lnaugurating the Two-day lnternational Conference on Spirituality and Skill for Leadership and Sustainable Management organized by the School of Management Sciences (SMS), Varanasi, and supported by California State University (USA), Claflin University (USA), East UP Exporters’ Association (EUPEA) and the Quality Circles Forum of lndia (QCFI) apart from the Varanasi Management Association (VMA), the icon_2017_2Chief Guest Padmshree Dr. J. S. Rajput (Former Director, NCERT) said that the Best management is managing self and hence teaching others to manage their selves. We should talk to ourselves and compete with ourselves day-by-day as to find the development in ourselves. Character building is of utmost importance that will build our country lndia, he added. He also said that management is integrative discipline. Through enormous examples from his life experiences, he tried to explain the virtues of life to the august gathering. Citing the example of japan, he said that the country could rise out of ashes only due to education.

Every child is taught there how to add-on to nation building that has resulted in best outputs of quality in that country. Even we can bring change through ‘spiritual’ education, he opined.

ln his presidential address, Prof. G. N. Samten, VC, Central University of Tibetan Studies -Sarnath said that spirituality bring the virtues within ourselves through conviction and restrain from negative mental elements that eventually get suLfiued and eradicated. The best management is training of mind, he added, as neuroscienqe has proved managing minds is very important.

Other distinguished Guests also spoke on the occasion. Dr. DS Chauhan (DGM, BIRD NABARD, Lucknow) said that today there is a lot of chaos and disarray in society and values-based management helps us a lot. Prof. Pradyot Kumar Mukhopadhyay (Former Head, Philosophy Department, Jadavpur University) in his address to the audience said that there has been radical change in the concept of business, not only profit but new mantra is having ‘a human face’. He talked about developing civil scientific literacy as a part of the Human Development lndex concept. Dr. Vikram Singh (Pro Chancellor, Noida lnternational University and former DGP-UP) said without spirituality there can be no management.

Earlier, the Conference Director Prof. P. N. Jha (Director SMS Varanasi) welcomed the visiting dignitaries from lndia and abroad in his formal welcome address. Later the Guests and the Chief Guest were felicitated by the Conference Director and the Executive Secretary SMS Society, Dr. M. P. Singh. On this occasion, the Conference Souvenir was released along with the latest issues of the newsletter ‘SMS News’ and all the four lnternationally indexed journals published by SMS Varanasi – Managemgnt lnsight, Purushartha, Computing Trendz and SMS Journal of Entrepreneurship and lnnovation.

The lnaugural programme was conducted by Dr. (Mrs.) Pallavi Pathak (Asst. Professor SMS) while the Vote-of-thanks and the Conference themes was presented by the Convener Prof. Sandeep Singh.

In first plenary session on day 1st Prof. Rana P. B. Singh, Dept. of Geography, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University who is also Vice-President- ACLA, Asian Cultural Landscape Association discussed about Kashi & it’s Cosmos: Scenario of Sacred – Spiritual Landscape. He explained the scientific positioning of Kashi and its spiritual importance. Two technical sessions took place after first plenary session.

On Day two 2nd Plenary session took place in the noble presence of six speakers from different areas. Mr. Anand Vardhan Sales Consultant & Facilitator, Mumbai explained the utility of Spirituality in sales job. He explained satva, rajas and tamas gunas and their utility in enhancing effectiveness of sales performance. He highlighted the importance of Karma and suggested participants to put their best efforts without being in lust of results. He clarified that results will automatically come in the process of Karma.

Another speaker Swami Varishthananda from Ramakrishna Mission, Varanasi discussed the importance of Self-Management. He suggested four ladders of Self-Management. These are having faith in self, efforts to raise self-consciousness, ensuring balanced lifestyle and cultivate love and unselfishness.

Acharya Raganugananda Avadhoot from Anand Marg Pracharak Sangh focused upon three parts of the human body. These are Physical, psychological and Spiritual. He focused on importance of yoga and its utility in maintaining the balance in human life. During discussion he proved the biological effect of spiritual practices and yoga.

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Next speaker Mr. Bosco D’Mello, Chief Executive, Conscious Development, USA emphasized on maintenance of balance between heart and mind. He suggested that a leader should be out of dilemma and expected to take quick decisions. He also said that there are varieties of leadership styles but none applies in all the situations. Therefor leader need to be flexible and should adopt balanced leadership to be successful in long run.

bhaswati icon 2017Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya, Faculty of Ayurveda, IMS, BHU discussed the importance of Ayurveda in our daily life. She also highlighted the utility of Ayurveda in spiritual upliftment.

Ms. H. Lucy Guest, associated with International Chandramauli Charitable Trust,lucy 2017 earlier associated with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, discussed the importance of Ashtanga Yoga which includes Yam, Niyam, Asan, Pranayam, Pratyahar, Dharna, Dhyan, Samadhi. She suggested to have awareness of breath which will help in controlling thoughts and mind. She said that ultimately all the journeys of success ends in Spirituality which leads to true happiness.

