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The
three day International Conference on "Spiritual Paradigm for
surmounting Global Management Crisis" started on Friday on a
spiritual note at the Khushipur campus of School of Management Sciences.
The Conference was inaugurated by Dr. S. A. Dave, Chairman-CMIE and
former chairman-SEBI & UTI. Other Guests of Honour who were present
amidst high profile dignitaries in the inaugural session included
Prof. M. J. Xavier, Director-IIM Ranchi, Dr. Henry N. Tisdale, President
Claflin University, USA, besides Prof. K. D. Tripathi, Hony. Director
of the Centre for Spiritualism & Human Enrichment (C-SHE) of SMS
Varanasi.
Delegates from the two 'conference-associate' American Universities,
Claflin University, South Carolina, Columbia (USA) and California
State University, San Bernardino, California (USA) were also present.
More than five hundred delegates were present on the first day of
the three day long event. International delegates have come from
France, Russia, Spain, USA, UAE, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Turkey and
Hungary. 
Inaugurating the Conference, Dr. Dave said "It is my great
pleasure to have been associated with this unusual Conference, unusual
because prima facie it seems contradictory what world of money and
management of money has to do with spiritualism at it is commonly
understood. Marx predicted doom of the capitalist society because
of inherent conflict it had with the interest of workers. A blind
or excessive drive towards profits at the cost of workers invites
the fall of the system. Capitalism was too materialistic system
interested only in returns on capital of those who owned it. There
was no place for spiritualism in working of such a system.
Today, profit is considered a necessity of the organization, but
the maximization of profits is no more the sole aim. Societal and
environmental concerns have started appearing in the Corporate Vision
statements in an increasing way. All these developments have something
to do with spiritual transformation of the system. Bringing about
radical changes in the attitude is a gradual process and I am happy
that SMS and their collaborators in US think that it is possible,
achievable and worthwhile disseminating this message to the larger
audience. I compliment the sponsors for the bold theme of the Conference
and wish that these subjects are discussed and become part of teaching
in all the business schools of the world, under whatever nomenclature
they prefer to use. And hopefully, they become an integral part
of practice in the corporate world".
He also requested to all that let spiritualism enter management,
in a disguised form if need be, without even being called spiritualism.
One comes across several managers, both in east and west, who are
highly spiritual in their conduct and work and display extraordinary
concern toward their colleagues and customers. It would seem, as
if spiritualism and materialism is working hand in hand. The problem
before the conference is how to multiply the members of this group,
or enhance the spiritual content of their lives and work, he added.
Prof. M. J. Xavier in his address opined that instead of being
aggressive, we should be humble. We should not have greed, we should
not compete and compare, instead we should have and believe in harmonious
coexistence. Instead of having goal orientation, we should have
role orientation. In management education we learn about destroying
competition through creation of competitive advantage but on the
other side we also say don't compete - it is here that another paradigm
needs to be developed and hopefully this international conference
would help in doing the same. He also asserted to develop intellect
and intuition together.
Dr.
Tisdale highlighted the tripple bottom line approach which Claflin
University is following. It includes value maximisation through
business ethics and sustainability, visionary leadership and selfless
service. He said we should trained the mind to think, hand to execute
and soul to feel. Former Professor of Delhi School of Economics,
Dr. B. P. Singh talked about global turbulence and said the essence
of spirituality is self liberation. He also said that a modern leader
should be like a saint. Spirituality has to be master of materialism
and not servant. Earlier the Conference Director and the Director
of SMS Varanasi, Prof. P. N. Jha welcomed the dignitaries and delegates
to SMS Varanasi. The organizing secretary Mr. Sandeep Singh (Associate
Prof.) gave the theme presentation. 
The inaugural session was coordinated by Dr. Meenakshi Singh while
the Vote of Thanks was presented by the Honorary Director of the
Centre for Spiritualism and Human Enrichment, SMS, Varanasi, Prof.
K. D. Tripathi.
Later specialties like Shiv Tandav, Sama veda recitals, peace meditation
were also held. A souvenir has also been published covering more
than 200 paper abstracts which are being presented in the Conference.
Corporate
bodies and financial institutions like Punjab National Bank, Union
Bank of India, Kashi Gomti Samyut Gramin Bank, Airtel, Hewlett Packard,
Taj Estates, Jalan Group, Galaxy Hospital, Career Launcher, IMS
Learning Resources and Banaras Swarna Kala Kendra.
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On
the second day of the three-day International Conference, Prof.
S. C. Jain, Chairman - International School for Jain Studies, said
that we should try to develop a habit of sharing surplus. He was
speaking about the preachings of Lord Mahavir and the Jain philosophy
of non voilence. He said that for organisations, profit is like
oxygen but not the ultimate aim. We should try to maximise good
over bad, he added.
Prof.
P. Krishna, Secretary - Krishnamurty Foundation India, in his address
emphasise on the role of education in developing spirituality. He
highlighted the fact that the problem of the world is not the uneducated
person, it is only the highly educated persons who plan and develop
the policies for the organisation which everyone has to follow.
