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Interviewed and written by Anu Gopalakrishnan Copyright© Miindia 2007  The world thrives on human intelligence. However, will world peace or eradication of poverty be examples of human intelligence? 80% of the people today are in conflict and traumatized with several dysfunctional relationships - at home and at work. Society is gearing up for mass destruction and read destruction as "fall of the human intellect".
I had an interesting chat with the Guru of the Intellect - "the Swami of the Corporate world" - Swami Parthasarathy, founder of the Vedanta Cultural Foundation located amidst the picturesque hills of the Malavali Hills in Maharashtra, India. Swami Parthasarathy is also one of the world's best selling authors on Vedanta. An interesting chat with the guru who has transformed several businesses into profitable powerhouses by providing simple solutions from our oldest Hindu scripture- the Bhagavad Gita. And yes, like you, I was surprised. Bhagavad Gita is good material but what is the connection between the text and the western business world? All of a sudden, eastern philosophy is written about and quotes from the Bhagavad Gita are making business headlines. Swami Parthasarathy mentioned that using the core concepts of the Gita, can de-stress and offer more attention to concentration of the mind. The fundamental truth is the fact that none of us around truly understands what is going on with the "true workings" of the world. If I have the best sports car, a snazzy place, jewelry, designer labels, over 400 channels worth of information, there is nothing wrong with this but all this is a result of being a robot in a mechanical world. Simply put, Parthsarathy states that "we are part of the herd instinct. So many things we do in our life, we do because we follow others. Why did one go to school, because everybody else did? What did one do after that - find a job just like anyone else? Marriage happens because everybody gets married and so on. You keep doing things mechanically and in a monotonous manner". This may be accepted in the way animals lead their lives, not with thinking beings. Well, to me this was lesson one: As a thinking individual, you have a choice - to accept the world because of others or to accept the world within your terms and conditions based on your reasoning". "I am a very difficult person", said Swami Parthasarathy when we started having a discussion with regard to the power of reasoning and the use of human intellect in today’s' so called functional digitized world. All of us are looking for success. We seldom pay attention to what brings about success. It is not the external environment or the self that brings success but it is how you relate it to the world. If you think of success and failure, this is more of a result. We all anticipate and care about the result, the effect, and the fruit of labor. The focus and our concentration are on the result of the action we do or perform than the action or performance itself. This sums up the Parthasarathy's theory of Karma Capitalism - the corporate mantra of the business world.  According to Parthasarathy's Vedantic concepts, a person who has just intelligence lacks control over the mind and its various demands. Education develops the intelligence and transfers the same from the teacher to the taught but the materials to develop the intellect are not available. So when there is a conflict of this kind, success as a whole is elusive!
Swami Parthasarathy remarked that, "One does not purely understand the difference between intelligence and intellect - this is like the known universe and the unknown reality". While intelligence is a concept used for survival, to work and earn a living; intellect is living that has to be learned overcoming the vagaries of the mind. In simple terms, the vagaries of the mind describe the mind as being idiosyncratic. As I had learned, one wrongfully assumes that the mind behaves based on the intelligence, but truly the mind behaves on intrinsic and extrinsic feedback mechanisms. The extrinsic feedback mechanism will simply mean our experiences and our association; they simply create what the scriptures describe as "samskaras". The intrinsic feedback mechanisms are how we treat our bodies by negative or positive influences - some examples of negative influences would be too much rest, too much luxury, too much eating, too much sleeping etc. However, on the flip side, positive influences will be minimizing the thoughts that enter one's mind through concentration, being cautious of what goes into the mouth as food and what comes out of it as speech. Interestingly in scriptures, the suggested two aspects of control are "viratham" and "mouna". And that does not mean you need to renounce food and speech, but limit them to moderation. Ok, here we go with our lesson number two: Human intelligence is derived from external factors; intellect is derived from the internal mind. Are we using intelligence or intellect to lead our daily lives? The theory of Self-Management has been a valuable curriculum in most business schools in today's world. Having lectured at international business schools on the principles of Vedanta, Swami was quick to mention that the key factors for success in business are concentration, consistency and co-operative endeavor. As many of us know, Swami Parthasarathy belonged to a wealthy business family owning a fleet of cars and mansions. This 80 year old guru of the go-getters chose to