On second day last session was Valedictory Function. Two eminent guests in the session were Rt. Rev. Eugene Joseph, Hon’ble Bishop, Diocese of Varanasi and Prof. Pramod Pathak, Head-Management Science, IIT-ISM. Chief guest Eugene Joseph said that we are living in turmoil and spirituality is only answer of this situation. He emphasized on the role of spirituality in leadership and highlighted the qualities of a leader. Leader should have self-esteem, humility, interpersonal skills, empathy, integrity, attention, focus and inner conviction. These traits lead to self-mastery. He also said that leadership is not a position but process to create unity and wholeness. Guest of Honour, Prof. Pathak stated that crux of spirituality is giving back to society happily what an individual takes from society. Further he emphasized that duty has to be performed with Nishkam bhav.

In the two day conference more than 260 participants across India participated and above 150 research papers were presented by scholars from different parts of India in eight technical sessions. Dr. Balakrishnan Shankar, Associate Dean, Amrita University; Dr. Purnima Awasthi, Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychology, BHU; Dr. V. Chandrasekar, Vivekananda College, Chennai; Prof. Alicia Hennig, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen Graduate School, People’s Republic of China; Dr. Ravindra U. Shenoy, Manipal University; Mr. M.R. Das, DGM HR Indian Oil, Kolkata and Dr. Dinesh Kumar, Chief Manager (HRM) Bank of Baroda were session chair in different technical sessions. Sessions were conducted by faculty members of SMS Varanasi including Dr. Pallavi Pathak, Mr. Shubhagata Roy, Mr. Irfan Ahmed Khan, Dr. Anupam Shukla, Mr. Rohit Mehta and Dr. Medha Srivastava.

 The three day International Conference on "Leadership and Management through Spiritual Wisdom" started on Friday on a spiritual note at the Khushipur campus of School of Management Sciences (SMS), Varanasi. The Conference was inaugurated by Padmshri Prof. Geshe N Samten (Vice Chancellor-Central University of Tibetan Studies) who emphasised on the training of minds in our educational system which could ignite the core element of having transformation within ourselves. He said that entire source of management comes from innerselves and our educational system should focus on social and emotional learning so as to achieve spirituality.

The programme started with Vedic Chanting by specialised scholars followed by a skit by the Ganga Action Pariwar on the conference theme depicting how the materialism has spoiled our basic necessities of life over the different eras. Prof. Luqman Khan (Vice Chancellor-Mohd. Ali Jauhar University) talked about the necessity of having ecological balance while Prof. B. P. Singh (Former Prof.-Delhi School of Economics) emphasised on having spirituality as a part of curriculum. He further said that elevated soul is the best capital of human society. Later he talked about "Managing from Left, Leading from Right and Connecting through Top" in one of the plenary sessions. He also added that leadership should have a magnetic force to create followership.

Mr. Pragyan Mishra (Retd. IAS ) opined about connecting preaching and practicing to obtain the spiritual path. Swami Chidanand Saraswati (Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh) started his discourses focussing on the pathetic condition of our ganges. He said Ganga is on Dialysis and we are busy in Dialogues. He said we love the creater but forget the creation. Spirituality is not a weekend business, we have to start with selves. Life is to 'be' more, not 'have' more. He asked the modern society to link internet to innernet. Be the change and don't wait for anyone else, was his basic idea.

Renowned Film Director, Producer and Writer, Mr. Mahesh Bhatt said that Spirituality is essential fuel of life. The ecological disaster is because of arrogance of man. He cited several examples from his professional life to illustrate the above fact.

In another session Swami B.A. Paramadvaiti, USA also expressed his views about Spiritualism and its connectivity with leadership. More than 300 delegates were present on the first day of the three day long event. International delegates have come from the USA, Australia, England, Hong Kong, China, Slovenia, Cambodia, Mauritius, Botswana, Oman, Morocco, Sweden, Spain and Brazil. The Indian delegates have arrived at SMS Campus from far away places like Delhi, Pune, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Warangal, Chennai, Ludhiana, Pathankot, Kochi, Patna, Mumbai, Nashik, Dharwad, Thanjavur, Bhabaneshwar, Guntur, Ranchi, Chitrakoot, Jaipur, Kashmir etc. The entire three day event has been divided into seven plenary and seven technical sessions spread over the three days.

Earlier the Conference Director and the Director of SMS Varanasi, Prof. P. N. Jha welcomed the dignitaries and delegates to SMS Varanasi. In his welcome address, he presented a briefing about the strides which the Institution has made in the recent past to emerge as one of the frontline B-Schools of the country. Discussing the framework of this International Conference, he said that it is an extension of the decadal journey of our Spiritual Centre, whose objective is creation of dyadic relationship between spiritual paradigm and managerial tenets. However, the practice of the proposed model necessarily requires the inculcation of a sense of abnegation within the practitioners. Later on the latest issues of all the three journals of SMS( Management Insight, Purushartha, Computing Trendz ) were released by the dignitaries alongwith the conference proceedings book and the Souvenir.

The organizing secretary Mr. Sandeep Singh (Associate Prof.) gave the theme presentation and the Vote of Thanks. The inaugural session was coordinated by Dr. Meenakshi Singh. The Director, SMS Varanasi, Prof. P. N. Jha felicitated the Chief Guest and other Guests of Honour by presenting a shawl and mememto.

