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Master K. Parvathi Kumar

Spirituality in Business
and Management

Dhanishta

Editions

First Edition: 1994
© Copyright: Dhanishta
The World Teacher Temple / Dhanishta
Radhamadhavam, 14-38-02
Muppidi Colony
Visakhapatnam - 530 022
Andhra Pradesh - India

Dhanishta

Dhanishta means Wealthy Wind.

Wealth is not measured in terms of money or business; it is measured in terms of richness of life.

Wisdom is disseminated by the Teachers of all times. Dhanishta works for such fulfilment through its publication of wisdom teachings flowing through the pen and the voice of Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar. Such teachings are published in English, German, French, Spanish, Hebrew, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada.

Dhanishta is a non-profit publishing house.

Publisher’s Note

“Spiritualism, Business and Management” is the talk given by Sri K. Parvathi Kumar at the request of Visakhapatnam Management Association (VMA). Sri Parvathi Kumar is a frequent speaker to the members of VMA. His budget speech is annual, popular feature of the Association.

Sri Parvathi Kumar is not only a business consultant, but also a teacher of ancient wisdom to groups in India, Europe and Latin America. His teachings and writings are spread over all the continents. He is a Yogi that lives in simplicity and in all walks of life. He is a householder, a business consultant (Chartered Accountant), Director on the Boards of Companies, Social worker leading 12 Social Organisations. He teaches and heals. He gave more than 70 seminars abroad on variety of topics during the last 7 years. He organises group living - an Aquarian concept.

Sri Parvathi Kumar, was appropriately chosen by Visakhapatnam Management Association (VMA) for this topic. The lecture given was inspiring. A couple coming from Europe happened to attend to the talk. They recorded the talk, typed and sent it to him. Thanks to them, that we have this lecture published for the benefit of the readers.

“Spiritualism, Business and Management are apparently divergent in their objectives, but not in reality”, says Sri Parvathi Kumar. “In a society dominated by conflict, they are divergent. But in a Society presided by harmony they converge”, he says. He quotes Pythagoras saying : “The lower numbers agree in the higher”. Likewise, all activity, including business and management agree in spirituality says Sri Parvathi Kumar.

Where social welfare is considered as primary to individual welfare, the business values and spiritual values have scope to meet. Otherwise, they diverge. This seem to be the Key Note of the talk.

DHANISHTA
7-11-94
Visakhapatnam

1. Introduction

Let us enter into the sublime topic of “Religion and Business management”. Business Management is reaching its complexities in modern times. But there is a solution to every human activity if we turn our minds a little bit towards that which we call spiritualism. The solution for humanity is today more in dwelling in higher realms of thought, than to seek it within the world of beaten thought. We are mostly concerned about adjusting or managing things in the external world. Unless the adjustments take place in the internal being, solutions are not always possible.

In fact, the external world itself is controlled by many factors. Just to give an example, we may plan all our budgets for the year 1991 on the basis of certain given conditions, and given circumstances. When there is a change in the political scenario, or even in the international economic scenario, it has a definite impact on our proposals and consequently all our proposals need to be revised, reviewed, sometimes even shelved or be looked at afresh. There is an overall context within which individual goals are to be achieved. When there is a change occurring in the larger system, it has its impact in the individual or smaller systems. This fact has to be recognised in every facet of life. All that we plan and all that we try to manage is on the presumption that “other things being equal”. That is what economics tells us. In Economics when they propose a theory they always say: “when other things being equal, this is what can be done”. But now even Science reached a state of understanding that when two photons are sent in different directions, and when one photon is put to some change the other photon is also suffering the same change. This leads to the understanding that there is inextricable linkage to events happening and that there is one large system namely: Universal Consciousness, or one universal being. When a part of it is affected it has its effects upon the other parts of the planet. One extreme can affect the other extreme. Just like if something happens to your foot, your eye is affected. If you walk in a hot summer day barefooted on an asphalt road, not only the feet that are affected, the eyes are also affected. Just like in the human being when a particular part is affected it affects the total being, now Science is also recognizing that if a part is affected, the other parts are also affected.

In that context, to consider the business management and the business activity within the larger system, the Global system, which calls forth holistic understanding is no surprise. After all, the whole human activity tends towards evolution. In every concept there is evolution. There is evolution in our understanding of Nature and that is what we call the progress of the Science. There is evolution in business concepts, there is evolution in administrative concepts, there is evolution in every aspect. Even the human form is put to evolution. In this context of evolution things keep changing. Evolution is one of the fundamental theories of creation. No wonder that the business managers think in terms of certain higher realms of thought and enter into scriptural values to bring down a little more thought into business, so that they can find a little solace while they do their business activity, while they manage their industries or any institution for that matter. It is a very common subject now in the West. For the Indian, the psyche itself is prepared to some kind of resignation that he takes things as they come. But we are also getting into the modern methods of business management and hence it is necessary that we also conceptually know how to integrate a bit of the spiritual principles with the business management.

I would like to say that the topic should be renamed as “Spiritualism, Business and management” rather than “Religion vs. Management”. Religion is a limited term compared to spiritualism. Spiritualism includes all religions and all that which is belonging to the ONE spirit. It is expressed in various parts of the globe in various times and in various languages and each time a prophet is born, a religion is born.

