LEADER AND SPIRITUALITY
My Daughter Grusha’s school had an investiture ceremony on 17th feb and like a typical proud parents we went, had fun and felt good about her and the school in general. It was a ceremony which necessarily calls for a good speech by an elder and someone who has experienced enough of life and its processes. This gentleman, the CEO of the school and ex military personnel spoke inspiringly on leadership and on who is a leader; at least it seemed for me like that but not sure, if the children ever assimilate good speeches in the environment where they would like to have fun and chill out. But certain traditions cannot be avoided and justifiably so. But it set me thinking for next few days as to who is a leader in the current circumstances. There are thousands of quotations and countless number of theories and books written on leadership and who is a leader? Every quotation and theory has limitations, is questionable and probably very situational. If Mahatma Gandhi was a leader, he was recognized for his vision and his strive to take that to a reality. Its only when he was recognized as a public figure that, his inner voice was heard and recognized. Today we talk of so many traits and inner personality of Gandhi which made him what he is. His belief and practise of Satyagraha, non violence and simplicity are among the few ideologies of the great soul that stands out and is relevant for all times and situations.
Let us take today’s situation where at one stroke, life seems very complex and chaotic. Seriously most of us do not know where are we travelling and why are we doing what we are doing. One simple reality that dominates our belief, conviction and basic living is the evil called MONEY and nothing else. May be this is the starting point of the worse to come but this evil has already changed us completely and seeped into our conscience . Today every compromise that we do, every compulsion that we will live with, can only be attributed to money. For sure , social movements will not happen, for sure people will not be honest in work situations, for sure we will all be talking about integrity and not mean it; only because we need basic money for mobile, for transport, for malls, basic status and all that is required to keep that up. Insecurity is what makes everyone stoop down to everything like never before. Truthfulness ceased to mean anything because survival is difficult with that value intact. The need to prove, the need to excel is so demanding that most of us do not think and pause on the need to uphold values. Do we have such values at all, is to be questioned and if yes what are we doing to keep this up. In this context, i am trying to define for myself what leadership is? We need to be leaders not for anything or anyone but for ourselves. Leadership is Survival instinct now, the need of the hour and extending Darwin, its survival of the leader or survival of the fittest leader.
In every situation what each of us experience is the following. Either the combination of one of them or all of them put together.
1) Our belief or confidence is either not understood, challenged or we are not even heard and instead put down. ........ This can happen to children with parents, students in learning places, employees in office or just about anyone.. The question that should come to mind is.. Why is this so? Is this the problem of the other person or do i need to look inside and accept the situation? Here it has to be both. The other person might operate by sheer domination, authority or the from the advantage of better position or personality disorder broadly. We might also be suffering from the same. This is an ongoing battle. How do we come successful in such a situation? Be a leader to win the self and situation. The operating tool is that, there is nothing standard. Either we give in and have patience and prove with our consistency or oppose and prove that we are right. Both of these need huge amount of perseverance and self control.
2) Sometimes, nothing seems to go right anyway, no logic, no rhythm and we get bogged down. Even here it is the self control that works. Talking to the self and being a leader of our own.
3) We believe in something and the situation offers something. The clash of the value system, our learning or our some need gratification for the situation can be few areas of the problem. Here again we need to win on our self rather than confronting the situation. People have ceased to be open in most cases and even if they are open, it’s very minimal and apparent and not inherent. Even, when the integrity as a value has many definitions, how can we not a leader of the self.
In the modern world, the situations are plenty and are very different to the context. But in all situations, we need to be leaders of the self and only then we can be happy. We cannot try to change the situation and be happy. This is a paradigm shift in the leadership issue. One has to be a leader in all situation and for only for the self.
The next most important question would be ...... how can one be a leader? The current need is to be spiritual. Like the word leader, the word spiritual also has many connotations and meanings embedded and so how does one understand the same?
Here it goes from our concrete god google.... That which is spiritual is sacred and the concept of sacred is interchangeable with the concept of "holy"-a word derived from an Old English word meaning, "whole" and perfect in goodness. A religious person may be spiritual, but a spiritual person is not necessarily religious.
Spirituality refers to the evolutionary process as it drives us forward, eventually, to perfect wholeness. It relates to the expansion or evolution of consciousness. And, thus all activity-be it physical, emotional, intuitional and so forth-that leads towards greater perfection, goodness and wholeness is therefore spiritual. The scientist working, for example, on a cancer cure is involved in spiritual work, as is the diplomat attempting to bring harmony between warring parties or the artist seeking to create a beautiful masterpiece for enhancing the quality of life.
Spiritual values are qualified by ever-widening horizons, synthesis, growth and wholeness as well as greater vision, understanding and integration.
If one becomes spiritual, or if one is spiritual, then he is a leader in all situations. My definition of spiritual is to be focussing on the spirit which is you, the soul, and the human. We need to constantly talk to ourselves and focus on the self and understand the self. All of us have too much that we can shed off and just discover that inner self which is so pure, peaceful and happy. We keep adding dust and layers of unhappiness and expectations and complexities of human behaviour. A leader is one who constantly removes these layers of dust from our soul. Then the external situation or a person can never disturb us or bother us. Nothing will stop from being truthful. The money also will become less important and we will be able to all situations with equal élan. We will never be in a hurry to prove anything to anyone or get disturbed as we are in touch in our core and that is the self. We are leaders of the self and so of the situations.
Being spiritual is not going to temples, is not reading spiritual books and is not going to gurus . All of these are important only to seek knowledge or get the vibes. We need to constantly work on the self with the aid of all of these and achieve results. The result is being a leader in all situations. If in a office meeting something is not acceptable or if someone is dominating because he has the power, not getting perturbed, not losing the balance is being spiritual and being a leader. If you are not able to be balanced, then all that is learnt is simply wasted and you are not a leader.
Likewise, if you are involved in an argument, you can’t be spiritual and you are not a leader. Your sheer vibes should radiate in all situations and calm down the place and there should be an opportunity to discuss in a healthy manner. If someone is not able to help any situation for peace, amicability or solution, then he is not a leader as he is not spiritual enough to handle the situations. These are not the blame factors but to be treated as opportunities to be a leader.
How does one become spiritual? Spend time more with the self and let the company of you with the self give the comfort and happiness. Feeling lonely is the first sign of not being spiritual. How does one love the self? By spending more time and call it meditation, prayer, music and reading or just about anything ... just reflect and be a leader. Going by our google god, being spiritual is evolutionary and being leader also is the same according to me. Hence to be leader is to be spiritual and to be spiritual is to focus on the self. The need of the hour is not to run and chase but spend time with the self, love the self and use any tool for working on these. But do not get arrested in the tool called books, worships and gurus and instead apply and reflect on the learning in every situation and be a leader.
No comments:
Post a Comment