How to spiritualize business ?

Er. Vinod Verma
Many people consider business and spiritual life to be mutually exclusive, they don’t think of business as something that can or should be spiritualized. Usually one goes into the business in order to be successful, in the eyes of world-to gain fame or a position of prominence in the community or material advantage. In other words, the idea is to make money. There is nothing wrong in making money. We have to be able to provide for ourselves and our families. But one of the greatest delusions is that money can make us happy.
Happiness is what we all are seeking. But we often consider that happiness is power or fame or possessions. The power to fulfil is not in any material object, it is in ourselves. If happiness were inherent in the things, we would all be content with same kind of car, the same kind of food, the same kind of hat or same Kind of job, Well , We’re not! We think we can find fulfilment in acquiring all those things. The things we own, begin to own us. Money can’t buy happiness; we can’t find permanent happiness in the impermanent things of the world. The world constantly tempts us with something new and says, ” This is going to make us happy”. So we put all our time and energy into acquiring it. But as soon as we get it, we find that it is no longer very important to us and we go after something else. Nothing of this world has the power to satisfy us for long.
Life is a matter of priorities. We should establish the right priorities. Most people put the cart before the horse. They reason, ”Just Let me get my business started, let me get established financially, let me get all of my affairs lined up the way I want then and then I’ll think about seeking my own inner self- the soul – where God reign’s But the problem is, there is no time left for ” the self- the soul.” We reach a certain plateau of achievement and then we see that somebody else is more successful. So we tell ourselves, ”Oh, I’ve got to achieve what that person has”. We get caught in the grip of endless, impossible effort to squeeze happiness out of material accomplishments, with the result that The Soul – the real source of happiness is totally ignored.
That is what is wrong with the whole world today. Our priorities are wrong. We have given first preference to material gifts rather than to inner self. As a result, look, what a mess the world is in! We should take God/ inner self along with us in everything we do and that includes business. Business and spiritual life are not mutually contradictory but they support each other. If we apply spiritual principles in business, that business will flourish. And if in doing business we serve our customers – your own twin self, we will grow spiritually. Activity and meditation like two horses pull our wagon of life towards our salvation. Both are necessary one should use success for helping others, helping themselves and spiritualizing business.
Many business people are governed by the opposite motivation – greed. We don’t realise that nothing really belongs to us. Everything we have is just ”On Loan”. When we check out of our role on earth, we have to give every material thing back to the great prop master in the sky. Uncontrolled desires breed anger, resentment, jealousies. There is sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed. Business self interest that operates at the expense of other’s welfare is a metaphysical blunder that leads selfish industries to undergo through the periodic depression and inflation – uphill- downhill-uphill -downhill. How do we remove greed from our society? If you would get your house in shape everything will be alright. There is no quick fix, when we serve others, we serve ourselves and we serve God which resides in our own self.
Service is the Key to happy life, to a spiritual life and it is the key to spiritualising business. Instead of making money & greater profits your goal in business, make service your goal & you will see the entire plan of your life change. Business for private profiteering is wrong. That doesn’t mean we should not make a legitimate profit. It just means that Service, not money, should be the goal, then profit follows automatically. It is the natural result of serving.
There should be no business which is not harmonious with the spirit of truth and service to mankind. Business people should feel that Inner conscience is the supreme employer & business is nothing but serving others materially in a best possible way. The only thing that can redeem mankind is cooperation, which is a form of love & that kind of spirit should characterize relationship between employer & employees. They should share a common goal of serving others and then, they will together make a success out of the business.
They should be looked upon as creative assistants. With this attitude business will prosper & spiritualized, it should be spiritualized & one of the steps is to meditate & make contact with own inner self that should be the most important appointment of the day. The God becomes a living reality of our life, not just an idea, a thought or a theory. Altar created in the offices & Business concerns readily spread the message of spiritualizing business. It also inspires one to work with full zeal and ardour with wisdom and elevated mind for the customers and needy employers.” If we make inner conscience our partner in whatever we do, we receive the guidance creative inspiration and divine energy necessary to play our part in making the world a better place to live.
And with that kind of attitude there is no doubt that your business will be spiritualized, paving its way towards success and selfless devotion for well being of others.