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CENTRE FOR SPIRITUALISM AND HUMAN ENRICHMENT
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Centre
for Spiritualism and Human Enrichment was established
by School of Management Sciences in the year 2003 with
the noble objective to create a strong platform for
all those who are interested in contributing towards
enriching human lives and the modern management science
through spirituality. Since its inception, this Centre
is making sincere efforts to fulfill the objective for
which it has been established. Organizing conferences,
seminars, workshops, research publications, lecture
series and e-content development based on spiritualism,
human values, ancient Indian wisdom, and business ethics
has been a regular feature of the Centre. The response
which the Centre has received from the people belonging
to various fields including academia and the corporate
has been overwhelming and is a continuous source of
inspiration and motivation for the dedicated team involved
in the development of this Centre. |
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National
Conference on Spirituality and Ethics in Management(30-31st,
Oct, 2010) |
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Noted Parliamentarian Shri Mohan Singh, also a
member of the Governing Council of School of Management
Sciences (SMS), Varanasi, who was present in the
two-day National Conference on "Spirituality
and Ethics in Management" organised under
the aegis of the Centre for Spiritualism and Human
Enrichment (C-SHE) of SMS, said that identification
and recognition of 'self' is the biggest characteristic
of spirituality. Those who shun the concept of
"I" move closer to the spiritual world.
Commenting on Ethics, he said that knowledge and
education about ethics is important before practice.
The Guests of Honour present at this occasion
included BHU Rector Prof B. D. Singh and Maulana
Khursheed Anwar, Mufti (Principal) of Mazharul-
Uloom, Varanasi who also aired their views regarding
the very substance of ethics and spirituality
and connected it to the business and management
world. |
| Honour'ble
Parliamentarian Shri Mohan Singh said upon identification
and recognition of 'self' in National Conference,
at SMS |
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The Chief Guest of the Valedictory Session, Prof.
P. K. Mukhopadhyay (Former Head of the Department
of Philosophy, Jadavpur University) in his address
to the delegates said that all cultures today
seek development through knowledge acquisition.
And this knowledge should help us revisit various
dimensions of Spirituality in order to help the
mankind grow and blossom. Gone are the days of
specialization because that divides society. We
all should try to examine the distinct discipline
of Business Ethics and the C-SHE of SMS should
take lead in this, exclaimed Prof. Mukhopadhyay.
He added, one can never practice ethics if devoid
of wisdom. Prof. A. N. Tripathi (Former Head,
Malviya Centre for Human Values, BHU) said organizations
are social constructs and they should fulfill
obligations of the society. Organisational goals
should not be narrowly defined. Ethics and Spirituality
get combined to give Human Values, he added. Where
the domain of Law ends, domain of ethics starts,
said Prof. Tripathi.
Mr. V. Narayanan explained the teachings of Aurobindo
and correlated them to the management world. Mr.
Adhokshaja Das (ISKCON) quoted lessons from 'Prabhupada'
and 'Gita'. He said, 'Life is a question and no
body can answer it, Death is an answer and no
body can question it!' Prof. Pramod Pathak (Former
Head of Department of Management Studies, ISM-Dhanbad
and noted spiritual columnist) propounded a new
concept of 'Socially Useful Spiritual Work' (SUSW)
while deliberating on one of the Conference themes.
He said there is no alternative to 'work is worship'
which will be always relevant in any context.
Spirituality is like 'Shabari' (of Ramayan fame),
giving good things to others, keeping not so good
ones for ourselves! Prof. A. K. Agrawal (FMS-BHU)
opined that spirituality is the search for the
purpose of life through citation of various instances
from our texts and scriptures. Mr. R. Gidwani
(US Vitamins, Mumbai) discussed the contradictions
between management and spirituality and said that
individuals with spiritual potential perform better.
Mr. Vinod Arora (IIM-Lucknow) cited examples of
Prophet Mohammad and Guru Nanakji in ethos and
empathy. He highlighted the importance of 'Karma'.
Mr V. N. Rai (Ex MD-KRIBHCO) said we should maintain
neutrality in life. World is a model of cooperation
and not competition, as depicted by the Western
Management philosophy. Prof. Veer Bhadra Mishra
(Sankat Mohan Foundation-Varanasi) said that today
also Varanasi has been able to maintain its traditional
culture but cities like Cairo and Athens could
not, all due to the values and spirituality which
people practice here! Everything today needs integration
with culture for betterment of human lives, he
added. Prof. K. D. Tripathi (Hony. Director, C-SHE,
SMS) said that the current crisis is of economicpolitical-
social order and solution lies in our scriptures
of Vedas, Ramayan, Mahabharat, Buddist & Jain
philosophies and in Kautilya's Arthshastra. Arthashastra
has shown the coexistence of public as well as
private enterprises, claimed the speaker. Others
who also opined included Dr. S. C. Saxena, Prof.
Manodip Roy Choudhari and Dr. Ramshwar Dubey.
More than 70 research papers were presented in
the parallel sessions at different lecture theatres
spread across SMS campus. Over 200 participants
from India and abroad attended the conference.
The Vote-of -thanks was given by the Convener,
Mr. Sandeep Singh. All dignitaries and most of
the Speakers apart from faculty members of SMS,
the Executive Secretary Dr. M. P. Singh and the
Director Prof. P. N. Jha were present till the
Conference got over on Sunday late evening. According
to the C-SHE, SMS, after the great success of
this two-day Conference, foundations have been
laid for an International Congress on relevant
and selected themes any time next year at SMS.
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| Prof.