explore Vedanta and indulge in full time research and reflection on applying Vedantic principles to daily living and at work. After decades of intense research, Swami Parthasarathy has pioneered practical techniques of self–management that increase productivity, reduce stress and develop the essential components of leadership. As he practically mentioned, Self-Management is the key to gaining that elusive combination you want –efficiency at work and mental equanimity within. This reminds me of the discourse that followed between Lord Krishna and Arjuna. While Arjuna was reluctant to fight his own kinsmen and family- Lord Krishna was quick to retort that lead him to gauging spiritual growth in maintaining equanimity in both pleasure and pain. In commercial terminology, maintaining the sameness of mind in loss and gain, promotion and non-promotion etc. I am sharing what I learned from a short conversation on the three essential ingredients to success for business people: Concentration, Consistency and Cooperation. Body has to be dynamic. Action should be dynamic. Do not be idle as this only weakens the body and destroys the capacity to act. Have an ideal in life and have your intellect focus on that ideal by maintaining objectivity in action. Objectivity will keep you away from the weaknesses of the mind. Finally, the mind has to surrender to the chosen ideal completely without focusing on endless desires that may crop up during your exploration. This surrender to your chosen ideal will build mental stamina to work - this is the magic formula that will generate tremendous energy to pursue your goal by applying your intellect. Easy? Well, how about this - the above formula will work only if the mind dismisses the tendency to ramble into the past and the future. This oscillation between the past and the future can only be controlled by the strong intellect. This is called concentration. For consistency, you need a goal, a cause. Focusing on the goal (on a purpose) at every stage of this exploration with the same concentrated behavior without allowing one action to neutralize another by setting the priorities in order is called consistency. Maintain the spirit of working together in harmony. This is called the spirit of cooperative endeavor. Parthasarathy simply stated that "corporations can make their business more productive if they teach their employees to develop an initiative at work by providing a goal, a cause or a purpose instead of luring them into incentives". This brings us to lesson number three: If you cannot find happiness at work, you can never find it anywhere. Concentration, Consistency and Cooperative Endeavor will provide inevitable success. The success is slow but effective and inevitable! If you cannot manage yourself, how will you manage others? If you are expecting to see a typical saffron-clad Indian holy man- then forget it. You still don't seem to get the point. Swami Parthasarathy can be suited to fit the corporate boardrooms and he can also be your friendly neighbor clad in white flowing kurta. He is here to talk about how as a thinking mind we have neglected to nourish the intellect. The Indian guru is on a whistle-stop tour of the US, counseling executives on the central message of the Gita to put purpose before self. For over 50 years, Swami Parthasarathy has been helping companies and businessmen strike a balance between their executive and spiritual lives. Here is a guru who follows a strict regime by waking up daily at 4:30 and has a fulfilling day from jogging to service filled with activities, speeches, consultations. He lives at the Academy with students and is an accomplished cricketer winning many a "MVP" awards at major cricket leagues in South Africa, England, Australia and India till date. He prides himself at maintaining the same weight and bodily measurements for the past 57 years. "He casually reminds us that a fit soul likes a fit body and a fit mind". As our short conversation reaches its final stages, the business guru maintained that stress in the workplace affects peace both inside and outside work and in the end weakens productivity. What you need to look forward to are Monday mornings and not Friday evenings. Who inspired the Guru? Well, Parthasarathy was quick to respond to this question "who inspires me? stating that " People around me are groping in the dark. Mere mortals cannot provide inspiration. My inspiration goes back to the ancient scriptures like the Bhagavad Gita".  Going back to my initial comment, Swami Parthasarathy sounds like a complex person, but if one is aware of the basic scripture of any religion, the focus is more toward looking at one's inner personality that is constituted by the mind and the intellect. Looking back 60 years, we now have better infrastructure in terms of roads, health, housing, entertainment and more- why cannot we say that there is more peace, comfort and happiness today? The more prominence we give to the external environment and appearances, happiness, peace and success will only be short-lived. All we need is a chance to retrospect and reflect the meaning behind all the teachings we have had in terms of education and experience. And I hope, from today, the success we look at, will have a different meaning all together!
Swami Parthasarathy, the charioteer of the corporate Vedanta will be in Michigan for the exclusive speech organized by The Indus Entrepreneurs - Click for Event Information. Written and Interviewed by Anu Gopalakrishnan Copyright: Miindia 2007 |