Spirituality In Action

Spirituality In Action

India continues to amaze me!

This time my travels took me to the South. Quite a different world from the North, I might add. I was invited to Cyberabad. Yes Cyber-a-bad, a city on this planet, not out in cyberspace!

Audio – Spirituality in Action (music by Majestic India)

Very much a part of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Cyberabad initially was a nick-name for this high tech part of town but later the Police Department adopted the name to identify one of its zones.

As its name implies, Cyberabad is an IT hub. It was the long term vision of the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Chandrababu Naidu, who wanted to create a world class IT industry in Hyderabad. Within eight years top IT companies have stationed themselves here: Infosys, Wipro, Microsoft, IBM, Accenture, Tata and more! All are serviced with campus facilities that match international standards. Each company employs between 5000 to 10,000 employees. Imagine the value of ‘intellectual property’ in this small region – both in terms of the product and the people!

I am staying in Shanti Sarovar Retreat Centre which is a magnificent 35 acre facility of the Brahma Kumaris. The land was donated by Mr Naidu to the Brahma Kumaris well before the IT hub developed.  The retreat centre has a high tech auditorium that seats 2000, several training rooms, meditation huts nestled amidst the tall trees, ample comfortable accommodation and huge dining facilities. There are beautiful gardens merging in with the natural rocky terrain, a lush vegetable patch and a small cow-shed with about fifteen beautiful, healthy and happy cows.

I have come to address the Shanti Sarovar annual ‘Spirituality in IT’ (SIT) retreat. These two subjects seem paradoxical at first. What do they have in common? When you come to think about it, why would spirituality not be merged with science and technology? The two are in fact like two strands of the double helix – they compliment each other.

I believe that if IT professionals were to sharpen their spiritual quotient, this super third intelligence, then they could create infinite possibilities and possibly help in changing the world for the better.

SIT is an acronym and also an important message! We literally have to sit with ourselves and go within. Science and technology is about reaching the furthest corners of the universe, whilst spirituality and meditation is about going into the inner recesses of our soul! As we sit in quiet and calm we are able to get clear insights of what the world needs, and how I, as a powerful individual can deliver that.

It is one thing to spend your lifetime in seeking solutions for others, and it is another to stop for a few moments to find formulas for your own life.

The weekend after SIT, I went on to participate in the Future of Power (FOP) retreat in Mt Abu, Rajasthan, India. This program is the brainchild of Mr Nizar Juma and has been running in India since 2009. It invites leaders to lead with a more ‘enlightened’ style of leadership. Mr Juma is currently chairman of over 50 companies and was awarded the Silver Star by the President of Kenya for outstanding services to the Nation. He also happens to be an ardent student of the Brahma Kumaris, meditating daily. It was his vision to serve people who are leaders in their own right and this led him to develop this program in partnership with the Brahma Kumaris. To date it has been successfully run in 57 cities in India, and is now set to move to North America.

Just under two hundred leaders from all over India and neighbouring countries gathered for the latest FOP retreat. They came to immerse themselves in an ocean of spirituality – living, breathing, speaking and eating with spirituality!

Both of these events have proved to me more than ever that the more we incorporate spiritual values into our professions, the more we are happy, accomplished (internally) and have a sense of purpose and direction. During both events, people were convinced of this fact. Each left with a powerful experience.

Without the integration of spiritual values in our life, we are human doings but not human beings. As I add a spiritual value to everything I do, I am able to give it more significance.

Despite giving many lectures and sitting in several discussions over the period of ten days, the personal highlight of the trip for me was to visit the cowshed in Shanti Sarovar at 11pm the night before my early morning departure, when I hugged a newly born calf! With all of its innocence and purity, the baby calf reminded me that life itself reveals what matters most! It is not the external steps of success, but getting in touch with the real world with a pure heart!

It’s Time… to integrate spirituality into whatever you do and you will find more meaning and purpose in your life.

For more information on:

Shanti Sarovar Retreat Centre Click here

Future of Power Click here

© ‘It’s Time…’ by Aruna Ladva, BK Publications London, UK