D. P. Singh ,VC, BHU in National Conference on
Spitituality and Ethics, at SMS Varanasi |
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| Padma
Shri Prof. Geshe N. Samten, VC, Central University
of Tibetan Studies,giving his dliberations in
National Conference on Spitituality and Ethics,
at SMS Varanasi |
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| Maulana
Khursheed Anwar, Mufti (Principal) of Mazharul-
Uloom, Varanasi clarifying basics of Ethics |
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| SMS
varanasi welcoming BHU Rector Prof B. D. Singh
in velidictory session of National Conference
on Spirituality and Ethics in Management |
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"Gita
as a Perennial Source of Leadership"-Mumbai
Conference
"Spirituality does not mean rejection of
worldly life "
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In the
Indian tradition the spiritual value is given
supreme importance. But while trying to understand
the Indian concept of spirituality, it should
be borne in mind that the spiritual value, as
projected by seers, is integral and holistic,
incorporating within itself the material, moral
and cultural values. The holistic meaning of spirituality
is prevalent right from the Vedic-Upanishadic
time; in the modern age Sri Aurobindo is the champion
protagonist of the all-inclusive and all-assimilative
character of the spiritual consciousness. The
spiritual should not be understood in isolation
from the material and socio-cultural life. However,
there is also a misconception of spirituality,
according to which the spiritual value is opposed
to the material one. The spiritual way is understood
as the negation of worldly life, even as the rejection
of the social involvement. According to the Samkhya
tradition, Purusa ( the self or the spirit –
the principle of consciousness) and Prakriti (the
principle of matter including the body) are the
two ultimate principles of creation. The world
is a manifestation of Prakrti, and the worldly
life is Prakriti’s creation. Samkhya maintains
that there is dichotomy or opposition between
Purusha (consciousness or self) and Prakrti (Matter),
that the self is bound by Prakrti which is the
root cause of impurity and suffering, and that
the self has to disassociate itself from Prakriti
and from the worldly life (which is the evolution
of Prakriti) in order to become pure and free.
The way of life that follows from this metaphysical
position, is that of renunciation (Nivritti or
Sannyasa) and the rejection of the worldly life
(Pravrtti). The Samkhya tradition equates spirituality
with Nivrtti as against Pravrtti.
But the Samkhya tradition, although very powerful,
cannot be said to be ‘the’ Indian
tradition. The Samkhya system is perhaps the oldest
and the first (but one-sided) and to the material
values (Artha and Kama). The Tantra (Agama) which
is complementary to the Veda and which is taken
to be an extension of the Veda, goes a step ahead
pointing out that Matter is the free manifestation
of the Spirit, that the material value is not
dichotomous to the spiritual one, and that it
is the ego and selfishness and not the world (Prakrti)
that is bondage. Moreover, Tantra points out the
way to spiritualize the very material life itself.
The Puranas, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata
too present an integral view of life; they do
not project spirituality as a negation of the
material life. The Bhagavtgita (part of Mahabharata)
abolishes the so-called dichotomy between Nivrtti
and Pravrtti, construing Samkhya (renunciation)
as inner calmness of mind and absence of attachment,
and not as denial of the world. The mundane life
(including the worldly duties), itself becomes
spiritual, if followed the Gita way. The point
is that the Samkhya tradition is not the main
Indian trend, it (Samkhya) is only a side current.
The Samkhya philosophy may be assessed as a factor
for counter-balancing the extreme type of hedonistic
and consumeristic attitude. Moreover, the life
of negation may be a prelude to, or preparation
for the holistic or integral life. But negation
is not the truth. The main Indian tradition does
not favour negativism.
So, purity would really mean freedom from these
mental impurities, and not rejection of material
life.It should also be made clear that for the
practice of value it is not necessary to have
metaphysical (ontological) presupposition about
the spirit (the self) – neither for the
practice of morality, nor for the spirituality.
One can practice morality, for example, even
without believing in the higher Self (the higher
spirit) or God. God, soul, rebirth, and law
of Karma may be quite real, and faith in such
realities may be quite helpful in practicing
morality, but acceptance of these realities
is not obligatory for practice. What is true
in the case of morality is also true in the
case of spirituality. One can practice the spiritual
values just with phenomenal and limited self,
present in the body, even without accepting
any extraordinary metaphysical status of the
existing self. It may be quite true that there
is God or the Higher Self whose very nature
is pure, and belief in the existence of higher
Spirit may be of great help in the spiritual
practice, but the practice of spirituality is
independent of any metaphysical assumption.
The Sramana tradition (Budhism and Jaininsm)
presents good example of this. The Budhist and
the Jaina way of life is highly spiritual and
yet there is no belief in God there.
In the Brahmana (Vedic) tradition too, half
of the philosophical schools (Vaisesika, Samkhya
and Mimamsa) do not believe in God and yet they
present a moral and spiritual way of life to
follow, although the definition of morality
and spirituality differs from school to school.
However, faith in God or the Higher Self strengthens
the moral and spiritual attitude, and facilitates
the ethico-spiritual living. So, faith in the
metaphysical spiritual reality is also a value
– a supplementary value. |
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Acharya
Vishnu Kant Shastri,Governor of UP inaugrating
the Spiritual Centre at SMS |
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Mr.
V. N. Dhoot , Chairman & Managing Director
Videocon Group delivering
his views on Bhagvad Gita at the Conference Organized
by SMS |
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Mr. Ganesh Natrajan,Vice
Chairman and
CEO Zensar highlighting the role of Gita
for Leadership |
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Prof. S.K. Chakravorthy,IIM-C
speaking
on spirituality at SMS Conference |
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Dr. L.S. Kanodia,
Chairman Datamatics
Group of Companies at SMS seminar |
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