How does one express spirituality? The most basic way is through one's deeds. These deeds involve being a better human being who is sensitive towards other human beings, that is, being humane. This is the guiding theme of this year's World Confluence on Humanity, Power and Spirituality. Organised by the Srei Foundation, Business Economics and the Institute of Inspiration and Self-Development, the annual World Confluence, has since the last four years, sought to bring together people from different career paths onto a common platform whose hallmark is spirituality through service.
Eschewing doctrinaire and divisive interpretation of religion, the World Confluence seeks a commingling of the beliefs and practices of different faiths, which elevate and empower the mind, soul and body. The purpose is to harmonise thoughts with actions, and bring unity rather than create divisions among people of different faiths; the binding factor is the expression of spirituality through humanity.
At a time when corruption has corroded the entrails of the society and polity, the business sector has been tainted by similar aspersions of allowing the blind pursuit of profit to triumph over all that makes one humane. An organisation that is self-serving is one that is isolated from its environment and instead of contributing to the community, leaches on it for its own selfish benefit. Thus, conventional business models mutated from being based on mutually beneficial relations to being built on exploitative and extractive economic relations. New age market leaders showed how one could maximise profits by decimating one's rivals and consuming natural resources without a care for the fatal consequences of such exploitation of the environment.
The behaviour of a business organisation revealed its spiritual make-up. Each action of each member of the organisation was an evidence of this. Right from the boss to the manager to the floor level, how did the individuals interact with each other? How did they interact with the clients and consumers? Finally, how connected and responsive were they to the needs of the society from which they came? Did respect, sensitivity, kindness, and conscientiousness mark their actions or where just cold efficiency and meeting targets form the sum and substance of an enterprise's existence?
In the BhagwadGeeta, Sri Krishna outlines 26 qualities of a gentleman including being merciful, obedient, truthful, equitable, saintly, magnanimous, mild-mannered, clean, simple, charitable and peaceful. He should surrender to God and not be greedy or possessive but remain steady and determined, sober, respectful, humble, grave, compassionate, friendly, eloquent, expert and concise.
Similarly, a businessperson should possess these qualities to run a business successfully in the competitive world; a business that is clean, green and successful.
Without spiritual progress, there can be no meaningful progress. Growth in purely numerical terms is no growth in reality and those who seek profits at the cost of everything else are blind devotees of a False God.
In this age of changing business paradigms, where conventional neo-liberal capitalist model of business is giving way to new forms like peer to peer business, self-help groups, small start-ups; where corporate social responsibility is being challenged to prove itself; where social entrepreneurship is being projected as the kind of business that matters; and where environment concerns are no longer being dismissed out of hand---in this situation of flux, spiritual guidelines are needed to hold together the business community and the society and put them on to the path of a new and improved future.
The idea of spirituality and humanity should not be confined to temples, churches and mosques. It should be practised in our regular life.
BE brings forth a collection of articles on spiritualism, as a prelude to the World Confluence meet that attempts to spark introspection within the business community specifically, and the society in general, on how they conduct themselves and how they contribute to the growth and development of a nation, one that is qualitatively superior for being infused with spiritual guidelines and humane practices.
“Spirituality – How it can foster Humanity”
Swami Suparnananda
We first of all make a distinction between Spiritualism and Spirituality. Spiritualism refers to the matter related to ghost. After death man receives ghost body or Subtle body. But in deep sleep man is transported to the realm of spirit beyond subtle body. He is in causal body. Spirituality deals with this spirit or Atman. In waking state, we are conscious of our body; in dream state we separate our mind from the body since our body rests on the bedstead, but our mind moves about in dream. But in deep sleep state neither body nor mind is present. Since mind being the feeling faculty is absent, there is no feeling in deep sleep. We are one with the spirit or Atman. In fact in sleep, we go back to our real nature – Consciousness or Atman. All of us without exception have this experience. It follows from this truth that as spirit we are one. We all sleep alike and in sleep, we all have the same experience of our existence. The spirit is divine, In fact, the only divine element in us is this Spirit. All other elements are matter; even mind, intellectual matter. As spirit, we are divine and since all of us have the spirit all are equally divine in essence.
Now, humanism starts from this fact. All are potentially divine, The real equality we can have in society only when we accept all beings as manifestation of one spirit. Obviously, equality is not anywhere else. No two persons have the same body or same mind or intellect. Equality is in spirit. Everywhere is diversity.