It is here, that everyone feels the impact, good or bad, of such
kind of policies applicable to the entire organisation. Hence, it
is necessary to educate more such educated people in terms of benefits
to one and all.
In yet another session, Prof. A. N. Tripathi, Former Head, Malviya
Centre for Human Values, BHU, emphasised on the modern view of life
which people feet it generally relates to materialism rather than
spiritual and ethical issues. In today's scenario, we are witnessing
a model of mechanistic life which has dehumanised life which in
turn has resulted into irresponsible management of earth's resources.
He further added that one should take a holistic view of life which
provides for meaningful and responsible engagement with our life.
Earlier,
Prof. Rana P. B. Singh from BHU disucssed the spiritual and cosmic
landscape of Kashi. In one of the plenary sessions, a peace meditation
and an address to the conference delegates was done by Sri Sri Shuddhaanandaa
Brahmachari, the world renowned spiritual guru who talked about
divinizing management. Swami Satya Vedanta talked about the ancient
wisdom and its usefullness for the modern management while Prof.
Samani Charitra Prajna discussed about the spiritual model for inclusive
globalisation. Dr. Subhash Durlabh Ji from USA talked about Engines
of Power while Prof. Amita Singh talked about trouncing sustainable
developement through inequity. Prof. S. S. Khanka (NIFM, Faridabad)
talked about value based management for valuing values.
The
Executive Director of the Centre for Living in Harmony (USA), Ms.
Brenda Roberts discussed the origins and mechanism of peace as illustrated
in the teachings of Sri Sri Paramahansa Yoganandaji. The Techincal
Sessions were chaired by Dr. Zia Hasan (Vice President, Assessment
Planning and Information Services, Claflin University, USA), Prof.
Amita Singh (Centre for Law and Governance, JNU, New Delhi), Prof.
B. P. Singh (Chairman, DSPSR, New Delhi), Prof. A. K. Mishra (Head
of the Management Department, Mizoram Central University, Aizawl),
Prof. Chhote Lal (Former Head & Dean, FMS, BHU) and Prof. J.
P. Mishra (Dean-Academics, SMS Varanasi).
Filmmaker & Director Mr. Mahesh Bhatt, Ms. Pooja Bhatt along
with Playback singer Ms. Sanjeevani were along present in last Session
of the day. Mr. Mahesh Bhatt emphasized upon the living up the life
to its fullest and critsized the belief of re-birth.
Ms.
Sanjeevani thrilled the ambience by singing the Bhajans of Meera
Bai. Ms. Pooja Bhatt also commented and showcaased her belief in
divine effect of Kashi City.
The plenary and technical sessions were coordinated by Dr. Meenakshi
A. Singh, Ms. Indrani Sengupta, Mrs. Anjana Harish, Dr. Ravi Shekhar
Vishal, Mr. Shubhagata Roy and Mr. Amit Kishore Sinha. Over 250
delegates were present at SMS Campus on the second day of the International
Conference. Later in the evening, a special session was also organised
where noted film personality interacted with the delegates on various
aspects of the conference theme.
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On
the last day of the three-day International Conference, Prof. P.
Nag, Vice Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi
and the Chief Guest of the Valedictory Session said if more is the
crisis, more management is needed. In this context, we need to understand
the problems (crises) in a wider perspective. We have to find the
newer challenges which would emerged as a result of spirituality
and management running together to solve various such problems related
to the human mankind.
In
his presidential address, Prof. Vagish Shastri (Vakyoga Chetana
Peetham, Varanasi) exhorted the gathering of more than 400 delegates
and guests, said that life is based on the four pillars - body,
mind, wisdom and soul. Body needs food, mind needs desires, wisdom
needs ethics and morality and sould needs freedom. We have to ensure
that we are able to maintain the right balance between all the four
life pillars. He also exhorted the audience to do away with jealousy,
fear, anger and greed. We have to churn life to get energy as we
have to churn the milk to get butter. Ethical education should commenced
from the early childhood days but on the contrary our schools are
shying away from sanskrit language which holds all such necessities
of life in its fold, he added. He also cited certain illustrations
from the Bhagvat Gita which talks about the life duality - day and
night, love and hate and happines and sorrow.
Earlier,
four concurrent technical sessions were conducted in which more
than 100 research papers were presented. The last Plenary Session
of the day witnessed deliberations by Mr. Janardan Jee (Principal
Scientist, ICAR), Ms. Brenda Roberts (Executive Director, The Center
for Living in Harmony, USA), the Gandhi Peace Prize Winner, Patrick
McCullam and Acharya Raganugandha (Development Director for Children
of the Earth at the United Nations). The post graduate students
of SMS also presented their papers in a separate technical session.
The Valedictory Session was coordinated by Dr. Meenakshi Singh
while the Vote of Thanks was presented by Organising Secretary,
Mr. Sandeep Singh. The Executive Secretary, Dr. M. P. Singh and
The Registrar of SMS Varanasi, Mr. Sanjay Gupta felicitated the
guests by honouring them with a shawl and memento. On this occasion
all the delegates, conference guests, high profile corporate and
academic dignatories, staff and students of SMS, Varanasi were also
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