Spirituality for Higher Leadership

Great Indian civilization has always held that inner journey is more important than external worldly achievements. Not without doubt this philosophical concept of our ancient culture has nurtured the generations from centuries to higher values of life since long. If our domination of the quality of brain is finding recognition today in the corporate sector all over the world, let us attribute it to the great minds of yester years who taught this wisdom to generations that followed. True it is that our peninsula existence supported by great Himalayas in the North gave it a natural strength. After all the practicality of the situation does verify the fact that our capability to see through the eyes is governed by the conditions of the visibility, while with our closed eyes we can fathom mind boggling distances. This has been called the ‘visualization’ of the situations to help us think through the solution to the problems. This brought into question not only the limitations of the eyes but all the senses with which we perceive the external world. In some ways it is believed that our senses are capable of sensing not more than 10% of the world around us, the balance 90% still remains alien to us; like the ears have the limitation of decibels. It is at this juncture that the inner journey endeavors to enhance these perceptual levels to greater effects.

We are aware of the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) that comes into play at every level of decision making in our organization. Despite our painful efforts to recount and present all the inputs needed for a sound decision process, we never really come up to this challenge with flying colours all the time to great peril particularly in operational situations. In fact the factor of ‘Inputs’ gets compounded as we go higher and higher in the hierarchy of the organization. This could be a typical case of looking at the shadow of the moon into a pond which has got its water in state of turmoil and that present us multiple shadows in which we are unable to put our fingers on the actual shadow of the moon.

Actually this is the scenario as we move up higher in the hierarchy. The haze and confusion that prevails in operational situations and against the time constraints, is said to be seen to be believed; that too when the question of life and death is staring at you. These  precisely are the situations that call for a ‘Cool Headedness’ and clarity of mind that must necessarily go beyond the normal perceptual levels if we have to excel in these tasks which mandate us to perform beyond the call of duty.

The aura of spirituality which hovers around a mind that ‘Meditates’ is capable of overcoming the shortfalls which acts as a drag in these stressful situations. Now how does this work. Very briefly, the process of ‘Dhyan’ as meditation is correctly referred to; involves sitting with yourself in total peace without any consideration to the environment. This state of ‘being’ with closed eyes first allows for the clutter of thoughts to settle down and then connects to the energy center in the body.It is this energy that is capable of focusing on finding solution to the problem in a ‘Think Through’ manner with whatever inputs that are made available. With practice, the capabilityof the senses and also the mind growsdue to its inner and external connects which get undivided attention due to a conscious effort to keep the chattering of the mind at low levels. The spirituality here refers to the connectivity that develops in between the inner vibrations and external waves. This process with practice and time keeps maturing in a manner of way of living, thinking and existing with the inner and outer world in complete harmony with each other. This also enables a kind of self-correcting mechanism that will always keep the individual in peace and tranquility. This in turn not only fully helps and supports the higher level existence but truly galvanizes all the forces around to harmonize all actions and reactions for well-being of all.

This spiritual reality has been well reinforced by the scientific analysis of the pictures that have been taken of the mind in Peak of Meditation. These pictures show the thickening of the cortex in the brain, cortex is also the so called grey matter in the head…..and that loose expression of being thick headed in a negative sense. When you want to be Buddha, you have to be un-worldly wise and capable of thinking beyond the visible spectrum of life. But surely a wise man is in balance all the time; he never ever loses his cool and has great self-confidence to remain on top of the situations whatever it is. Is it then finally not the trait that we associate with leaders at commanding positions?

Lt Gen Rameshwar Roy (Retd) holds the Chair of Excellence at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies. Views expressed by the author are personal.