Part 1: Power; Philosophy-Science-Religion-Spirituality; Meditation in Management - Audio

By accident, you can have plenty of wealth at one time, but wealth will not remain in your house unless there is this great spirit of mutuality, great harmony and this harmony cannot come unless you have a still higher power.

Strength should be wedded with the power to live together and the power to live together derives its force from Mahakali. Mahakali is the force of heroism. It is a force of adventure. It is a force of sacrifice. It is the force which makes you an entrepreneur. A good manager is a good entrepreneur, to venture to take risks, heroically to meet the situations which are absolutely hopeless.

You are a good manager if a rotten factory is given to you and you can raise it out of ashes and build a running machine, all the time, 24 hours it can run efficiently. This requires heroism, adventure, enterprise, fight against the odds, sacrifice everything that you think is near to you, put your purpose in the right place, put your effort in the right place, put the people in the right place. unless you spread within you and around you the real force of power, power and harmony go together very often. There is a conflict. if you become powerful, you become unpopular. You can't be very mutually harmonious, but in the ideal condition you cannot establish harmony unless there is power.

What is power? Anybody can answer me this question: what is power?

It's a good question actually because all management is a distribution of power and exercise of power. all management.

Answer: Power is responsibility.

We are all describing pardon, what is power?

Answer: It is to keep control.

These are all good descriptions. I don't say no to anyone of you.

Answer: Power is opportunity.

Good.

Answer: Power is also service.

Now you have come very near to the right definition.

When you use the word “energy'', it's very good. Let us zero in on the word energy.

Let us now come to precisions.

Power is basically a manifestation of energy. Power is the manifestation of energy which is released on account of the position that you take in the totality. There are many ways of manifestation of energy.

When you labor is also a manifestation of energy but it's not power.

You should occupy a certain position. This is the most important point. Power is an inefficient energy to control, to command, which arises out of the position that you occupy. The secret of power lies in knowing what position you should occupy in a given place.

Unless you know your position in the place, unless you occupy that position, whatever energy you may manifest, it won't control and it won't command. It is the placement of yourself.

Why do we say, oh, this is because of the chair that you occupy! There’s a great truth in it: if you want to exercise the power, you must know where to place yourself in the totality.

It's not necessarily where the chair is. The position that you occupy in a given totality.

There's a very beautiful drama—The Admirable Crichton, that is the title of the drama.

There is a group of people in a boat, people who are quarreling with each other and the manager wanted that there should be great harmony among them. So he arranged this travel in the boat of all the people put together. They were all quarreling among themselves, so an excursion was organised. Then he disguised himself as a butler and he went on serving everything that everybody wanted, but while serving, he explained to X what Y was saying about X. He said to Z, what Y was saying about Z. And like this he said to each one things about each one. And at the end of the journey, all were very happy with each other.

By becoming a butler, you occupy the position which nobody can occupy. That kind of position, that is power. Place yourself in a position where you can command and control energy that is manifested. On account of the position that is occupied, there is power.

Power is energy, no doubt, but that which manifests itself depending upon the position that you take for command and control.

So that is Mahakali. But Mahakali, the position that you occupy, all that depends upon one most important thing and that is knowledge. You may have power, you may be a very harmonious friend, you may be very skillful but if you don't have the knowledge that is required with regard to your whole work, then nothing will work. the highest position should be given to wisdom to knowledge. knowledge, power, love, harmony and skill—combination of the four is an assured guarantee of the highest possible management and highest possible pursuit of wealth, if you want to pursue wealth steadily, if you want to store the wealth for the best.

If you don't want only temporary success but a permanent success, according to my understanding, you cannot do it unless you are deeply spiritual.

Comment: Knowledge is power.

Yes, quite right. Knowledge is power. Quite true.

Mr Tata, I was talking to you about him. His knowledge of his business was so great. You know, one day I went to meet him and he invited me to sit next to him on a chair and suddenly he said: do you know what is the quality of the leather of the chair? I was completely stumped out. One day he gave me a lecture about one hour on all the essentials of all his industries. You could see the master of his industry. It was a delight to hear him. How much he knew about each and every element, how the pumps work, what is the fabric. actually he gave me a good lecture also on cosmetics. It’s a fact. He knew every item of his bag of cosmetics.

You know what his brand is? Cosmetic brand of Tata? No, nobody knows? What is the brand? What is it called?

