Can a Swamiji talk about the basics and intricacies of governing and business relationships? That was the impression one got when a large gathering heard Swami A Parthasarathy spoke at Chennai on the subject during the release of his book titled ‘Governing and Business and Relationships’. Why not?

According to Swami Parthasarathy the present day education and enlightenment seemed to have been limited to acquisition of just ‘intelligence’ and not ‘intellect’. He said this emphatically as the former is just acquired from books, schools, universities and external agencies; but the intellect is something within each human that has the capacity to assess, analyze and question. The major advantage of being a human is many times forgotten and they fail to use discretion or questioning and the loss is theirs because of this.

Governing or managing the business needs three Cs; Swami said ‘Concentration, Consistency and Cooperation’. To achieve this intellect is essential. ‘Any business without the application of intellect can only lead to debacle’, Swami confirmed. ‘The human mind is always clouded with thoughts of past and future; the past worries them while the future makes them anxious. The present suffers because of this unwanted vagaries of the mind’ was Swami’s opinion.

A concentrated mind is full of energy, power and force. So the achievement will be remarkable. A chaotic brain always malfunctions. Those who effectively employ the intellect become successful and achieve something remarkable; that is why we have a doctor among millions of doctors who invented a medicine for tuberculosis or kidney transplant. It is the engineer who exploited his intellect was able to design Panama Canal and Euro Tunnel. Gathering knowledge is one thing and analyzing them is another but achieving something out of it is the most important. This was highlighted in Swami’s lecture where he constantly stressed on the need to energize oneself using intellect leaving the herd mentality.

The next important thing is relating oneself with the world. The relationships get strained because of the failure among us to assess a person properly. ‘We know how to interact with a tiger, snake or kitten as they have collective character while the humans differ because of his intellect from the animals; so one needs to necessarily assess the person in his interaction. The wars, divorces, generation gap all arise because of the failure to understand the others. Try to evaluate people and accept them as they are and maintain your relationship accordingly. You can not convert a lamb into a leopard,’ Swami advised. ‘By doing this one can make a hell into a heaven whereas most of the time it is vice versa’, quipped Swamiji.

The easy ways of expression, the flashing quotes from the philosophers and literature, references to personal experiences and anecdotes above all the subtle sense of humour and the free flow of language make Swami Parthasarathy’s lecture a brilliant experience.

Needless to say that the contents of Swami’s book should be an useful guiding light to the business and management clan of the society which is always restless and on its toes. Last but not the least; very few spiritual leaders speak with universal vision without religious overtones. Swami Pathasarathy and his daughter Sunandaji occupy the top place in that unique approach.