Spirituality at workplace: Uses of Spirituality At the Workplace  

By R Venkatesan  

Spirituality at workplace: Uses of Spirituality At the Workplace  

Does the recent interest exhibited in non-fiction titles such as The Soul of Business, A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America, The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace, The Three-Minute Meditation etc in the US point to the possible evolution of the "enlightened corporate sector"?

Do Indian managers, born in a land that has offered "yoga and meditation" to the world corporate sector (to overcome stress), have the "first-mover advantage"? These are the questions that should interest "enlightened" managers in "progressive" Indian corporations.

Regardless of the size of a firm, much of the work is accomplished by people working together as a team. During the 1970s and 1980s, Japanese firms recognised the virtues of team work over individualistic style of functioning. Thus arose the concept of a "team" - a cohesive group with well-defined objectives - where each member had a specific role to play.

However, the Japanese found the task of balancing group ethos with individual drive and motivation a difficult task and had to selectively promote the concepts of "individualistic" engineers, and a general flexibility for members to move across teams, to nurture the entrepreneurial talent within the organisational umbrella.

Apart from "motivational" aspects in different cultural settings, another important behaviour that has gained attention is "stress".

International research on stress related factors has found that while Swedish executives experience the least stress, executives from the United States, United Kingdom and the former West Germany are able to manage the stress effectively unlike their counterparts in Japan, Singapore, Brazil, Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria.

Both Newsweek and Time have recently devoted special articles to stress and stress busters. The common theme has been that chronic stress is harmful to both employees and employers and that the solution lies in the ancient Indian practice of yoga and meditation.

Yoga as the union between the mind and body is seen to offer solutions to stress related problems, which the physical workouts/exercise cannot offer. Not to be outdone, numerous titles and solutions related to spirituality, all home grown, have appeared on the scene.

The recent work of Danah Zohar on spiritual intelligence, John Kay on implicit or trust relations within the firm and between the firm and its stakeholders and Avinash K Dixit on the science of strategic thinking point out future directions for the corporate sector.

Zohar refers to spiritual intelligence - a form of creative thinking which is concerned as much with rule making as rule breaking - as the basic foundation for an effective EQ (emotional quotient) and IQ.

She says that SQ could be explained in terms of the lotus model with its centre and six petals, corresponding to the seven chakras described by the Hinduism's Kundalini Yoga.

According to Kay, the essence of a firm is defined by the totality of relationships among, first, its stakeholders and, second, between itself and other firms. This unique structure of formal and informal relationships, which cannot be easily replicated, is the real source of a firm's competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Dixit mentions that unlike a traditional firm which tries to "hold" rather than "share" information, a progressive and enlightened firm makes sharing its dominant strategy.

According to Time's special article on Yoga, "enlightenment and good health require a proper balance between the seven major chakras apart from a free flow of the life force which, in turn, is acquired through awakening of dormant Kundalini energy".

The Indian philosophical tradition attributes perception to the mind, conceptualisation to the intellect and "illumination" to the self. Further, they speak of an ascent from "intellect" through meditation. The integration of inner self with the cosmic spirit - otherwise, referred to self-realisation - is considered the route to highest knowledge. In other words, spirituality at the workplace is considered necessary not only in terms of managing stress but also as an aid in reaching higher levels of consciousness.

Mataji Shri Nirmala Devi, the founder of Sahaja Yoga, says "En masse inner transformation of human beings by self-realisation is the reality now. Everyone can now become aware of the absolute truth and reality through Sahaja Yoga. Sahaja Yoga is the spontaneous union of individual consciousness with the all-pervading power through the awakening of the residual power of the Kundalini which lies dormant within all human beings in the triangular bone at the base of the spine, called the sacrum - the sacred bone".

Perhaps it is time for Indian corporates to draw upon the great traditions of India's ancient spiritual and philosophical heritage. According to an article on Yoga, "enlightenment and good health require a proper balance between the seven major chakras apart from a free flow of the life force which, in turn, is acquired through awakening of dormant Kundalini energy".

The Indian philosophical tradition attributes perception to the mind, conceptualisation to the intellect and "illumination" to the self. Further, they speak of an ascent from "intellect" through meditation. The integration of inner self with the cosmic spirit - otherwise, referred to self-realisation - is considered the route to highest knowledge. In other words, spirituality at the workplace is considered necessary not only in terms of managing stress but also as an aid in reaching higher levels of consciousness.

Mataji Shri Nirmala Devi, the founder of Sahaja Yoga, says "En masse inner transformation of human beings by self-realisation is the reality now. Everyone can now become aware of the absolute truth and reality through Sahaja Yoga. Sahaja Yoga is the spontaneous union of individual consciousness with the all-pervading power through the awakening of the residual power of the Kundalini which lies dormant within all human beings in the triangular bone at the base of the spine, called the sacrum - the sacred bone".

Perhaps it is time for Indian corporates to draw upon the great traditions of India's ancient spiritual and philosophical heritage.

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More from same author see: R Venkatesan  

See also: Spirituality at workplace, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)