A spiritual tour of Varanasi is also on the Conference schedule. 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 Union Bank of India, Kashi Gomti Samyut Gramin Bank, Galaxy Hospitals, Career Launcher, IMS Learning Resources, Ganga Saran & Grandsons, Prentice Hall of India and Souvenier De Banaras were the sponsors of the events.

On the second day of the three day International Conference on "Leadership and Management through Spiritual Wisdom" at the Khushipur campus of School of Management Sciences (SMS), Varanasi, Swami Chidanand (Krinshnamurthy Foundation) talked about Spiritual perspectives of Leadership. He said from the material goal at the start of life we slowly move on to inner growth and later to Spirituality. He also talked about the transformational, transactional, charismatic and leader without authority. Quoting the ancient indian texts, he brought to notice the fact that our country is accomodative of all religions and practices of the world. For a leader, the needed qualities are ambition, energy, intelligence, self confidence, honesty, integrity and job relevant knowledge. He said we should stop destructive anger. We should learn to delay gratification, not deny it.

Roberto Bilaslavo (Vice Rector, University of Primorska, Slovenia) opined on Wisdom and Leadership and said that both leadership and management need wisdom. He discussed various levels of leadership like public, personal and private. According to him, to act to bring a common good to all of us is wisdom. He also discussed a wisdom development model for transformational leadership which works in four domains - cognitive, conative, moral and affective. He also said we should learn wisdom by reflection, by imitation and by experience. Mr.

Sandeep Gupta (GM & Head -Corporate Affairs, TCG Lifesicences India) talked about transforming business to perform in 21st century while Prof. Graham Ward (Coaching Practice Director, INSEAD Global Leadership Centre, UK) discussed the pathways to transformation. In yet another session, Prof. Paul Forster (Hongkong University) discussed why should MBAs meditate. Prof. Firdos T. Shroff (Pune University) highlighted the ways in which we can kindle the spark within ourselves through calm mind, active body and alert intellect. He said that leadership is from within, while management is from outside. Swami Shashankananda (Ram Krishna Mission Ashram, Ranchi) elaborated on the necessity to spiritualise the society while Shri Shri Shudhanand Brahmachari (Founder - LD Life Misison and Stress Management Academy) said that it is a leadership lost decade. Good human beings are in great scarcity and there exists global leadership crisis. It is all because of lack of emotional quotient and lack of self awareness. Mindful leadership is the need of the hour. Self management preceeds Leadership responsibility.

Shri Rakesh K. Mittal (IAS) talked about positive thinking for excellence for which we need integrity, knowledge, trust, accessibility, compassion, fearlessness, patience and acceptance. B. K. Usha (Brahm Kumaris World Spiritual University, Mount Abu) discussed various dimensions related to knowledge, wisdom, leadership, spirituality and management in the other sessions.

Prof. A. S. Islahi (AMU) threw light on traits of leaders and insight of spiritual epics of different religions. The technical sessions comprising of the paper presentations were also held simultaneously throughout the day. The Director, SMS Varanasi, Prof. P. N. Jha felicitated the dignitaries by presenting a shawl and memento.

On the final day, Prof. Lotta Dellve (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden) discussed at length the leadership issues in health care organisations with special reference to those existing in Sweden. In her presentation on "Caring for the Carers", she highlighted the need for value based leadership. She also brought forward a work engagement model and discussed the implications of corporate social responsibility in the health care sector.

Father Eugene Joseph (Diocese of Varanasi Education Society) aired his views on transformational leaders for human well being. The transformation shift should encompass responsible autonomy, authenticity, humility and professional will and emotional intelligence, he added. For achieving it he hinted at convergence of spiritual wisdom. He also talked about the spiritual wisdom of the holy Bible which suggests strength of self mastery, action and relationship. According to him, organisations should be interdependent, interactive inclusive. He also said only spiritually awakened leadership can transform the society and there is a compelling urgency for the same.

Shri Nithya Turyanand discussed the four gems in Vedic Sutras for life management which are Integrity, Authenticity, Responsibility and Enrichment.

Swami Manavtavadi (Head, Manavtavadi Vishwa Sansthan) shared the deep rooted ancient Indian Spiritual Concepts and shared the efforts made by Manavtavadi Vishwa Sansthan in the recent past.

After this, a series of paper presentations by students and research scholars added value on the final day. In the Valedictory Session, the guests present were Prof. Yugal Kishore Mishra (Ex. Vice Chancellor, Rajasthan Sanskrit University and currently HOD of Vedic Studies, Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi), Shri L. B. Rai (Chief Personnel Officer, DLW Varanasi) and Maureen Chen (Future of Power, Australia).

The awards and certificates apart from the honours to the visiting guests were presented by the Director, Prof. P. N. Jha.

Mr. Sandeep Singh, Associate Professor & Coordinator of Centre for Spiritualism, SMS Varanasi presented the vote of thanks.

 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.

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.

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, The Director Prof. P. N. Jha, 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 present.

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.

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.

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.