Spirituality and Management

Spirituality and Management, Mr. Ram Jethmalani - Former Law Minister

Interviewed by Pradeep Nambiar for Sanskar TV

How does the youth understand his purpose of life?

The youth is unlikely to have this thought in mind. You think about this at a ripe age under the prospect of death. Honestly I feel there is no answer to this. Therefore there are two options to this. A] Give up the quest of these answers. B] Follow the scriptures, somebody’s assertion or some opinions. With this kind of brain you can never perceive the ultimate truth. The message by the time it reaches the brain has been a distorted reality. Pyrrho - the Greek philosopher came to this conclusion that it is useless to try to find answers, unless providence gives the grace to understand the riddles of life. When the idea of making somebody happy makes you happy, that is the greatest need of the soul that is the only religion.

Which is the best form of leadership and why?

There can be no one idol. I learnt a few things from Mahatma Gandhi but I found faults in many things. I learnt a few things from Pandit Nehru but he was a disaster on many fronts. The youth should never dwarf the scope of their choice. He should look at everybody without prejudice and learn all the good things but should be responsible for all his actions.

Bhagavad-Gita and Management?

The Bhagavad-Gita is a confusing document. It gives us one great truth that percolated to the German philosophy mostly highlighted by Emmanuel Kant about the kingdom of aids and not the kingdom of needs. That to follow your inner voice and not be worried about results and consequences. But our inner voice could be the voice of a thief or a tyrant. Therefore the ultimate test would be to dissect things with finite intellect and beyond that; the parameter would be whether your action is spreading happiness.

What is success in life?

Success depends on a variety of circumstances which we have no control over. But success should never be an occasion for arrogance or self adulation. It all depends on the genetically engineered advantageous circumstances beyond our control. The performance engineered by our genes could have also been bad or worse. Therefore we should never be disheartened by failure or arrogant due to success. We have to keep up our endeavor. As marriage is the end of romance, success is at the end of honest endeavor.

How does the youth combat adversity?

Adverse circumstances are a spur to perform. I came to Ulhasnagar after partition from Pakistan with Rs. 10 in my pocket and an unknown indeterminate future before me. I conquered adverse circumstances but there were others who could not do what I did. The youth has to conquer adversity but there should be neither arrogance nor despondency.

What is your motto in life?

Every morning I pray to God, don’t send me back to the world filled with sorrow and suffering. Buddha was right when he said that. Accumulation of wealth is no crime, only then can you share it with the society. You cannot lead a life of a monk asking for alms. In this world live a life guided by intellect and inspired by love.

Message to the youth?

Create confidence in the integrity of your character, so that people trust you. That will be your greatest asset to reach great heights in this mortal adventure. Our Prime Minister is not the brilliant of persons nor does he capture the imaginations of the crowd. But people trust that he will not put his hands in their pockets. Industry has to be coupled with integrity. The silver spoon that one is born with often disappears if not coupled with industry. Rest, leave it to God.

Point being?

After which I googled the name and found amongst others the following articles.

http://india-today.com/itoday/20000807/cover.html

http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/be ... HOLOGY.htm

http://sakshijuneja.com/blog/2006/11/09 ... an-theory/

http://www.justice-for-premananda.org/en/legal/facts/

Looks like some BKWSU students will look for the meerest trace of a laudable comment made by anyone in order to highlight an independent concurrence with BKWSU worldview. Is M. Jethmalani what the BKWSU regard as a VIP or mike?

Looks like some BKWSU students will look for the meerest trace of a laudable comment made by anyone in order to highlight an independent concurrence with BKWSU worldview. Is M. Jethmalani what the BKWSU regard as a VIP or mike?

I don't want to be too hard on Mitra because I respect the soul for sticking it out with we untouchables and pariahs but what I read into this is that a certain part of India, the guru sector, and its media has caught onto the trend of "Spirituality and Management".

As per the BKWSU and their Self Management Leadership service front, with traditional Brahmakumari teachers remarketing themselves as corporate consultants and behavioral scientists or the TM Maharishi's renaming of his university to "University of Management" as examples. I even saw one paper called "Bhagavad Gita and Management". My question would be is the BK leading or following in this field? My feeling is that their work is a little derivative and that the likes of Brian Bacon, or who ever really did conceptualize the SML course, are good are drawing on others ideas, packaging and presenting them. I am uncomfortable at "other people's manmat" being mixed in to the BKWSU. It seems a bit like cheating when the Murli says what it says.

But why all the fuss about being a top dog manager? Who is being targetted and why? There are too many chiefs and not enough Indians if you ask me.

Personally, I think it is just another fashion and will blow over, be digested and become stale only to be replaced with some other one. By the time anything hits the mainstream media, it is already over and done with. Try a Google search for Spirituality, Management and India, for example. You will find some great quotes; In India, Spirituality is going Commercial

"In India, spirituality is going commercial" by Amelia Gentleman of International Herald Tribune SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2005

As he addressed an after-work gathering of his followers recently, Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath shared his concerns about the correct way to market a CD version of his teachings. Consulting the 26 disciples sitting at his feet in a smart south Delhi apartment, he discussed at length how to fix the right price and analyzed how best to protect the content from being pirated and sold cheaply.

"These CDs offer value for time spent," he said. "I want people to listen to them when they're commuting and stuck in traffic. They will be very useful, but we must get them marketed properly." He asked a disciple to make sure that a Delhi public relations expert would be present at his next reading. "I think we are very bad in PR," he said. "We need to work on media relations."