Now we have so many Spiritual Masters in India and the system that each Master gave tends into a cult by itself. Each time, when truth descends into a being and expresses itself out, it expresses itself out in a novel fashion. In the content there is nothing new, but in the form there is something new, because the human mind is inquisitive enough and is attracted to something new. That is how we have various spiritual leaders giving us the same truth. While the content is the same, the terminology is different. Each time there is the truth propounded, there is a religion born or a cult born. The content of every system is spiritual. In fact, every religion speaks of a way of life. So, this way of life in so far as you follow it does not carry the smell of any religion or cult. “Love your neighbour” says Christianity. To love your neighbour, there is no Christian way, a Hindu way, or a Muslim way. When it comes to action, it is the same. When you are in that way of life, what is it that you derive? It gives the experience in life in its various facets. This is spiritualism and this spiritualism has to be brought into every facet of our life if we wish to live in harmony.

The craving of every human being is to be in harmony in all the facets of life. When harmony is disturbed, or when there is disharmony or conflict, all that we have gathered around us does not really give us the required pleasure. We gather so many things around us only to seek pleasure. To be in harmony we build houses, we acquire properties, we marry, we beget children, we try to progress in our profession etc.. All these things are aimed at gaining happiness and to remain in harmony, so that every facet of life is well experienced and enjoyed thoroughly; because the Lord is said to be nothing but experience or “Rasovai saha” that is, he is the Rasa of every thing, the “Anubhuti” of everything.

But, why can’t we experience harmony and pleasure, peace and quiet attitude, while we are in our own vocations. It should not be difficult, but is made difficult to us by ourselves. We see everything as an independent activity, as against the truth that all these activities are branches of one tree called the Tree of Life. If the Tree of Life is taken into account, if the totality of activity is taken into account, we find vocation as one branch, family as another branch, social activities as yet another branch, economic activity as still another branch etc. All this stem out of one root of the Tree of Life. Unless the root of life is intact, the branches cannot be healthy. GEETA tells us in the 15th Chapter, that there is a Tree, an inverted Tree whose roots are up in the heaven, and whose branches are down on the earth. We are lost in the details of the branches, the stems and the leaves, and we are unable to recognise the One Tree and the oneness of the Tree of which we are all the branches. When you see your business unit as an independent entity and the business as an independent activity devoid of other human activity and if you likewise see politics as an independent activity and your political party as an independent entity, if you see anything independent by and exclusively devoid of human welfare and human values, then it is a limited view that leads you to a state of conflict. When man gets into this state of conflict, he puts up with it up to a point, not beyond. Thereafter slowly he finds that however much he tries to find the kind of harmony which he is trying to achieve he does not find it; so he turns his mind towards solutions.

Scriptures tell us, that a man carrying the animal instincts, works for himself at the beginning. As he keeps on working for himself, there is a point up to which, he progresses by working for himself. Thereafter the progress stops. He realises that he can progress only if he also pleases others in his daily activity. When he is propelled by his selfish motives, he finds that he cannot progress further unless he looks at other men’s viewpoint. In business there is a way to please the customer to improve your sales; it is called marketing. You try to see how the other man could be pleased, so that you gain a little more. This is how man tries to learn to please others only to gain a little more benefit. This is a situation where there is a commercial use of virtues. Virtues are practised for commercial purposes. More and more, are the practises of virtues for commercial purposes now a days. It is just like sending greetings on the 1st of January to all important persons with whom we have work. We do not send greetings to persons who have work with us. Isn’t it?

However, Nature has its own scheme of things behind the whole activity. Suppose, your boss is accustomed to walk early in the morning, on the sea side, then to gain a good contact with him you would also try to walk early in the morning, but in the process what happens? You get a good habit of getting up early in the morning. This is how Nature teaches us. It doesn’t matter with what motives you are functioning, when the function is for good to start with. That is what Krishna says: “Do not disturb the simple-minded, let them do in their own way.” Motivated by profit in the beginning, we try to acquire virtues and we find that it is profitable to be virtuous. Slowly, as you keep on making more profit you keep acquiring virtues. A stage will come in which you will not progress any more, even with virtues. But, there is what is called the faculty of ‘habit’ in us. Due to habit developed, the virtues settle with us and we cannot get rid of them. The commercial progress stops, but the virtues remain. So, in the initial state you were looking for yourself and then you gained something. Later you practise virtues for the sake of gaining something more and later you reach a state where you settle with virtues and you don’t really bother with gains, because the virtues would keep you in harmony. This is how the Nature’s scheme is worked out in human evolution. This is what the Freemasons say that a man is screwed thrice to reach the truth. First he is screwed with a kind of propulsion of self-profit and second time he is screwed such a way that he practises virtues for further gains and in the third step he is screwed again in such a fashion that he continues to be virtuous whether there is profit or not. This is how it ends up as “man turned mason.” This is how the Freemasons explain the human evolution.

The process of evolution of business is similar. In the beginning the business was intended to serve the society, producing the commodities and distributing them. Those who function in terms of production and distribution of goods, are no doubt expected to make profits and make a good living.

