Corporate Leaders Embrace Wisdom at Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Talk Session in Mauritius

Q&A Session with the audience 

The talk and meditation session with Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at Hilton Mauritius included a lively Q&A segment. BIZWEEK brings you the highlights from this captivating exchange.

How do you manage conflict at work?

When you feel that conflict is overpowering too much and you cannot deal with it, you have already resigned from it, and then there is no way you can find solace. When you recognize there is a conflict, first of all, you must have the confidence of saying “I can resolve it”. When you have this intention or confidence, you will stay there. If you are staying there, and not running away, you are able to solve it. Your confidence and your staying with it will help you come up with ideas. Why this conflict? Was it because of the ego problem of this person? Or is it wrong understanding of this person? You will find that it is all coming to the communication side. Suppose your boss is adamant, and he is not doing the right thing. Say “Sir, I know your decision is on my schedule, but I feel that maybe this will be better. What do you think?” Then he or she will listen to what you are saying. But if you say “No, what you are doing is wrong, sir. You can’t do this,” immediately, it will be: “Who are you to tell me? I know what I am doing.” Then he or she will stop the communication.

So number one, this skill in communicating what is right is very important. Second is patience. Don’t think all the conflicts will be solved over time. Leave some time. And if you feel that there is nothing you can do now, just have patience. You have done all that you could do. 

Give us some guidance on how to navigate through the lack of ethics and governance in the corporate space.

You have two options. One is you rebel, you raise your voice, you protest, and you walk out. This is common practice. The second way is split awareness, split alert, split depth. Make people understand what the outcomes of this are, how the outcome is going to harm the person who is doing unethical practice. For this, you need to have the communication skill. If you just point out, “Look, what you’re doing is wrong,” they’re not going to accept it. But if you tell them, “Look, this is going to put you in trouble,” how is it? What do you prefer?

Second, communicate with the other person in a way that they get it. If I tell you that what you’re doing is hurting me, you are not going to listen to me. If I tell you that what you’re doing is hurting me, you’re not going to stop doing what you’re doing. But if I tell you, “Look, I know you have good intentions, but what you’re doing is going to hurt you badly,” then you will listen more, and be more open to my idea than doing what you want to do, what you think. So it’s a matter of you communicating with the person. The moment you say they are wrong, the person withdraws. He or she puts up a wall, because they want to protect themselves. They become defensive. And when someone becomes defensive, it’s so hard for you to get through to them. Instead of making someone defensive, make them listen to you by creating a sense of belongingness from your side. 

So you tell your boss: “I’m with you. Whatever you’re doing, I’m with you. But I think that this step is going to hurt us badly.” Then they will call you and ask for your suggestions and ideas about how they can save themselves. Everybody wants to save themselves, right? So putting someone on the defensive is not going to help at all.

Can you share your thoughts on bad luck in business?

You know what you call luck? When you get more than what you really think you deserve, you call it luck, right? And when you put a lot of your effort in, and still you don’t get anything, then you call it bad luck. Bad gets added to it. When things happen the way you want it to, you say, “Wow, well, I got it”. And when they don’t happen the way you want it, you say, “It’s my fate”. Again, it all depended on your thought and your action. You sow the seeds in the winter, and then you say, “Oh, it has not sprouted”. My dear, the time was not right. Some people opened a restaurant just before COVID, taking loans from everywhere. I don’t have to say anything further. You can only go down. Right? So, intuitive ability, innovative spirit, and energy to take on the challenges, and on top of all that, as you say, luck. And luck does have a place in life. The journey within will only enhance your luck.

How do you get into a relationship with someone who is a manipulator, a toxic person, in the professional or personal life?

If you think you can make a difference in the person’s life, then you do it. You have patience. You say, “What you do I don’t care about. Know that you cannot upset me”. 

He may be an adult, or he may be your spouse. Just think if they were children. What would you do? If they were your own child, what would you do? You would help them. If your own kid is very toxic to others, you don’t feel it. Mother never feels the child is toxic. So what does a mother say? “Oh, this child is so upset. He is not in his mind. He has gone crazy.” But mother never says, “You are toxic, don’t come to me”. Mother always takes the child in her arms, and then takes him or her to the psychiatrist for whatever medicine. You do all that you can do to make the child come out of toxicity. Why are people toxic? Because they don’t have knowledge. They don’t have the wisdom. They have no spiritual experience. 

We have brought transformation in inner-city gang members. You know, this one boy, from a young age, he was put in the street. He lived in the streets. He ate out of the leftovers of people. Nobody could care for him. And he grew up like that. And when he did Sudarshan Kriya, when the transformation happened, he said, “Now I can’t live like that”. 

He didn’t know. He thought it was fun to shoot people. And he would fight with every single person. Can there be anything more toxic? You just meet somebody and he tries to punch and fight with you. He said that this was his tendency, he always wanted to drag people to conflict and fight with them. But then he asked me, “Gurudev, will I be forgiven? Can all men be forgiven? I said, “Yes. You’re past whatever you did. It’s gone. You are reborn”. 

So just bring all your toxic people. Put them in a hall like this. And call on us, on Art of Living. We’ll do so-and-so, and get them all cleansed, inside out. They’ll be like we are. 

Guruji, how does one deal with prolonged grief after having lost their mother?

You think you’re going to be here forever? No. They’ve taken an earlier flight. They’re in a transit launch. When we forget this, then we are grief-stricken. You should know that we are in a transit launch. You come, you go. Next flight boarding announced. They get in, they go. And some people have left. Everybody has to go. And so many people in the world, millions, are going every day. Even without tickets. And many are coming into the world without license. It’s the same. In the Hindu tradition, for ten days, there is mourning prayer. So in ten days, you are free from all your social obligations. You don’t have to say goodbye, hello, how are you? In fact, when you go to somebody mourning, you don’t say bye to them. Do you know that? You don’t say bye to them. They don’t say welcome. You go to someone’s house to inquire about someone’s demise. You simply go to meet them and you just walk away, not saying bye. No social obligations permitted. You simply go meet with them, sit with them in silence, or say a few words you want to say.

For ten days, you experience it fully. The eleventh day, what you do is you take a little ghee and put it on your eyes. This is a ritual. All the family members and dear ones, they take a little ghee and put it on their eyes, and say, “That’s it, no more crying”. And on the 13th day you celebrate. You make sweets, you make different foods, bring gifts and buy new clothes, distribute, have a celebration. This is the system. Hindu tradition was like this. That soul is right there, it is everywhere. That soul is also watching and thinking, “Oh, my God, this person is crying and is making a burden on my head”. So you are bothering that person also. And that person says, “I am so happy, I am so relieved. I am so free now. And when I am free and happy, why am I trying to stay, crying unnecessarily?”