to be kept up to date, new capabilities need to be developed. The future starts building during the transition, not after it.

A lot of times, leaders face decision paralysis in times of transition. This is akin to Arjun standing in the battlefield of Kurukshetra dealing with a dilemma which is not external but internal. The question he is grappling with is “Who am I in this situation?”. That is when Lord Krishna shines the light on Swadharma so that identity becomes clear and action follows.

In times of change, it is not complete clarity that people expect from leaders, but steadiness and discernment.

When a lamp is lit, it doesn’t illuminate the entire path but provides enough light to take the next few steps.

True leaders know that uncertainty is unavoidable. Their task is to remove the mist and carry the compass. Those who learn to evolve in the in-between emerge wiser, steadier, and more prepared for what lies ahead.

(Note: The author, Rachna Kanwar, is the Founder of Think Indic. After navigating radio waves and digital highways, she turned to ancient pathways with Think Indic, exploring how India’s timeless wisdom can illuminate modern life and workplaces. Views expressed are personal.)