Business was conceived as part of the four-fold social activity. It has a significant social role to play, within the ambit of Social Welfare. The overall objective was social welfare. Teachers, Preachers and other who recollect the Natural Values to human formed a part to serve the society. Warriors and administrators formed the second part to protect the society. Business formed the third part to make available goods and services to the society. The working class who served the three activities stated above, formed the fourth part of the four-fold society. All the four were subservient to the cause of social welfare. If it is not in tune with that kind of welfare then it slowly gets into its own vicious circle, cutting itself away from the unity of life, the tree of life, as I have spoken before. When business cuts itself off the social considerations it is a cut branch of the tree, that decays gradually. When the part is cut from the whole, it ceases to grow. It gradually decays. The branch cut from the tree cannot grow further. Death is inevitable. The fall of a business unit can be traced to its unethical, unsocial activity. Such activity also degenerated the people who function with it. That is why now-a-days, people run business up to a point. Thereafter, the business runs the people. When business runs people, it is the situation where the created thing runs the creator, the horse directing the rider, the tool directing the master. Be it business activity or political activity or service activity, or even spiritual activity, whatever it is, it has to be conducted in the overall context of general welfare. In so far as this recognition is lost sight of, then man becomes Prodigal Son and his paradise is lost. He walks into conflicts. This has happened invariably with business, where the business motives have grown to such proportions that profit is considered the ultimate and not the society.

And today, all is business. There is holy business, in the name of spiritualism, religion and cults. Variety of methods are conceived to amass wealth through “organised” spiritual activity. Detached functioning with material is the key note of Religion and Spiritualism. But commercial considerations are sweeping these fields of human activity. “If Vatican does business what inspiration it can give to people” is the question asked by many truth seekers in the West. A few Eastern Spiritual Organisations too have this approach.

There is business in Governmental Circles. The politician and the administrator who is to work and protect the society also indulges in political activity and administrative activity with business motive (Profit motives). Money considerations are very high in high places of Government.

The working class too is business oriented. They do side business in India in the name of their family members. Business is the predominant thought of the human today. It has become the central theme of human activity.

There is business in the field of education. Schools and colleges are run for commercial considerations. There is rampant business in health and medical field. When the teacher and the doctor, the preacher and the governor are business like, what is left in terms of welfare? It remains a fallacy.

2. Spiritualism vs. Business

Today we hear from transactional managers to transforming managers. The former are “maintainers” and the later are “developers”. They bring in new concepts, new values into management. But before this is possible, certain limitations of business have to be realized and they have to be overcome. To bring in spiritual values into the business management is still further step. The present day business management is profit oriented. All actions are result oriented. Spiritualism is unity oriented and welfare oriented. Their objectives today are divergent. It is not so easy to reconcile the two because the objectives are totally different. The working methodology is totally different between spiritualism and business management.

In business, there is what is called ambition as the main objective. Everyone wants to go up the ladder and this going up the ladder has its disadvantages and its consequences in other facets of life. In spiritualism the main objective is allround development. That is developing in all aspects of life, vocation, familial and social. It is like getting “pass-marks” in all subjects and passing over to next class. It is like a flower with all the petals equally grown. It looks more beautiful than a flower with a petal fully grown and the other petals undergrown that looks ugly.

There is what is called the spirit of cooperation in Spiritualism. In business you have the spirit of competition. Competition not always leads to a healthy atmosphere. Competition instead of resulting in praise for each other, results in developing jealousy and hatred for each other and this spoils totally the business atmosphere around and it causes tremendous ill-health to the manager, who is working with great responsibility.

In spiritualism, the idea is to workout the oneness among all that is. It is understood as one life permeating the various forms and the need for cooperation is realised. In spiritualism oneness is attempted to be experienced. In business management, there is one-upmanship, you would like to be a little bit more special that the other and consequently the other man also tries to be so. In the result, there is a constant fight.

You have what is called fearlessness and normal temperament in the spiritual field, while fear and suspicion is the keynote in business situations. There is suspicion and fear. There is anxiety and from anxiety, neurosis and tension.

In the spiritual world, the spiritualist pitches upon that which is positive in the other, he never pitches upon the negatives even though he notes them. In business management, a good business manager is one who sees the capacities of the man and exploits them and never touches upon the negatives. If you touch upon the negatives you get the wrong connection and as a consequence you cannot progress further. In this situation what is it that one can really do? One can pick up a few aspects from spiritualism. It is not possible to entirely work out the business situation with total spiritual principles. It is just trying to mix up a few principles, so that you are able to make your business situation a little better. That is all what can be done in this situation. Nothing more than that can be done because the main objective of business needs to be changed at the planetary level. The business and the business activity in the context of human activity has to be properly fitted in. It is meant for the humanity and for the human welfare, not to make profit at the cost of a section of humanity. Spiritual principles even go to the extent of saying: “You should not make profit even at the cost of not only a section of humanity but also at the cost of the animal and the plant kingdoms. If abused for business, they have their effect upon you. For housing and for your own fuelling you keep on cutting away the forest. Then what happens? It comes back to you in terms of ecological imbalance. Every thing is so intertwined in Nature. Man is the elder brother to the Plant and Animal kingdoms and he is supposed to take care of the animals and the plants. If he does not do so, it will boomerang at him by way of consequences. If the business context is understood in that overall situation, then there is scope to bridge the gap.

3. Business Management

In the absence of such understanding we stand checkmated. I wonder, today if man is managing business or business is managing man. Man is today subservient to business thought and business consideration, while it is supposed to be other way round. Business executives think they are managing business. But in fact, they are driven crazy by the business. Who is running whom is the question?

When freshers get into business, what happens? Good human beings trained in terms of value systems while they were in the college, when they enter the business field, they enter a field of conflict. There has to be some kind of a compromise between the values that they have learned and the values that play in the field. The conflict results in some people withdraw from the business activity, because they find themselves to be at loss. There are others who lose themselves (in terms of human values) and gain….? commercially. They are yet others who are able to work out a good balance between the two and they have neither sacrificed their human values nor did they completely embraced the commercial values. They are at great experiment of trial and error. They reach a point where they work out a balance between managing business and at the same time retaining certain human values.

