basking in the light - VIII

this is a transcript of a talk given by swami tejomayanandaji during the valedictory address of the corporate workshop titled 'transforming work-places through self-awareness' at sandeepany sadhanalaya on 24th july 2007.

you can hear the actual talk at the following link - address by guruji

it is a must-read & must-hear for everybody, but more so for working professionals.

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"when i was being introduced, i remembered a joke.

there was a public function and the secretary introduced the chief guest. and he heaped a lot of praise with many adjectives and words used. after listening to this the chief guest said something which i also would like to say today - before i begin my speech i would like to apologise for two things. one is that the secretary said so many things about me which were an exaggeration, for which i apologise. and the second apology is because i enjoyed it!

for a minute i was wondering who she was talking about. that may be because of her love and devotion. anyway, that apart...

i am glad you were here the whole day, and from the few impressions that i heard it seems that you also enjoyed it and liked the sessions. and you found the sessions useful and purposeful which is a very good thing to hear. because, without keeping come purpose in our mind we don't do anything. and the purpose for which we do something, if that is achieved, then naturally we feel happy!

so, our purpose was to introduce spirituality at the work-place. and this was only an introduction as you yourself have seen. so our purpose is achieved. and the first step is that we enjoy what we hear. and if we enjoy then there is a possibility that we will do it more.

one thing is, when you listen to swamis and sanyasis one thought may be crossing your mind - these swamis can sit and preach and say many things, but if we put them in the work-place will they be able to put all this into practice themselves? some people might have a thought that maybe because this person could not do much at the work-place he took up sanyas!

as the popular saying goes - those who can, do. and those who can't, teach!

and there was a teacher who did not like this quotation. and so decided to add to it - and those who cannot do either, write about it!

so people always feel it is very easy for these swamis to sit and say all this. i also hear one of you mention that when you hear all this it appears easy, but it is easier said than done. and you think, 'i hope it is as easy to implement'.

in this regard i would like to say only thing, and that is, 'just do it!'.

if you yourself say it is difficult or i don't know whether it is possible then it will become difficult. i had read the definition of 'short-cut' - a shortcut is the longest distance between two points! think about it. every time we think it is better to take the shortcut we realise that it would have been better to take the highway itself!

and i have noticed that a person who wants a shortcut will find even the shortest route to be very long. but on the other hand, if a person is ready to walk a long way then the long way will itself seem like a short distance, because somebody will give him a ride. and he will go very fast. therefore don't look for shortcuts. and don't look for easy way of doing things. then you will feel that the so-called difficult things have become easy! and the long distances become short. this is possible.

also, in this full day's session, you must have heard that ultimately you have to change yourself. even though i have not attended the sessions i know this is what would have been said from a spiritual perspective. because the complete bottom-line is this statement.

'you' have to have self-awareness, 'you' have to have self-improvement, 'you' have to..., 'you' have to... it all finally comes back to 'you' alone.

there was this lady who had heard too much about self-improvement. she went to a book-store and there too she saw an entire section of books on self-improvement. she got fed up and asked the salesman, 'don't you have any books on improving others?'.

but such a thought sometimes does come to our mind. how long can i improve myself? but the truth is ultimately this alone. therefore we have to go to these basics.

since i have not worked directly in a corporate environment, i was asking someone - what is the meaning of transforming the work-place? i was told - you see, there is lot of tension. especially during the appraisal time. there is a lot of tension. and then when somebody else gets the promotion, you think that that person is far inferior in terms of performance and you wonder how that person got a promotion while you didn't get one. so you see there is a lot of tension. and of course, there is also jealousy. and anger and frustration. so all these things happen.

so now, what does one do about this? this keeps happening. and we cannot change suddenly. we can only change the curtains and maybe change the flowers everyday. and hope that the atmosphere will change. but does work? only outer cosmetic changes? no, it does not change.

in our traditional language there is only one answer on how to change. and it is called 'satsang'. now when we hear it, it sounds very orthodox. but 'sat' means reality or truth. and 'sang' means association. the when you live in association with the truth - the truth of life, the truth of every experience, the truth of everything - you will change.

generally what is understood as satsang is that 'you live in the company of wise people'. and only then you will you get the right understanding - binu satsang koi vivek na hoi! this is a famous line from the ramacharitmanas. without this association with the wise people we do not get the right understanding. and this is required continuously. it is not a one-day workshop or a seminar. your whole life has to be geared towards that. then it will happen.

and to release this tension i will tell you two things. one is from the standpoint of knowledge. and that is 'you look upon everyone, with all those you are working with, as your own self'! this may sound very difficult at this moment. but you look upon them. and then you see what happens.

once i had gone to a meeting of all medical doctors. this was a few years ago. and it was in bihar. and at that time in bihar rabri devi was made the chief minister. and there was a very highly-qualified lady doctor at that meeting and she was looking very agitated. and she said to me, 'swamiji, what has happened to our country? look at this, who has become the chief minister!'

so i told her, 'why are you so agitated? suppose she was your sister?' the lady suddenly laughed. and then she paused. suddenly she realised that her thoughts would have been very different.

i once read something very nice on a truck. our trucks are very enlightening. they write such wonderful wisdom. one such statement i liked very much - jalo mat, bhgwan tumko bhi dega! (don't be jealous, god will also give you!)

so you look upon another as your own self, your own family member. so when your son does better than you, you feel proud about it. similarly if someone else has got a promotion you should feel that that person must have done better, very good! even in cricket when a batsman hits a very good shot but some player manages a very difficult catch. the batsman is declared out. but he goes to the player and congratulates him on a beautiful piece of fielding. we should have that kind of magnanimity. when you appreciate the others who have done better you will suddenly find that your whole outlook changes. and when you are relaxed, people around you are also relaxed! to a great extent.

this is one way of looking at this.

and the second way is - devotion.

now this may appeal to some people. but if there are atheists, then they will say that i don't believe in any god. so it may not appeal to them.

devotion to god. now we are always worried whether other people know what we are doing or not, whether we will be appreciated or not. but if you have the thought in your mind that ultimately god knows. then that is what counts.

once somebody told me that the chinmaya mission is doing a lot of work and a lot of social work, so we should do a lot of publicity. i asked him - why? the person for whom we are doing this work knows. and god also knows. and there ends the matter.

so you do relax. please relax. so whichever way you would like to look at the situation, this way or that way, suddenly you will find that you are relaxed.

and when you are relaxed it is more infectious than your common cold. other people will also start feeling relaxed.

i think this is the way. but like i said, continuous satsang is required. it doesn't come in just one day or two days. but when you do it again and again, it will, there is no doubt about it.

with this i conclude my remarks and i invoke god's grace and pujya gurudev's blessings on one and all for a very happy, peaceful, purposeful, and successful life.

thank you very much!



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