No idea, alright. This lesson I will give to you next time. You're all students of management. I think that this kind of information you should possess.

He gave me a lecture of one hour.

Now this is a very brief answer to your question.

In this world where everybody is pursuing money, what is it base of spiritually?

According to me this bifurcation is false and also unpractical. If you are really practical, if you are really looking for that prosperity, become like Mr Tata, he combined. and his spiritually you do not know, how much spiritual he was, not religious man, not going to temples and so on.

He once told me, he said, Kireet the greatest spirituality lies in the capacity to smile in all the conditions of life. That was a very good definition he gave—to be able to smile in every situation of life that is spiritually. The real purusha who can witness everything, stand above everything and he's not affected by success or failure or honour or dishonour. You can smile in every situation.

Shall we go to the next question, please tell me when you want to finish up because it's already 7:15.

Question: What is the difference between religion and philosophy?

I'm expanding your question, because otherwise I won't be able to explain religion, philosophy, morality, science and spirituality. Unless you have a clear idea of all these five and their interrelationship you will not get a correct idea of what is spirituality.

Science is the pursuit of knowledge, but this pursuit of knowledge is normally limited to one domain. Physics is knowledge of matter; biology is knowledge of life; psychology is knowledge of mind. Philosophy in contrast is also a pursuit of knowledge but pursuit of knowledge of all the domains. Science is a pursuit of knowledge about a domain. Philosophy is a pursuit of knowledge in which all domains are interrelated. Science also can become multiple in character. Now today we speak of biophysics, biochemistry, astrophysics, so there it is not limited to one field only.

So you can have science of the whole in which all knowledge is combined together, but such as science has not yet come into existence, but it can be, possibly it can. Today we also speak of divine science, science of the divine existence. In that sense, we also speak of yoga as science. Yoga is a science which comes to know of all the domains of knowledge, including the divine.

But then what is the distinction between yoga and philosophy? Yoga is also the science of all domains of knowledge, Philosophy is also the pursuit of knowledge of all the domains of knowledge, what is the difference?

The difference is that in philosophy the method is to infer by means of logic from a certain set of data and to arrive at the knowledge which is not yet known. Or you can try to guess as sure as possible about that unknown data, it’s a special method by questioning in a particular manner. in science when you know you know by observation, by experience and by verification. In philosophy, you are not required to verify, mere logical analysis will give you the guarantee that what you know is right. so you can have knowledge of science concerning all the domains of knowledge, including knowledge of God. There can be a science of God. Philosophy also pursues God and is also knowledge of God, but it is speculative knowledge of God. It is not verifiable knowledge of God, it is speculative. You can verify it only by certain criteria of logic, by verification in actual experience.

So you can say that science also can be a science of all and a science of God, philosophy also deals with all the domains of knowledge, including God, but the knowledge of philosophy is rather logical, inferential, speculative. The knowledge of science is definitive and it is assured by verification.

Now what is religion? Religion is also a pursuit of knowledge, knowledge of God or knowledge of the highest that is invisible, but the method of religion is quite distinctive. In religion the method of the pursuit of knowledge is by belief, in philosophy by questioning, in the case of religion, it is by belief. You start with faith, you take the advantage of a dogma, you take the advantage of ceremonies, of rituals, of prescriptions. In philosophy none of these operates. In spirituality you may admit them temporarily, but not essentially. You can be spiritual without belief. Belief is not necessary. As Vivekananda said, a true spiritual man can make an experiment in God without having belief in God. It's a speciality of spirituality. Belief is not a necessary ingredient in spirituality. There is no necessity to follow any ceremonies, any rituals. You don't need to go to temples, you don't need to do any kind of ceremonies. In spirituality, you seek God as an experiment.

You seek God by a discipline in which no ceremonies, no rituals, no mechanical aspects are honoured. Spirituality is a kind of iconoclast—break all the images, break, break. Go beyond all images, go beyond all rituals or ceremonies, rely upon experience.

Unless you have seen God you are not spiritual or unless you strive to see God you are not spiritual and your striving for God should be independent of belief, ritual, ceremony altogether. Then it is a spiritual pursuit.

Religion can be a starting point, but when spirituality is stationed, in stabilizing you. It is like crutches by which you can start your journey. Then you become healed and begin to walk, you don't need to have crutches at all, that is spirituality.

Spirituality is to walk in God without crutches.