It is very difficult to do that, because as I have said in the very beginning, the present day objectives of spiritualism and business differ with each other. Unless, the business objectives are tuned up to the higher values of life, it is not possible. Spiritualism is a contented way of life. It is a state of contentment, a state of equanimity and equipoise and a state where you are not really worried even if you lack certain things. If you see the business motives, it is result oriented. What matters to a businessman is the profit or the loss that he makes at the end of the day or at the end of the year. So, even at the prime objectives there is a basic difference. This results in working out a method where you try to seek some profit and at the same time you are not avaricious and you are not so very jealously competitive. When you are not at all in competition, your business may suffer. If you are jealously in competition you suffer. This kind of situation prevails. But there are about a dozen top insurance agents, the toppers in this town. They were coming to me to seek certain guidance to progress in life and at the same time develop their insurance business. It so happened that after one year, one turned out to be the best policy seller of the region and was invited by the Round Table in America having achieved one billion policy target. In the same team there was another who miserably failed. The one who was invited to the United States attributes all the success to the teaching he received and the other man who failed also attributed his failure to the same teaching. So, what is the difference? The difference is in application and in the ability to understand the balanced approach. It is very difficult to carry spiritual values and function in the objective world; that is why many spiritualists in the past escaped from the objective world and tried to experience their own bliss in their own way and they are oblivion to the real life situation. Sri Aurobindo says that “these are the people who are very easily deceived by their own conceptual misapplication in the sense they withdrew totally from the society, they created an atmosphere of their own which is totally harmonious and lived a life. They are not effective instruments in the society. They are practically out of the society. But our philosophy tells us, that we shall have to keep our heads in the forest and hands in the society.” meaning . . . that you have to be detached in your thought and at the same time function here effectively so that you are a positive instrument to help a few who are living in conflict. It is a difficult situation, but now more and more business management is recognizing this philosophy.

The conflict in business today slowly tended the business management to evolve methods to help successful managers to be free of tension. Every manager could be either a diabetic, hypertensive patient or a cardiac patient. Any one of these three is a very common disease among the responsible men in business. Management itself means, working out solutions in the field of conflict, reconciling divergent views and accomplishing the targets set, using strategies, tactics and skills. The human being is put to challenges in higher levels of business management and in matter of 20 years a successful manager is a totally squeezed orange, while he gains reputation as business manager. And in the process he may have lost many other valuable facets of life. He may have lost his own health and he is no more useful. A heart-stroke for instance sets him out of the race of progress. Throughout his 20 years of career-making he suffers a kind of a tension, because he has to produce results. This production of results puts man in a kind of a tension. That is why, one of the fundamental concepts of spiritualism is, “Work, but don’t crave for the results.” But it is very difficult to understand this concept in the modern context. How can you work without being concerned about the results? This is a common question that you come across whenever you meet a young man who is coming up in life. To him it is true, but if you ask a manager who has put in 30 or 40 years of strenuous management “circus,” he would say: “Hell with the results, keep working, be concerned about your job and the results will follow.” There are also managers who function that way. So, who is right and who is wrong? Just like the two insurance agents, it is your own maturity in comprehension and application that decides what it is.

There are people who say that unless we do, things don’t move, there are others who say “things happen”. Happening overtakes doing and you can relax while doing transforms into happening. For the first one, the second one is a big paradox, for he does not understand the statement. The Scriptural statements are also not well understood for the same reason. If they are not understood it is because of lack of comprehension and lack of experience in life. To give an example, when you learn to drive, in the beginning you are so very alert in your driving. Your two feet drive, your two hands drive, your two eyes drive, your two ears are so concerned that you don’t want your wife sitting by your side to talk to you while you are driving, because it is a disturbance to you. If she talks, you may be disturbed and then it may lead to something unpleasant - some kind of an accident. So, he is so concerned about his driving, he “feels” much driving that he cannot think of listening to some music, or speaking to his friends or his own family members in the car. But slowly, as he gains experience of driving, say after 10 years, what happens? He keeps driving, he listens to music, he listens to the jokes cut by his companion in the Car. What is the difference? Is he not driving or is he driving? If you see, he is driving and yet he is not driving. He is driving but not driving so very concentratedly in the sense, the ease of driving is gained through a process of continuous application. Until that ease is gained, you are really at tension. When the ease in doing is gained, slowly the tension is released and you see things happening. The feeling of doing is reduced. It is only the feeling that stimulates tension but not the work as such.

