On the banks of the Thames, overlooking the Houses of Parliament, Pujya Swami Paramatmanada Saraswatiji gave an insightful talk about, Leadership and spiritual intelligence. The audience, a select group of Lords, MPs, Business people, Media and devotees alike packed into the Portcullis House’s Attlee Suite.
Among the many things argued in the 2 hour talk was the question, what is spirituality? According to the swamiji, it is a mix of Integrity and intelligence along with emotional maturity. Speaking about leadership and success he said it was all geared towards gaining more more, more power and more recognition in society. He said the to nurture and support your team to improve their self confidence. The ideal leader is not someone who visualises, idealises, or makes strategies and plans, the ideal leader is someone who helps the growth of the people. The real capital of the company is the people who work with you and the price of that capital is that they themselves should grow and they themselves should feel that they have grown.
He argued that globalisation and liberalisation are not just a global competition but a global war and there needs to be a change in the processes and production of output if they must succeed. Using an analogy that a merger in business is nothing but a big fish eating a little fish- he explained about competition, how more is best, how increasing targets of employees creates a greater risk of failure and creates stress and fear that eventually could lead to a complete breakdown. He also spoke about the hangover of the office, as many people in effect bring work home. He joked that today’s marriages are also 'hungover' as both husband and wife work, they bring work home and the office hangover prevails.
Speaking about the creator and the creation, he said, the Lord is the creator and the material out of which it is created, is the creation. There is an order in creation and everything has a cause and effect, that’s why scientists do their work, to understand. These laws of creation and destruction are infallible and impartial but the structure is equal, opposite and impartial. He says that life is never black or white but is rather its grey. He welcomes failure just as he welcomes success.
Among the profound things mentioned in the talk, Swamiji said situation’s are purely subjective, using the analogy that a peda (Indian sweet), if given by a friend or family, is a sweet, however if the same peda is offered in a temple, that becomes prasad. He argued that the giver is more important than the gift received and that the quantity or the quality didn't matter.
