Spiritual Principles for a Corporate World

A company is nothing but a collection of processes and people. Companies go to great lengths and spend countless
hours and funds to improve their processes, making systems mare efficient, cutting costs and maximising its
margins.

But ask any successful businessman and he will tell you that ultimately, a company succeeds and fails because of
its people. Efficient processes certainly help, but a worker who feels fulfilled in his job and works with inspiration
is a company's most valuable asset.

Vedanta ultimately provides us with knowledge of who we are. But it also tells us who we are not. We are not
limited BMIs (Body, Mind, Intellect) and in explaining so, Vedanta provides us with a perfect understanding of
these equipments, how they work and what their limitations are.

Vedanta declares that happiness does not lie in the fulfillment of desires. Rather, we feel happy when we experience
our Higher Self. Satisfying desires creates a temporary tranquillity of mind that allows us to experience our Higher
Self for brief moments. But if we change the way we work, we discover that we can find fulfillment in the task
itself and not defer our contentment to only those times when our desires are met.

By changing the way we work, we can discover contentment even in the cut and thrust of the corporate world.
When we are contented and fulfilled in our work, we excel And when we excel, profit and promotion come as
a side-effect. There are many advantages that Vedanta provides us with in the workplace but here I will discuss
two of them: awareness and mind- body-alignment.

Awareness

Vedanta states that the BMl (Body, Mind, Intellect) are my equipment. The body is my physical tool, the mind my
emotional faculty and the intellect the seat of my discriminative capacity.

None of them are ‘me’. So when I feel a flood of negative emotions in the workplace, be it due to other's
(or my own) incompetence, being overwhelmed and stressed with my workload, or my colleagues not working
in accordance with my expectations, I am safe in the knowledge that these emotions are not ‘me’.

This immediately creates space between myself and my emotions. Negative emotions cause agitation and if I allow
them to perpetuate, they ultimately cloud my judgement and fill me with anxiety. But I have these emotions: I have
not become them. They have come to me for a period of time but by not indulging or entertaining them, they will
pass away.

In fact every negative emotion that comes to us lasts only as long as one thought. It is our insistence to hold on to
them and feed them that causes them to propagate. When we create space between ourselves and our emotions,
we provide ourselves with room to think dearly.

Do I want this emotion?

If I act on this emotion, what will be the consequence of my action? Do I want to be responsible for this
consequence? By creating this space, we create clarity. And with this clarity we stop making decisions based
on short-term emotional reactions but see the situation as a whole.

When coupled with a high vision line that unifies the team, company and society, the effect of such decision-making
is greater clarity. The ultimate goal remains clear and the path to reach that goal remains as direct as ever.
Obstacles will always come but by becoming aware of your emotions the obstacles become incapable of clouding
your judgement. We see situations as they are and root our decisions in the rationality of the intellect.

A welcome side-effect of such a working practice is an almost instantaneous decrease in stress levels. When we
become aware of our emotions and consciously choose to entertain them based upon how useful they will be to
the current situation, they instantly lose their power to agitate us. As a result, we gain not only greater clarity of
thinking but also greater efficiency in the moment. Work becomes effortless and we leave the office vitalised
instead of drained.

MBA: Mind-Body Alignment

The second technique has been described by Swami Chinmayananda as MBA: Mind-Body Alignment. The modern
manager faces a hectic work schedule. On any given day, many of us will have ten to twenty tasks to accomplish
and many companies have dilemma-management courses to help people manage their workload.

But in my experience, time management is not the root problem. The problem is energy management. When
presented with a multitude of issues, we don‘t focus on each task at a time but hold them all in our minds
constantly moving from one to the other in our thoughts.

Hence when we are supposed to focus on task A, our mind is worried about the consequences of not focussing on
tasks B, C and D. The result is agitation of the mind and dissipation of energy. The work becomes laborious and we
become resentful, leaving the office exhausted, even though we have barely used a muscle.

MBA is a simple technique: place your mind where your hands are. Time management is important. We need to
prioritise and schedule our work but once this is done, by focussing solely on the task at hand, we gain efficiency
and poise. Our body and mind become aligned and we tap into our Higher Self, the source of all energy and
creativity, and work becomes effortless. Many top athletes use this technique and describe it as being ’in the
moment’ - A state of heightened awareness that comes with single-pointed concentration.

The result is a reduction in stress and an increase in efficiency. But more than this, when we apply MBA, we often
find that we can transcend our limitations and produce insights and a quality of work that astonishes us and those
around us. Why? Became when the mind and body are aligned we become a channel for the Higher Self to express
and this Higher Self knows no limits.

These are a few of the techniques that Vedanta has provided me with, that have helped me become more efficient,
productive and fulfilled in my work. There are many more and the wonder of Vedanta is that by practicing its
secrets, every day becomes an opportunity to unfold our personality and feel happier and more fulfilled here and
now, in the moment.

Compiled by Milan Samani

Source: Chinmayam, September 2008