When you go to the office for the first time or when you are transferred to a new place, there is a kind of tension. There is the ease later as you are habituated to it. The whole problem arises out of our own inexperience, or immaturity relating to action. Krishna speaks of four-fold action. First He says : “Keep acting; don’t carry the feel and the fear about the result”. Secondly He says: “After all, even if you think that you are acting for yourself, you can never do so without doing something for the other.” It is a “transaction” in the sense that for every debit there is a credit (that is what we say in accountancy). You intend buying a watch, you have to pay for it, you may be thinking that you are buying a good watch but, in the name of buying a watch you have paid for the shopkeeper, the manufacturer and for the worker who worked in that factory. If you buy a shirt or buy shoes or even go to a barber, whatever you do, there is something you need to do for the other man. Without that you don’t get anything. If you try to establish an industry in a rural area, what are you doing? You have increased the land prices for the benefit of all the rural landowners. When one industry comes up, the land prices jack up. As you build the factory you are paying to many masons and labourers. When you set up an industry you employ staff and you pay salary, bonus and gratuity. You have to pay for many things before you realise your own profit. After you realise your profit you have to pay income tax and then you get money home. When you get it home, you have to pay to the provision stores where you buy your provisions, you have to pay your servant maid, your rent bill and ultimately what is it that you are receiving? If you consider that which you are receiving in proportion to that which you have given, Krishna says: “You are just being fooled by Nature. You are not working for yourself. In truth the Nature is making you work for all its children even while you are in the illusion to work for yourself.” You feed a cow or a buffalo to get you milk. You think you are feeding it to get milk. But the Nature has a different plan i.e., to make you feed the buffalo or the cow. So the second step in action is seldom realized by human beings unless they are mature. This maturity when ’t comes, one thinks of doing for others. Krishna put it as : “Understand that all your doing is mostly doing for others and in the process you are also allowed to make your living. You cannot make a living without doing anything for others. The one who does for others, he has the pleasure and the contentment of it”. Being a Banker, you keep on giving daily money for the cheques given. You have helped, say hundred people. So also, everyone of us in our own placements, interact with human beings and each interaction is in terms of helping others and we get our remuneration once in a month. There is no wisdom in trying to live once in a month and die for the next 29 days only to live again on the 30th day of the month.

There is a way to live everyday, that is by recognizing your usefulness to the beings around. Unless this aspect is recognised in business management, however much we think of concepts, those concepts do not really help. Because the other man is equally intelligent and he comes with his own strategies. If you see today the corporate sector, it is a big jungle. Even in the jungle there is some kind of a law and order hut in the corporate sector there is no such thing. There are strategies to put down others because, putting down others also helps marketing your product. Pulling down your competitor helps you to improve sale of your product. We have now the Cola Battle. Among the soft drink sellers there is a big battle going on. In the cloth field there is a big battle going on. Every man tries to use all his weapons - not to improve his lot, because he has done enough to improve his lot. Now he is not improving, because the other man is also improving so the best way is to use strategies to annihilate the other. This is what is happening. In the jungle there are certain rules among the animals. There is a lion and it does not interfere into every situation unless there is a disturbance to law and Order. There is no question of a rat or a fox occupying the highest position like that of a lion. That can never be. But in the corporate sector a worker can aspire to be the director. Nothing prevents him from aspiring for it. In a jungle certain animals are afraid of certain other animals, and they know which are the animals they should be afraid of. These are the limits set by Nature. The rat is set a limit through the cat by Nature, and the cat is set a limit by Nature through a dog and the dog has its limits. Likewise, every animal has its limits and ultimately the Lion limits all animals. So. there is a well understood jurisdictional functioning in a jungle. But in the human jungle it looks as though we are heading for disaster due to lack of such jurisdictional functioning, because each man is trying to cut across the other to reach the top and there are no rules in the game. The only rule is self progress and the only ability is to put down ruthlessly the others in the way. Unless we think of common good through human activity which is fourfold there is no solution. Unless this common good is worked out in business management, the managers cannot be in good stead.

If you see in the United States, there is what is called an “Executive menopause”. It is very difficult for a manager in U.S.A. to be successful and at the same time to have happy family. Do you know what is happening? The competition is so heavy that you work so hard that you have no time for your wife and your wife says “hell with your career and goodbye to you.” A wife in U.S.A. is aware of her rights and she demonstrates or exercises her rights. The man says: “Look here, I am trying to develop my career” and She: “What for?” And how I am concerned about it? You don’t care for me and my children. So, I don’t care for you. I walk out.” The percentage of divorces in the West is considered to be the highest according to statistics among those who are successful young executives in the age group of 30 to 40 years. We have not still experienced that kind of competition. We are still better off because we have not developed so much!

The positive concepts of management have become a necessity in the advanced industrial states, like Western Europe, the United States of America etc., where everything seems to be carried to the extent of being meaningless ultimately. When you have cut off yourself preferring one aspect (or one activity) in life, this is what happens in other aspects of life.

4. Bridging Concepts

I just made note of a few concepts which can be perhaps experimented to arrive at a business situation where the business management no more remains such a conflict as it is today. Firstly to have equal concern between persons and production or the objectives, the end result. In business we are concerned about the end result but there should be equal concern for the persons who are working for the end results. That means the end result should not be at the expense of the persons who are working for it. It should also not be at the expense of production that the persons should be pampered. There has to be a healthy balance, that needs to be worked out between persons and results in which case healthy atmosphere prevails that paves way for healthy business. Man is more important than the profit we earn. Just for the sake of profit you cannot use the workers in whichever way you like. The human resource has to be cognized, respected and be given atleast equal importance. He should be given as much importance as profit. It is not just using away the human resource for the sake of business benefit.

The second is, to have a kind of open and healthy communication as between the members of the team. When there is a manager who is functioning, he need not really be so very secretive, so very political, so very diplomatic in his approach towards his group members. Suspicious atmosphere prevails in business teams. It is sickening. There is a way to inculcate confidence in them. Be open in communications with the group members as manager. One would be doing a great job towards his group members, if he can develop an atmosphere of trust. The group members also start developing trust and communicate better with the leader. The major problem today in any situation - be it a family situation or a business situation, is a problem of communication. We speak half, we don’t speak full. We do not speak what we intend. So, does the other person. When there is no good communication, the scope for developing a homogeneous group to achieve the desired ends, is not fully achieved. An open and healthy communication as between the managers and also between the managers and his group members is an essential ingredient of business management.

