Divine Dance of Spirituality: A Mystical Ignition to Professionalism!

You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.

Swami Vivekananda

You may feel sceptical that I am touching upon a theme which has a very insignificant believability in corporate corridors. Yet, I personally value it as a powerful multifaceted inclusive phenomenon. It brings people closer. An unprejudiced and unconditional experience of celebrating connectedness. It is arduous to delimit spirituality in words…but it is very much there ‘within’ as an experience. Perhaps, spirituality for some is meditation and prayers. Or personal values and excellence at work. Or may be obligation towards organization and team members. Or doing socially responsible business. We all have different interpretation for the same concept. So, let me attempt to take you through the journey of synchronised higher human awakening.

We all want to know how spirituality kindles within us…!

Spirituality is not a mechanism or an object. It is not a form, it is not an abstract. It is not our faith or a religion. It is an undiscovered element of superior experience. A magnificent insight into the life. It has more to do with self-identification than ego-identification. Spirituality is a state of equipoise with external world.

Spirituality is our inner wisdom that can guide us along the path. It is a path of freedom! Freedom from our conventional predictable responses. It empowers us to use the faculties of our minds effectively for the freedom from external compulsions. Probably, our instinctive knowledge guide us in logically eliminating “what we are not”. But finally, the real intuitive awareness about the self comes from spiritual evolvement. We learn to discriminate the ‘factual’ from the ‘erroneous’ and the ‘unjustified’ from the ‘justified’. Thus, beyond your instinctive knowledge, your intuitive awareness of self will help you to excel towards spirituality.

The essence of spirituality is to witness ‘real-self’. It elevates our mind with the higher consciousness through the power of discretion and understanding. It is like mirroring our true consciousness. Spirituality catapults the feeling of ‘non-attachment’ toward worldly choices. Spirituality is eternal whereas worldly ‘attachments’ are temporal. Spirituality galvanizes only when subjective attachment dissolves. Eventually, spirituality becomes part of our core consciousness and will whirl around in our awareness all the time.

We proudly claim to know about our ‘acting-self’ or ‘known- self’ (I would prefer to call it illusive-self). But that is just a miniature version of our real-self. Regrettably, we confidently deal with external world without even realizing this fact. Thus, all our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and responses are reflection of our partially uncovered (miniature) self. And not the true real self.

We will certainly behave differently than what we are as and when the ‘known-self’ melts and fuses with our true ‘real self’ over a period of time. I am sure, even if we are not an inward-looking type, we may find ourselves noticeably different than what we were few years ago. The very fact that we have confronted with ‘awareness’ or realization of such metamorphosis within, means we are on the path of transcending towards spirituality. It is so obvious but generally overlooked.

What is spirituality for a hard core professional?

Yes! In today’s age of global materialism, I am absolutely convinced that it is more essential than ever. Because the opportunities of indulging in corporate immortalities are convincingly beneficial considerations for most people. Our work atmosphere, soiled with Negativity, hostility, manipulation, stress, sufferings, and ruthless competition, is an acknowledged landscapes of our professional life. It may vary in gradation, but does exist in our professional backdrop all the time.

So, is it something in contradiction of the material world? 

As a professional, we all have some or other attachments in our personal and work life. It could be craving for an object, wealth, position, or a reward. It could be anything. Anything what we “have or want to have” in life. All such attachments are at mental level. It is in our ‘feelings’ or ‘thoughts’. Regrettably, we are so much cemented (sub-consciously) to our attachments that our entire response or behaviour pattern tends to get shaped around pseudo-world of attachments. The attachment-mania nearly munches us in entirety, leaving diminutive energy left to ponder over our ideals or the true nature of our being. It barricades our freedom without our realization and that too, at the cost of our ideals. Naively, our slaving and sweating (like a labourer) for the fulfilment of such attachments, overturns and dislocates us from the path of doing “inspired work”. The work where our energy is not compromised or decipitated to satiate our yearning for attachments.

Is it like renouncing the worldly benefits and gains of your hard work?

Let’s ask one question to ourselves. Why as a professional at some stage we feel isolated in corporate wasteland, dissatisfied and longing for something beyond position, power, and appreciation at work? Something real. Something beyond business and personal accounting. Where silently doing something meaningful is more important to us than a standing ovation.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating against professional growth and personal accomplishments. In fact, being conscious of self, we will be able to adore the whole enchilada more passionately. Once we are aware about “who we are” or our own inner ‘expressions’ in a given context, then there is no stopping. We need not repudiate any pleasure once we have learnt to respond to the external world with all our consciousness.

I have seen lots of professionals frequently using word “spirituality” with reference to establishing “God fearing” sensitivity in their work approach. They would frequently and superficially introduce the sanctified words like ‘values’ or ‘ethics’ while talking to us. Rambling around at work place and dropping words that sound impressive. I mean no impudence to anyone. But that is not all.

A spiritual enlightenment can ignite the sincerity of our professional attitude, principles, and solicitations. Spirituality will force us to engage with the realities. It will help us in unearthing misrepresentations and deceptions in our work transactions. It can be possibly the most powerful force for invoking our professional uprightness.  We would then recognize what inspires us at the deepest level of consciousness. The accomplishments we achieve are usually so short-lived that they cannot reward us with a continued happiness. Contentment is cyclic. Once again, we will start hunting for some innovative professional promises. We are so vulnerable. We become self-centred, illusively fearful, and episodic while searching for the happiness in worldly accomplishments. We hardly acknowledge the vicious trap.

For me, spirituality is related to our well-being, individual inspiration, effectiveness at work, accountability in leadership, inspiring work culture, a value based thriving business, our sensitivity towards human dignity, and ethical conduct of the organization. To sum-up, spirituality is reconciliation process of our obligations towards organisation and people.

Why can’t we resolve not to purposefully offend others? Even by slip-up, if we do so, why we should certainly not apologize at the first given opportunity? Why we can’t decide to choose affection against someone’s antagonism? To be considerate and kind towards the people who manipulate us. Why we can’t choose to act with higher consciousness, when we know it is an available ‘choice’ in our hand? Where is the real character? The spirituality is a path to connect with your consciousness and letting that awareness change you inside. You will be different than what you were before. If we are stuck in a rut of ego-centric professional rat race, we may never discover the purity of our mind waiting just outside of our ritualistic mental calendar. It is possible. I have experienced it. The difference in my own responsiveness towards corporate intimidations, predispositions, negative tendencies, and other ego-centric desires. Yes, now I look at things very differently. I was uncertain about my own experience at first as I assumed it was my ego claiming to affirm ‘I am an evolved professional.’ So I convinced myself that it was impossible that I had experienced a transformation in my own sense of self. But it got reinforced with unceasing reconfirmations, that too, by others. Yes, it is feasible.

There is a lot happening in this area of spirituality. The concern for spirituality in business is finally getting recognition across the globe and possibly, may soon become a genuine professional movement.

I am pretty hopeful that soon we all will learn to relate with each other without our toxic baggage. With pure heart…and a mind without doubts.The day may not be far when we all will witness divine dance of spirituality mystically detonating and igniting the true professionalism within us…!

Till then…