Humanism fosters love, concern and compassion for all. But the basis of it is in Spirit. Hence, the spiritual persons alone can bring about necessary and lasting changes in society. They are the worshippers of God and they alone can be servants of people as well. They cannot stand people suffering for lack of food, clothes, education, medication and wisdom. They look upon others as manifestations of themselves. The others are nothing but they themselves. Non-spirituals do not have this experience and serve others without any deep rooted basis behind. They can learn this great lesson from the men who wander on earth as gods. These godmen serve others as objects of love and worship. Their hearts bleed for the suffering people. Swamiji could not sleep well because of abject poverty stalking India.
The examples are plenty. All really spiritual people, say, the prophets like Buddha, Jesus, Sankar, Sri Chaitanya, Sri Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and so many other god-realised souls, introduced service to humanity. They alone can serve others without any motive. These people introduced missionary activities out of love for humanity. It is, therefore, imperative that spirituality foster humanism.
What exactly we, the ordinary people, will have to do towards helping others since we do not have spiritual illumination within ? It is true that one should have the command from the Divine to pursue such altruistic goals. But in the modern era, Swami Vivekananda exhorts that even by being intellectually convinced of the existence of Atman everywhere, we shall take up service as a Yoga for the realization of the highest spiritual goal. Seva Yoga is a valid means of self-realization and Swami Vivekananda has recommended that ordinary Karma done without having greed on its fruits becomes Karma Yoga. It is an effective means like Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Raj Yoga for the knowledge of the self. In fact, it is better than other yogas as the other three yogas affect solely the aspirants only, while Karma Yoga works in two fold way. It helps others attain liberation and helps also the performer to attain that for himself. Any work done disinterestedly for the good of others becomes worship. Therefore, work = worship; and places of work = places of worship. Thus the offices, hospitals, individual units, agricultural fields and every working place becomes temples, churches and mosques. We have to seek God in the field itself when we are working. We then have to change our outlook on profession. We have then spirituality within; secular life becomes sacred. Otherwise, we remain cruel. We, therefore, need to reorient our attitude towards job we do. Doing job is a spiritual practice only. By discharging the duty with love, we serve those who come to us as students, customers, clients etc. This concept of spiritual knowledge follows from the Vedanta preached anew in this age by Swamiji. It is called Vedanta in practice. The essence of Vedanta is that truth is both transcendental and immanent. This phenomenal world is also pulsating with life – It is Brahman itself. This is Swamiji’s spiritual message for people living all over the world and it is an anti-dote to material philosophy of the so-called progressive minds. What we call matter is really energy and it also merges into consciousness. The world is the place where we attain a Guru or a spiritual master for guiding us to the spiritual life. This world cannot be false. It is true as well since it helps us attain the goal. It makes us strong as does gymnasium physically.
The Modern Adarsh Purush
The Gita clearly states that a society functions on the footsteps of prominent people, the Adarsh Purusha. There was a time when the yug was called Satyug, or the era of truthfulness. In this yug, the Guru and the Ruler were the Adarsh Purusha; the ruler was guided by the Guru and the Guru was not tied to maya or personal gains; betterment of society as a whole and evolution of the being were the prime goals. The ruler on the instruction of the Guru worked for the people and left everything to join his/her Guru in the ashram, and when the time for vanprastha came, the entire kingdom was given to the heirs and the real journey towards reality would begin under the Guru’s guidance. The places of worship and their wealth were dedicated to the needy. It was while holding the Guru's hand that that a shishya covered the journey from darkness of ignorance to light of gyan - “Tamso maa jyotir gamaya.”
This model of society was a perfect and flawless model; its remnants survived the Treta, Dwapar and early phase of Kaliyug. The proof of this is in the words of Lord Macaulay in the British House of Commons, “...I have not seen a poor or hungry person on the streets, there is prosperity all around....we can only rule these people if we make them believe the superiority of our culture over theirs...”
It happened. Today’s Adarsh Purusha is the film actor, the politician, the administrators, the cricketer and the fake spiritual people, with the common denominator being that most of them are busy amassing wealth through corrupt means; scams after scams are being unearthed, with a new one emerging whenever we think that this was the ultimate! Their flamboyant and extravagant lifestyles, criminal backgrounds and the cases running against them, desire to not leave the chair or the camera till they breathe their last, the desire to gather more and more at the cost of the gullible people...all this points towards the eminent destruction of the society and their souls. The lower rung of them desire to ape this lifestyle, which is not possible considering the meager salaries they get, so bribery and corruption become a rule rather than an exception.