Alright, so I think I have taken most of your time and I think you must be now getting beyond the limits of time. I am under your command and you will tell me when I should stop, alright. You are in a position of power, you command and it will be done.

Put the other questions.

Question: How can meditation help in management services and how can meditation help in management study.

First of all, all meditation is a process of concentration. The development of concentration is the process of meditation.

How do you concentrate and what is concentration?

First of all, concentration is a process in which you discover the centre of the object in question. The starting point of all meditation is to find the centre of the object in question.

In fact, this is the great process in management. When you go into any factory as a manager, the most important thing is to find out what is the centre of the factory. Now if you've learned the art of meditation it will be automatic for you—your state of mind will always be centered on centre. It will be automatic for you. You're very state of mind, a meditative mind is constantly concentrating. A good manager is a commander in constant concentration, the real focus.

You know, you must have learned what system analysis is? System analysis is one of the biggest tools in management. We are told that if you are a manager, you must analyze the system which you are supposed to manage and the first question that you should ask in system analysis is: what is the objective of the system. Fundamental question is what is the objective of the system. The very question itself. The moment you go to any examination, anywhere you go, anything you want to manage, you should say what is the objective, objective in the centre and if you are practicing meditation, this question will come to your mind automatically. Your mind itself would always be concentrated upon the centres. You will automatically in any situation you will go, you will try to find out the real nerve which you should catch, by catching which all the nerves are in your control.

I'll give an example. There was a group of scientists during the Second World War who wanted that Roosevelt, who was at that time the President of America, should sanction the manufacture of Atom Bomb. And Roosevelt was very often saying yes, no, yes, no. And there was no decision coming up. I'm giving an example from management. Then these scientists began to ask: How to get a decision from Roosevelt? They made a good study of Roosevelt's mind. It's a long story, but ultimately they came to two points, that Roosevelt is relaxed always at the time of breakfast. Breakfast time is the centre when he's relaxed and when he is free from all kinds of impositions and if any idea needs to be thrown into his mind, that is the best time to inject a new idea in his mind. Secondly, they found out that in Roosevelt's mind he is constantly comparing himself with Napoleon who is a great leader of mankind. In his own mind, Napoleon was a great leader and he wanted himself to be like Napoleon. This is also a discovery which they made, they made a study of him. And then they sought an interview with Roosevelt at breakfast time. Ultimately has succeeded and then they began to talk and they had already, this is a management centering on this question, somebody said Napoleon was a very great leader and immediately Roosevelt became alert. He became attentive when somebody said Napoleon was a very great leader. But he made one great mistake. Roosevelt became even more alert and then somebody said nobody should make a mistake like Napoleon. What was the mistake? In his time, he did not foresee the power of navigation. He developed armies, but not the Navy. He did not understand, he did not see that the one thing which could defeat him was the lack of Navy. Like today, if you do not use atomic power, you may lose the battle. Breakfast was over. The papers were sent to him in a day or two and he signed up.

Now this is an example, even if it did not happen historically, even as an example in management it is a good example, although the account which I had read says that this really happened, but nobody can vouchsafe because in our breakfast what happened I don't know. But in an account given about this event, all these steps have been explained.

Now you can see here the centrality, the importance of centrality and concentration upon the centrality. by meditation one doesn’t mean sitting down cross-legged like 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, silently sitting.

It is not, it is meditation, but it is not all that meditation is about. To meditate is to constantly put a question—what is the centre? And how to be fixed on the centre and to bring all ideas which will converge upon the centre.

And it is found that if you can centre upon the centre then the required knowledge will begin to unfold itself, this is the magic of meditation. If you meditate on any given subject. You make this experiment, all good managers should meditate, not necessarily cross legged, but meditate. Be very very quiet, find out the centre on which you should be centered and just centered upon it and you will find that ideas concerning that object will begin to unfold in your own consciousness or you will find that somebody will come and talk to you about this subject or a book will come to you regarding that subject.

This is the magic of meditation. You can make an experiment. I have done this experiment hundreds of times. This is the utility of meditation for managers.

I think now people want to go. It is always better to to be polite, to have propriety. You know Augustus Caesar said, you know, Augustus Caesar was one of the greatest emperors of human history, no other one in the history of mankind. And he had one very wise sentence—You must know when to clap and to leave the stage.

It's good management, no?—to know when to clap and to leave the stage.

So now I seek your permission to leave the stage before you tell me that I must go. Alright, thank you.