There should be willingness to face a problem instead of passing the buck. Many managers have the habit of passing the problem on to a member of the group or pass it on to another manager. Each one tries to defend himself instead of trying to face and solve the problem. This requires basically confidence in one’s own being. There are many escapists who are applauded as big managers, but if you speak to their own subordinates they let you know how fragile they are, how weak they are, and how they are only ‘managing’ to be managers. There is what is called “managing” in Business Management arising out of incompetence. Managing to be managers, you find in business because they are not masters of their own situation. They do not carry the required knowledge and competence which they are expected to carry in relation to their position. They mostly depend on their subordinates for that kind of knowledge.

Lack of knowledge makes a man diffident. When he is diffident, he tries to put it on to others and always tries to escape through all kinds of excuses. To be an excellent manager who carries the team along, one has to be thoroughly knowledgeable and then has to face the problem squarely as a leader. He should give confidence to the group, that in case of a problem they have the leader who would protect the group. He cannot be a good manager if he ditches his own group members or ditches the organization. This requires leonine quality which calls for strength of character. Lead like a Lion, with stability and dignity, protecting the group. In business management, it is difficult to find a man who has this courage; if he has he shinesforth.

Inviting and involving the subordinates in matters of planning and decision making is another healthy principle, instead of being unilateral. One should enable the group to feel that they are important and that their leader looks for their participation in important issues. Inspire the group genuinely by allowing them to participate in decisions. To inspire the group, the manager needs to be transparent and radiant human being besides being a good business manager. He should be an example to be followed. I have an example here. There is a bank manager who is a spiritual colleague of mine. He is working in the Visakhapatnam State Bank. He is trying to inculcate spiritual values into daily life to find some kind of solace for himself because you know how difficult is the life of a bank manager in these days. Targets are fixed for collection of deposits while public have no incentive to deposit money in Banks. Targets are also fixed to advance loans to priority sectors which are irrecoverable and the managers are required to recover. The bank has clerical staff that never cooperates with the manager. In the bank, we know that only the officials have to function beyond the working time and beyond rules and the staff works only to rules. Here is a manager who tries to step up his function introducing certain values. I told him: “First, you develop friendliness with your staff members, not merely with a view to extract more work from them. Be concerned about them genuinely and work out normal and natural friendship - not with any view to gain anything from them. You keep doing your job in the Bank.” When it comes to balancing the ledgers every quarter or half year what happens is that at the stroke of the hour the staff leaves and the manager has to sit along and complete the job. But it so happened as he worked for two years, he worked out such good and friendly atmosphere with his own that when he was functioning for the second year balance sheet closing, even the staff remained with him beyond working hours and cooperated. They said to him: “As employees of the bank we did not cooperate. Only as humans, on a ‘one to one’ basis we cooperated. It is only because of you, we are doing it. But for you, we would not do it. We are least bothered if the Bank’s Balance Sheet comes out in time or not. But we are concerned about you. Hence we wish to work with you and see that the whole work is done quickly so that you come out of your duty without remarks. For that purpose we are working.” What does it mean? It is nothing but a good human relationship that extended itself into a management situation where the group volunteered to cooperate. Such things are possible. There is an occult statement: “Every man is good at heart. Remind him through your good deeds, not through your good speeches.” You can never inspire people through your good speeches so much as you can inspire people through good actions. If you have really helped a man without any expectations, it is registered in the core of his heart, in the core of the being and the man would definitely respond at the right moment when you need him. This truth can be experimented and it needs courage. If you do it with expectation it may not function but if you keep on doing it as a habit in your life it keeps coming to you. A good act done is never lost sight of in the overall context. The functioning of Nature is so very infallible, That is where giving inspiration to the group is a very important aspect.

Drive the group only by values, not by any other methods. There are managers who favour some of the group members that flatter them. There are others who do not flatter but they do good work. Even Caesar was no exception to flattery. When you are flattered it is so easy that you start liking the man who is flattering you. But he may not be a good worker. There may be a better worker than the one, who is flattering you. In so far as you are able to include him in your being and in so far as you are able to extend the same kind of warmth to the one who is not flattering you, then you will turn out to be a good manager. Normally good workers take pride in their own work. They feel that they are doing their job well. They also feel that why should they do this extra job of flattering the boss? They carry the conviction that it is not necessary. Such people when they do not receive a word of praise, or when they do not receive a right increment or a right promotion, they turn negative. This situation is very common among the business executives we come across. There is a man who flatters and goes up the ladder, there is a man who works hard and remains unrecognized. The moment you are not recognized by virtue of your good work then you can see that man to be not so very cooperative in the total group work. That is where a manager has to really work out to see that while he did not refuse flattery, he also did not look down upon those who work well but do not flatter him. This is an important aspect in management.

Again a good manager is one who is well organized in his own mind. This is an important aspect. The mind, after all is the internal instrument (antahkarana) in the human being that makes one interact with the external world. If you are well organized in your mind i.e., if you are not perturbed, if you are not irritated, if you are not frightened by situations, if you do not grow anxious, if you do not grow avaricious or suspicious, you can handle the situation better. When you are yourself imbalanced, you can never handle a situation. This is what is taught in every Scripture: “If you carry equanimity of mind, you will be able to give solutions in a difficult situation also” If you are not balanced you would lose even the little capacities that you have. Mind is compared to a still lake versus a disturbed lake. In a still lake of waters you have the moon and the stars reflected clearly. You can also see the pebbles underneath the water. You can see that which is below and that which is above, in a still water lake. In a troubled water lake, there is neither the reflection of the high nor the perceptibility of the low. The mud of the water blinds all clarity. Krishna tells Arjuna : “You are basically a balanced fellow, but because you have lost balance, you have lost the clarity of the whole situation. Gain your balance, then you will understand clearly.” So, a manager at any cost cannot lose balance. If he loses balance it percolates into the group also. If the group knows that the leader himself is shivering in his own shoes, then the group members cannot function with him. Clarity is lost and confusion prevails.