And yet, it would not be right to simply blame those who have achieved something. The responsibility and hard work involved by the above is completely overlooked and ignored. The wealth which is visible becomes the guiding factor for those who want to become like them. We must not forget that there is no power without responsibility and no responsibility without power. So those who follow, pick up the wrong traits leading the entire society to corruption.
Whenever you pay a bribe for avoiding a traffic challan or for getting a contract or even for getting a simple job done, you should always see whether you are honest to yourself...are you avoiding tax? Are you following the law? Are you eligible for what you are quoting? Is your life a life of complete honesty? If it is, then I’ll suggest you come to Dhyan Ashram for then I can take you beyond. But in maximum cases the answer is negative, that is the reason why we have so few inmates at Dhyan Ashram.
Change all this? In this yug it is a foolish idea. It is common knowledge that an honest officer is transferred before he can even settle, if you want to try and change all this then I suggest you work with the system, for this system needs people like you. Instead of taking corruption head on and trying to change the system, change at least one person around you and ask him to change another and so on...within a few years the system will change....but then you have to change yourself first!
You can begin by changing your Adarsh Purusha to a selfless charitable person. Now do you see why I call the idea in this yug foolish and why we have so few people at Dhyan Ashram?
Desire and Rebirth-1
You are what you desire. You take birth because you desire for an experience. Depending on your desires, you take up a body. The body here does not refer to what you see in the mirror but extends beyond to include the five sheaths – annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, vigyanmaya and anandmaya. An ordinary being desires only the physical and exists at the level of the annamaya (physical body) which in turn is controlled by the pranamaya kosha comprising of prana. The soul stays in the body till the time there is prana in it. What we call as death, is a state when there is no prana left in the body and hence the soul leaves the body.
Traditionally, when a convict was hung to death, after taking him off the noose, the hangman put slashes at the bottom of the feet. Ever wondered why? When one is hung, all the prana rushes to the bottom. By making slashes, it was ensured that no prana remains in the body so that the soul can exit. There are many who have survived near-death experiences at Dhyan Ashram…the healers were able to revive them because there was some prana left in the body and the soul took shelter in that prana. The healers then replenished the pranic body and restored the persons back to health. But once the soul has left the body, it cannot be brought back.
The soul might leave the body, but it is still tied to its desires and karmas. You must have heard of the 1943 famine of Bengal. It saw 3 million die for the want of food. In those times, people had reported mysterious rattling of vessels in the kitchen. What made the vessels rattle? It were the hungry spirits of those who passed away, their desire for food was so strong that as soon as they left the body, they took shelter in the vessels where food was kept.
Alexander the Great had asked his General to leave his empty hands hang out of the coffin upon his death to show the world that you enter and exit empty-handed. You will never find vedic rishis saying so…they knew that you take with you your desires and karmas and they decide your next birth and body. So if all your life you have desired being looked after, in your next birth you could be the Queen of England but you could also be a Chihuahua! Next time we will delve on what decides whether you become the Queen or her poodle.
Desire and Rebirth - 2
The thought of what lies ahead troubles one and all. There are so many who empty their pockets going to astrologers and fortune tellers and resort to all kinds of mantras, yantras and solutions to alter the course of their life. But how many have been helped by such solutions?
There is nothing called a solution or ‘upaya’. A problem is just a manifestation of your negative karmas – you may look at it as a punishment for the wrongs you did or a chance provided by the Divine to improve your karmic balance or you may continue fooling yourself by looking for solutions. The science of mantras and healing can temporarily stop your karmas from playing out, but they cannot dissolve your karma unless your Guru desires so. You will have to bear the effect of your karmas, sooner or later.
Last time we had left the discussion at a situation where a person had a very strong desire for being looked after and leading a life of luxury. If he has a backing of strong karmas, he might be born to the royal family in his next birth. If, however, his desire is strong but his karmas do not allow, he will still be given what he wants…but at a lower level of existence - maybe as an exotic pet. Your desires determine what you get but your karmas decide how you get it.
There is no end to desires. King Yayati even after enjoying youth for a thousand years was left wanting for more. There is a simple law of economics, resources are limited, wants are unlimited. So whenever you take more than you need, you are doing it by depriving someone else and hence, adding to your negative karmas. So if you have been born to a good family and still you are busy collecting for yourself, be rest assured your next birth will be a much lower form with similar desires, but with lesser means to attain them. And it will become a vicious circle of births and deaths, your desires and problems remaining unchanged and your state deteriorating constantly.