That does sound familiar? Of course, the BKWSU does not pay for media relations, they just start a new service front. A further example of the BKWSU foray into the media would be the Global Forum for Public Relations – "India’s International Association of public relations practitioners for values and ethics in public relations profession". Note the similar structure to all the neo-service fronts; BK centers as charity offices, BKs as organizers but unaccredited as such, local is not big enough, so make it GLOBAL, the odd token non-BK sat in a chair ... and charging for membership. I think the latter seems to be a trend, and my guess it would be because offering services for free is too cultish. It is a bit strange though that individuals have to pay to join a BK service front that the BKWSU will use for service purposes. They are rather keen on media control.

Global Forum for Public Relations – India’s International Association of public relations practitioners for values and ethics in public relations profession has been registered vide registration no. 924/2006 in April 2006, with headquarters in Hyderabad. It is intended to promote public relations with a mission of Golden Triangle – Professionalism, Ethics and Spirituality – in association with Media Wing of Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, Mt. Abu.

Global Forum emphasizes the benefits of moral approaches to public relations, enabling you to develop attitudes and behaviors which stem from shared core values and understanding. Inspired by the vision of a world where people live in harmony with others, the purpose is to share that vision of the future while strengthening individual awareness of the dignity and worth inherent in every human being for an ideal Public Relations tomorrow.

That should read, "a vision of a world where people live in harmony with others" ... except for PBKs. To return to the general article on Spirituality and Management;

As the national economy blossoms, the role of the guru as someone who helps his followers find enlightenment is evolving: Many spiritual guides are now smooth marketers with, often enough, a considerable knowledge of how to maximize their commercial appeal. Many gurus have been forced to revolutionize their practices - packaging and aggressively marketing their religious services to cater to the changing desires of the consumer. Some have adopted the style of Western televangelists to promote their message. What is more, the leaders of India's economic revolution are turning to spirituality in large numbers.

While Western workers pop antidepressants and tranquilizers to beat stress, India seeks relief from the pressures of its emerging materialistic society with a booming spirituality industry. Personnel departments in big firms are calling on spiritual gurus to help new recruits handle the tensions of modern working life. Spirituality shops offering "health and wealth kits" are doing good business, and newly created religious channels on domestic television are expanding their reach into millions of homes.

One of India's slickest spiritual movements, the Art of Living Foundation, led by the telegenic guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, runs a "corporate executive program" aimed at helping senior management in India's leading companies cope with stress. It offers relief by teaching employees how to improve their breathing. "Our corporate program is for people on the fast track, and these people are facing high levels of urban stress," said Sanjiv Kakar, an Art of Living guru who teaches the course. "They may not be looking for spiritual solace, but they are looking for stress relief and we can provide that."

Kakar volunteers his services, but the movement charges 300,000 rupees, or almost $7,000, to instruct 25 executives; the money goes to its charitable trust. A brochure printed on expensive paper declares that senior management officials in big Indian companies have taken the course and says that 88 percent of those who graduated reported an improvement in dealing with stress and negativity.

"The pace of life here has completely changed with the economy opening up," Kakar said. "Family life has been totally messed up because of work pressure." He added, "We give people practical techniques to get rid of anger, negative feelings and frustration; we are not a culture that relies on tranquilizers." Pravin Anand, managing partner at an intellectual property law firm, Anand and Anand, was enthusiastic about the effect that the Art of Living course had had on his company.

"Intellectual property is becoming a very big thing in India, and our work has increased enormously in the past decade," Anand said. "People work 18-hour days here and are really stressed out." "The course was fantastic. It was like paying your money and getting your goods - a quick transaction. Lawyers have a hard-nosed reputation, but the course inspired all of us; we began to think about higher issues. The quality of our workers' lives really began to change and there was a positive effect on the business as well," he said.
Others are brazen in the claims they make for their services.

Daivajna Somayaji promises more than mere stress relief to his clients. Based in Bangalore, the hub of India's information technology revolution, he specializes in smoothing product starts and increasing investment bankers' profit margins, professing to have a "99.9 percent" success rate in turning around failing businesses. "I visit the office or factory premises," he said, "I study the energy patterns of the location and I study the people, looking at their vibrations; it's something that I can experience, but am unable to explain." He spoke in a telephone interview from his ashram in Bangalore. The interview was organized through a Delhi PR firm that promotes his services. "I might recommend changing the structure of the building, or the altering the personnel in the office," he said. "I have no fixed fees - whatever they pay, I accept. Companies have doubled their profitability after consulting me." For reasons of customer confidentiality, he would not name any of his clients, making it impossible to substantiate any of his claims.

The changing role of the guru has caused much unease among social commentators. In a recent public debate in Delhi, Javed Akhtar, an atheist and outspoken Bollywood script writer and poet, opened an attack on Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and other modern gurus, arguing, "It is not enough to teach rich people how to breathe." He condemned the emergence of supermarkets for "spiritual fast food," where people can buy "crash courses in self-realization - cosmic consciousness in four easy lessons."

He concluded: "Our Marxist friends used to say that religion is the opium of the poor masses. I don't want to get into that discussion, but spirituality nowadays is definitely the tranquilizer of the rich."

Suma Varughese, editor-in-chief of the spiritual magazine Life Positive, agreed that the modern guru's endeavor to combine spiritual and material values gave rise to considerable tension. "The changing economy has brought a massive explosion of unhappiness and confusion and, although no research has been done," she said, "I think hundreds of thousands of people are turning to spirituality for guidance." "Gurus are adopting the corporate approach for two reasons," she said. "Some are genuinely trying to give support to the overwrought urban workers; others are simply trying to popularize their movements."

She added, "There is no doubt that today there is a desire to have spiritual nirvana and material wealth. I think most true seekers would admit that this attempt to wed the two is not possible."

Daivajna Somayaji of Bangalore argued: "I have rejected materialism, but I see nothing wrong in helping other people realize their commercial goals. "Commercial aspirations are not wrong - they are important," he said.

Especially when they pay for ashrams and air tickets ...