Vedic Heritage Inc

Can we be spiritual at our work-place? Can we be spiritual and yet be ambitious in our business or work? Are there any teachings in our Vedas, which we can use in our work-place?

These questions constantly engage my mind, especially when I am at the Mandir attending Her Holiness Sri Sri Guru Maa Jyotishanand Saraswati’s discourses and itching to ask these questions at the questions/answers sessions at the New York Ashram. Once I was brave enough to ask the first question. Guru Maa replied, ‘spiritualism is with us everywhere.’ It is always rooted inside us because it relates to the nourishment of our soul (Adhyatmik). It helps us answer the root questions in our lives: who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose in this life? Spiritualism, as described, in any philosophy, whether Vedic, Buddhist, Christianity or Judaism leads us to answer these root questions, and leads us to be a better, honest, truthful, good persons exhibiting positive energy around us. Our spiritual lives determine the kind of person we really are– clear thinkers, persons of generosity, good character, content and in control of ourselves. Our spiritual life is our deepest and most comprehensive life, and engulfs all our activities wherever we are. Our spirituality dictates our character, the part of us, which carries our values, ethics and convictions. A strong character will help us become more effective leaders at our work-place too.

So, the answer to the first question is clear: we can be spiritual at our work-place. Lewis Richmond in his book ‘Work as a Spiritual Practice’ has successfully demonstrated how we can maintain a spiritual life at work. We should not compartmentalize our lives, and leave behind our spiritual practice at our homes, or puja rooms or at the Mandirs or Ashrams or at Chrurches. I believe that we should visualize our work-place as a sacred place too & perform our actions accordingly. It is clear in the Gita that the path of a ‘Karm-yogi’ in the material world is also a recognized, though probably, more difficult path towards attaining ‘Moksh.’

In fact, our spiritual practice can help us be better employees or more successful entrepreneurs. We must find joy in our work, and must look forward to going to work every morning. We spend 60% of our lives at the work-place– and we must make full use of this time for our material and spiritual betterment. We can and should definitely connect our work-life with our inner-life. Work can become a spiritual practice too. We can convert negative energies of conflict into positive energy of inspiration– anger, fear, worry, stress into creativity, ambition, forgiveness and joy. We can convert the negative energy of stagnation into the positive energy of accomplishment- boredom, discouragement, failure and depression into generosity, contentment, calmness and relaxation.

One of the key tools in our spiritual life is meditation. Meditation helps us develop the positive energy within ourselves, and to help us to know ourselves more deeply. We can meditate outside our home or temples too– in between meetings, in transit, on our way to and from work or our office or client meetings. Pick a mantra or a prayer and chant whenever we get a minute or two. We can take fifteen minutes during our lunch break and stop working. We can slow down when we feel stressed. We can walk at a slower pace. When we type, we can touch your keys more softly. Is something really worrying us at our work-place? Put the worry into a question, and meditate with the question. We will find the answer or the worry will solve itself. Meditation does not necessarily require a special posture or a long time. We can meditate in our office, in our car, in the subway compartment, or anywhere.

One of the key learnings from our Vedic philosophy is that expectation is the key cause for unhappiness. So how can we be ambitious if we should not have expectations of positive results and growth? The desire to do better, to innovate, to explore, to create and to grow is ambition with positive energy. If ambition is intertwined with greed and pursuit of power, status and money, then it become destructive. So, is there a legitimate place for worldly ambition in our spiritual pursuit? The first principle in solving this puzzle is to understand the fine line between ambition and greed. Are we satisfied with our jobs or careers? Are we having fun? We must try and answer these questions truthfully to ourselves, and follow our instincts. The second and more important principle is simple: keep on working truthfully without expectations. Life is not always fair in the short term. If the fruit of our actions is given to us, then accept it gracefully and with humility. If not, we must continue our best efforts, keep our ambition alive, and do not get disheartened.

Lastly, are there any teachings from our Vedic philosophy, which we can apply to our work-place? Most definitely. Rajiv Shirali has written in the June issue of ‘Asian Business’ that many Western business writers/thinkers have acknowledged the influence of Vedic philospohy in their understanding, thinking and writing. Want to reduce employee turnover? Reach not only for their hearts and minds, but touch their souls too. Treat them as our own family-members. Is customer satisfaction important? Very much so. We must re-imbibe old values and treat customers as ‘atithi’ (guest) with the reverence and offerings reserved for God– which will endear our customers to our services and make it difficult for our competitors to woo them away. Is cost management important? How can we become more efficient and improve productivity? The Indian ethos values the quality of thrift, reduce waste, ensure zero defect rates and eliminate the need to re-work. Six-sigma principles adopted by successful companies such as GE have long used this theory to grow shareholder value.

In closing, we should not divide our lives into artificial compartments and lead different lives. We must practice spiritualism at our work-place, and must also apply Vedic teachings. I believe that we can become happier, more successful people. The bridging of our spiritual and material lives will mutually help us get better and better, and ultimately the boundaries will disappear. Let us try!