You may continue going downwards or change your desires, to elevate to a higher state. This calls for practices like Sanatan Kriya and Ashtang Yoga under the guidance of a Guru. Next time we will discuss the various levels of desires and how to evolve through them.
Social development through Spirituality
Social development is a process that results in the transformation of social structures to improve the capacity of a society in order to fulfill its objectives. It aims specifically in developing power to elevate expansion of human activity.
At the World Summit for Social Development organized by the United Nations in Copenhagen in 1995, which I was privileged to attend as the representative of the UN System in India, governments reached a new consensus on the need to put people at the centre of development. It pledged to eradicate, create and foster.
At the end of the Summit, governments adopted the Copenhagen Declaration, the Ten Commitments and the Programme of Action of the World Social Summit. It aimed to create an economic, political, social, cultural and legal environment that will enable people to achieve social development; eradicate absolute poverty by a target date to be set by each country; support full employment as a basic policy goal; promote social integration based on the enhancement and protection of all; achieve, attain universal and equitable access to education and primary; accelerate the development of Africa and the least developed countries; ensure that structural adjustment programmes include social development goals; increase resources allocated to social development; strengthen cooperation for social development through the UN.
These endeavours among others have helped in reversing the debilitating environment of poverty, unemployment and social isolation among others.However, the endeavours did not add up to the results that everyone had aimed and hoped for. The usual human failings of corruption, greed, jealousy, among other vices have been eating up the developmental process and retarding their growth.To take corrective measures we need to go to the foundations of the societal structure and cure the ills from the foundation. Society is comprised of families and the family is comprised of closely related individuals.
So the individual is the centre of the societal structure and hence any social development should begin from the individual level. To bring about true social development we have to remove vices from the individual level.To understand the structure of the individual self I will elaborate the structures in detail. The human being comprises of the Food or Manifest Matter Sheath; the Energy or Vital Force Sheath; the Mental Awareness Sheath; the Knowledge or Wisdom Sheath; and the Bliss Sheath.
The true essence of human existence comprises of the changeless, eternal witness; the uncreated, unmanifested Primordial Nature; intelligence; the Ego, Self-consciousness; the Mind; the five sense-organs for Hearing, Feeling by Touch, Seeing, Tasting, Smelling; the five motor-organs for Speaking, Grasping, Moving, Excreting, Sexual Activities; the five subtle elements - Sound, Touch, Colour, Flavour and Odour; and the five gross elements - Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth.
The energies playing within oneself are mode of goodness, harmony, balance, brightness and intelligence; mode of activity, energy and passion; mode of inertia, dullness, heaviness, and darkness.The core existence within the human being that gives rise to all else is the spirit. The spirit is the consciousness of wide, infinite, self-existence. It is a combination of truth, consciousness and bliss. The spirit is a part of the all-encompassing universal existence, the cause of all causes, whom we call God.
Our spirit is the icon of goodness that is part of God. Our activities cloud this pristine existence due to our negative karma. To become better human beings and to free ourselves of vices, we need to remove the negative coverings to this pristine existence, the spirit.
Spirituality is the mode of reviving the good energies and propensities that is innate in us.
There are many ways to achieve that. The easiest way is to sit and chant and meditate on the Name of God that we do with focused attention and love and devotion.
However, there is a way to arouse the potential (sleeping) energy in us that is located at the base of the spine known as the ‘kundalini’ power. Meditating on the power with devotion and love arouses the power that raises the consciousness of the person from the mundane level of existence to the higher levels of existence and propensities. That is human transformation.
Human transformation is necessary to bring about sustainable change or development in the world - a transformation where people can see the unity amongst all humanity, all living beings and even all creation. He will feel for his brethren as much as he feels for himself. Love, compassion, honesty, cooperation, non-covetousness, etc. would be the characters that would describe him.
A world with such human beings, especially at leadership positions, will enable the transformation of the world into the world that the United Nations envisaged during the 1994 ‘Year of the Family’ and which has been at the core of Indian culture for millennia – ‘One Earth One Family’.
So let us start with human transformation from the individual level and automatically the transformation will proliferate to the family level and then to the societal level. With such transformed human beings at the helm of affairs, the world will see more foresight and corruption-free mode of administration that produces better and more sustainable results in every aspect of social development. It will be human and global transformation.
Always feel blessed reading Yogiji's articles....everything is so interconnected. Such simple solutions to such big issues...wish people understand n start working towards it..
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