A good manager has to be really organised to keep up the mind not to get perturbed. This is where really spiritualism comes to rescue. This is where there is a link to successful business activities from the spiritual realm. You are essentially a spiritual in being and when you function through your mind, senses and body, you have your own peculiarities of behaviour. Everyone is essentially a soul and has his peculiarity of behaviour. We are all common as souls but at the behavioural level we are different. We are all persons and we have personalities. As persons we are very common; our instincts are common, our desires are common and our approaches are common. The ultimate behavioural pattern is different. Make a good analysis of your mind and its pattern of functioning. See the areas where you are really not so well poised. Those are the areas where you have to really analyse and work out by facing them - not by escaping out of them. “Quitters will never win. Winners will never Quit” is an English saying. You have to face the situation squarely and solve it. For that you need a strong mind and this strong mind can only come to you through a spiritual discipline.

A manager, as he starts his day, can see himself to be in existence as every other being is. We are all in existence. As we get up, we raise into what we call awareness or consciousness. In sleep, we do exist, but we are not aware of our own existence. There is the awareness springing up as we get out of sleep. The awareness is that we exist. That is why the Scriptures say: “If you know how you are slipping into sleep and how you are getting out of sleep, you have known everything.” This awakening is happening to us. Existence is common to all of us. Awakening and awareness of our existence is common to all of us. Up to that point we are common, thereafter. I keep getting my own thoughts and you keep getting your own thoughts and every one gets his own thoughts. This is where the mind comes into being, at the third level. At the level of existence, we are common, at the level of awareness we are common and at the level of thought we are different/uncommon. Each man carries his own thoughts on the basis of his own previous actions. When we get up in the morning, the first thing that we remember is that which we have left out yesterday or the last thought with which we went into sleep. That is why we are recommended to read Scriptures before going into sleep so that when we get up, we get up with the thought of oneness. Otherwise when we get up, we only remember problems instantaneously. This instant recollection of problems is avoided by slipping into sleep through a process of gaining the consciousness of oneness or the awareness that we all are essentially. In the morning as the thought patterns come out, you are expected to observe your own thought pattern. See what kind of thought patterns you keep receiving. Ayurveda recommends that every man has to be in solitude at least for 30 minutes every day in the early hours. Sit quietly alone, without being surrounded by family members, then see what kind of thoughts you are getting, you make a note of them and see the variety of thoughts that you are getting, see how many of them are useful, how many of them are only imaginary, how many of them needed to be attended to. This kind of exercise will slowly make you understand the process of filtering the thoughts. If the thoughts arc filtered, actions can be made more precise. Many of our thoughts relate to fear, anxiety and jealousy. They are all imaginary. These imaginary thoughts are filtered. It is a fine process. Over a period of 5 years, you would reach a state where you will gain an organized mind. An organized mind is one which receives thoughts that are constructive, which are intended for action. There are many thoughts with us, which are not intended for action. They are called feelings. The feelings lead the thinker to “smokey path” and confused thinking. Thoughts for action are healthy, thoughts as feelings about others cloud the thinker. They keep coming and just vanish back again into the air and they keep coming and going, coming and going. These are the thoughts that eat away your energy. A thought of fear, a thought of anxiety or jealousy will eat a part of you and go away. There is a fine process by which you can avoid these negative thoughts and allow reception of the constructive thoughts which are intended for action only. That is the difference between a spiritualist and a normal human being. In the case of a spiritualist, he receives thought which is intended for action, if there is no action, there is also no thought with him. Just like when we don’t need we keep the bodies at rest and keep the minds working. This is what we are doing now, sitting in chairs, listening to the lecture, we are not so much aware of the bodily existence, but mentally we are engaged. Just as we keep the bodies or the senses at rest, the spiritualist keeps the mind at rest, when there is no need for action. Mind is the instrument through which you project yourself into the external world to interact. You can reach a state where you will use your mind just as you use the body and senses. When you don’t need mind you just keep it to rest. When there is a need for action you get the related thought. You act and then you withdraw into your own being. That means, just like you withdraw from the body and the senses while you are resting, in the same fashion there is a method of withdrawal even from the thought body called the mental body. This is the only one solution that can keep any manager in excellent harmony, regardless of what is happening around. It can keep him in excellent harmony and in such a poise that he is just unperturbed of what is happening around, and keeps doing what he needs to do in that situation. Even in the worst of situation he still positively keeps trying to do and if it does not rectify, he is not worried. This is the ultimate of management.

A manager is super when he has an organized mind, meaning that he thinks when needed and remains in a quiet state of being otherwise. Thoughts are not unnecessarily received without an objective. Suppose you keep on moving in the town from morning till evening without an objective, your body gets tired. In the same fashion, when there is no need, if you keep on using the senses like the eye, the ear, the tongue etc., you get tired. Much more you get tired when you keep on using your mind without a purpose. That is where we have a great challenge. If man can overcome this challenge, he can over come every problem including the management problem, because he receives thoughts needed for action. This is what is expected of an excellent manager.

