Spirituality in the workplace instills confidence in employees and makes the working environment more positive. By HP Kanoria
Spirituality is not related to a particular religion. It compasses humanity. It is not particular rituals or dogmas but is the eternal law of creation. It is inherent nature. Every human being is divine. God has created men and women in His own image with His love and virtues. God said ‘I am one, let me become many.’ Creation is His manifestation. He is our Divine Father, Mother and Friend. Our soul is immortal. We are the individual self. Human beings have infinite power. Inner power needs to be awakened and ignited. One has to listen to one own feeble voice of conscience every moment.
Spirituality is the essence of life. It awakens the inner power and balance the trinity of money, authority and muscles. For multiple reasons, spirituality is essential to be practiced at workplace, corporate, educational institution, government, public undertakings under government management and social bodies including NGOs and religious bodies. Spirituality has to be infused in every individual right from a worker to a boss. It is not only individual effort, but collective efforts. Impact of spirituality at workplace — however small or big — is much more. Thoughts and actions of each individual imbibed with spirituality affect people around them.
Collective power of every individual can do miracles. It has vibration of joy and spirit of righteous work. It gives insight and intuition in complex business problems. It gives strength to stand with poise during the storms of depression and recession in the market. Every person in an organisation gears to the situation without being nervous and losing balance of positive thinking and solution. Character builds up and the mind is tuned to the truth. It enhances creativity and energy level increases. Scriptures of all religions give the message, ‘be rich by righteous ways and means.’
The law of creation is unity in diversity. Religion will focus on spirituality. With spirituality, poverty can be removed. A righteous person will lead to evolution of an enlightened society. There will be harmony, peace and joy in working and a sense of belongingness — ownership with entrepreneur spirit in each employee. We depend on each other. That is why institutions/organisations/ corporate work best internally and externally — when they have right dealing with other institutions and individuals. Swami Chinmayananda calls the world ‘Cosmic world of cooperative action.’ Cooperation has to come from within, from the dharma (righteousness) and culture for genuine cooperative action that is right in what is done, but also righteousness in how to it is done. In fact self-governed organisations go much beyond the law, because they believe that right actions bring its own reward, not in just heaven or for liberation but right here in the real world. Every action has its reaction.
With infusion of spirituality at workplace people work hard, give their best with righteousness without craving for motivation and incentives. They inherent faith in lord Krishna’s message to Arjuna. ‘You have right over your respective duty only, but no control or claim over the results. Fruits of work should not be your motive.’ Swami Vivekananda had said, “Manifest spirituality within you. Mark, if you give up spirituality the result will be that in three generations you will be extinct.”
Workplaces are also housed in institutions, and often any institution big or small has a bigger impact than the individual. We go to work to institutions because they can collectively achieve more than we can as individuals. Thus, if our institutions become more spiritual, they in turn will create a better world on an even bigger scale than an individual and thus create a heaven on earth that we all want to see.
To conclude, spirituality is a burning need at the workplace for right attitude to work, righteousness, devotion to work, commitment to innovation, deep insight and intention, unified cooperation in work, team work, profit with right means/ways not motivated by greed-greed-greed but self-confidence, faith in self and others, peace and harmony, fearlessness, creation of wealth for generation and wealth.
The author is chairman of Srei Foundation