Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Chanting a change in corporate world

BANGALORE, INDIA: It must take a real change agent quality to wake people out of the daily grind and question themselves.

With the arrival of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the art of living is a question that managed to come into spotlight even amidst all the flashlights of corporate stress all around. With him, even corporates and young people woke up to some bigger questions and started looking for elusive answers that were so far considered the prerogative of the elderly and the hinterland of India. To have these questions running as fast as a corporate memo was quite a sight among urban corporate corridors.

The irony never struck so strongly in India before. It is not the elderly or the ones who have stepped out of the job rigmaroles who need spiritual support but may be, and at times, more so, the rather younger counterparts perched precariously on many a corporate ladders, juggling various pressures of a daily life and a corporate valve.

His programmes resonate very widely when they guide on balancing oneself and stress wisely. His ideology and teachings have effectively targeted the current epidemic called work stress.

Like he aptly said in his address to the Senate of Argentina "Decision-makers need to be free from stress to come up with great ideas and work well."

The man has almost reincarnated meditation with the powerful innovation of Sudarshan Kriya and rediscovering Pranayam to appease the victims of work burn-outs and other forms of stress.

He has often highlighted the need for spirituality keeping that in context when it comes to the four pillars of a society -- politics, business, academics and religion.

The most adored ingredient that influences his celebrity and boy-from-the-neighbourhood-office disciples alike is that his methods blend well with practical living and schedules.

So when he says ‘Trust is the breath of business and ethics its limbs' it sounds like a much-needed reminder for today's challenges.