Thoughts keep coming to us according to the kind of instrument we have developed. In the same situation each one of us would receive different thoughts if we are asked to remain silent. An Engineer would see how the columns of this room are made, a Chartered Accountant would see what would be the cost of it, a man who is after beauty would see the flowers - how beautifully they are arranged. To many of us the flowers don’t even exist. We are so devoid of beauty that we don’t see a flower when we pass by. According to what we are, we see things. In the same room a builder would see what kind of building material is used or if there is a marble trader he would think from whom the marble could have been bought. Like that, according to what we are, we keep receiving our thoughts. There is a process of tuning up this instrument whereby, you would only receive thoughts as needed for present action. When there is no need for action, there is also no thought. This is what spiritualism inculcates in every human being. This is where spiritualism can really come to the help of every person in whatever walk of life he is, including business management.

5.Conclusion

In so far as the social Welfare or the human welfare is kept as an objective of business, then there is scope for a solution. Spirituality carries in it the synthesis of social and business objectives. We, therefore, need to bring in Spiritual as well as social values into business way of life and in managing business. If business management is considered totally devoid of this ultimate truth, then the solution is partial. Many work shops are conducted on business management. There are so many seminars on management and so many theories are being discussed. Many strategies are used and many policies are promulgated. Ultimately they are tending to one conclusion that the human factor is the most important factor in management and unless the human factor is given proper importance, ultimate results are not possible.

The human factor too is linked again to the spiritual factor, where unity of life and diversity of its activity need to be emphasised. The business is an aspect of the human, while the human is an aspect of the universal life. The unity therefore of the apparent diversity provides the solution. The approach therefore, shall have to be from synthesis to analysis, from general to particular, from subtle to gross and from the whole to the part. This is the holistic understanding of the business and its management.

Appendix

Q.1. Could you give an explanation of Transcendental Meditation in Management?

Ans. Transcendental Meditation is a process of stilling the mind. The method is picked up from the traditional meditational system. It helps the person to gain tranquility of mind. Respiration and pulsation is one aspect, and awareness which functions through mind is another aspect of the human Consciousness. When these two are in good harmony with each other, the whole being is intact. Transcendental Meditation is, to bring back the mind towards the pulsation, so that the mind is made tranquil. Everyday we use mind. We put it to such an abuse that it needs rest. That is what Nature does to us by way of sleep. Transcendental Meditation and the Traditional Meditation are processes which you can apply even during your daytime by which you come back fresh. It is like making your slate clean. Every time, we scribble something on the slate. We keep on scribbling and we have no knowledge or technology of wiping out that which is scribbled on the slate of the mind. Thus, we keep on accumulating thoughts, feelings and the memory relating to it and we become tired. This is where there is a difference between a Yogi and an ordinary human being. For the Yogi there are no impressions that are imprinted upon the slate of the mind; consequently he is not tired and he does not need so much of sleep. He just rests in the night. His mind is not tired. So is the case with the animals. Their minds are not so much tired and consequently, even in the night when you pass by, they open their eyes and see. The animals rest. Among the human beings only spiritualists rest; all others who put the mind to abuse need to sleep, because when we are sleeping. Nature cleans up the mind for fresh use(or abuse!). So, the Transcendental Meditation is a method by which you would be cleaning the slate of your mind and you come up with a degree of freshness. Managers badly need this freshness to effectively face up to their tasks. That is where transcendental meditation helps in management. There is a deeper side of it, which is known as traditional meditation. Transcendental Meditation is the stepping stone for Traditional Meditation.

Q.2. King Janaka is considered the ideal man of Spiritualism and of management of the material side. What are the lessons we can draw from him and his function?

Ans. King Janaka is a perfect Yogi. A Yogi is one who is equipoised and even equipoised between spirit and matter. In the world we see people who are disproportionately inclined either to spirit or to matter. That means they have bias either for spirit or for matter. The former are called spiritualists. The later are called materialists. A Yogi is one in whom there is the perfect blend of the two. He is spiritual in material world and demonstrates equanimity, tranquility and transparency in day-to-day life. He does not run away from the world. On the contrary he is in the world, though not of the world. His life is a good demonstration of skilful functioning. He remains in the household, in vocation, in social activity with spiritual understanding as the basis. He builds his domestic, social and economic life upon spiritual principles.

He lives and lives fully in all facets of life and experiences the life in all its aspects. He does not negate material nor does he decry material activity. He realises the fitness of material activity in the overall life activity. He does not give undue importance to spirituality.

He is skilful in action. Krishna recommends to Arjuna to become a Yogi, for it is the optimum of human life. Krishna lived up to every situation in life. He did not run away from any given situation. So too Janaka, the King. He was not merely a spiritualist. He was spiritualist in full action, holding kingly duties. His life stands out as an example to be emulated by all. He carried with him the qualities of the Yogi, stated in the preceding para and demonstrated them with ease.

In fact all the ancient Rishis of India, were demonstrating the spirituality in daily life, being in families, vocations and social activities. Spiritualism has no purpose of its own. Its purpose and usefulness is in terms of social, business(economic) and domestic life.

Ambarisha and Prahlada are the other Kings who demonstrated spirituality in kingly administration of vast empires. In fact, to be King initiate is the Pinnacle of human accomplishment.

Q.3. Are there any examples of businessmen being initiates?

Ans. Of course, there are many businessmen who are deeply spiritual. They conduct business with spiritual values. To them business is subservient to social cause. That is the optimum point for business too.