Spirituality At Work- The Inspiring Message of the Bhagavad Gita

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About the Book In a world of rapid changes, Spirituality at Work will serve as an inspiration to find new gateways to success. This book is based on the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita. It also draws inspiration from the renowned sage Sri Aurobindo's 'Essays on the Gita'.

As Stephen Covey has stated: 'Despite all our gains in technology, product innovation and world markets, most people are not thriving in the organisations they work for. They are neither fulfilled nor excited:

Dr. Devdas Menon hopes to change this mindset of today's youth by inspiring, motivating and raising their aspirational levels. His book draws its content based on a theme-wise, judicious selection of 162 verses from the Gita. An integrated practice of spirituality through work, knowledge, and devotion - referred to as 'Integral Karmayoga', is the way forward. Its focus is on finding fulfilment in life through the application of conscious will.

A professor at IIT Madras and author of the bestseller 'Stop Sleepwalking Through Life!' Dr. Menon makes Spirituality at Work come alive. He has introduced courses such as Self-Awareness and Integral Karmayoga with great success. He knows how to make the wisdom of the Gita relevant to young adults facing the challenges of a competitive work environment - and help them create an enriched life.

About the Author Devdas Menon is a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Madras, engaged in teaching, research and consultancy in structural engineering. He adopts a holistic approach in education, placing an emphasis on inner development and transformation.

At the age of 25, he underwent a profound inner transformation that left an enduring impression on him. He withdrew from the material world for a brief period, but under the guidance of some Himalayan masters, came to realise that there was no need at all to 'renounce' the world. On their advice, he chose to remain in and practise the profession for which he had been trained.

In engineering, his primary research interests are in the area of structural concrete design, and in the analysis and design of buildings, bridges, towers and chimneys. He has also carried out innovative research and development in affordable and sustainable building systems and in biomechanical orthopaedic devices. He has a special interest in developing codes of practice, and is presently the Chairman of the Bureau of Indian Standards CED 38 Committee on Special Structures. He has authored several popular textbooks: Reinforced Concrete Design, Structural Analysis and Advanced Structural Analysis.

Devdas Menon has also authored a book called Stop sleepwalking through life! (1998), and has given numerous invited talks and conducted workshops for students, teachers and corporate organisations on finding meaning and fulfilment in life through self awareness and inner transformation. He teaches two uniquely designed and popular elective courses at IIT Madras, Self Awareness and Integral Karmayoga. For his contributions in engineering and education, he has been conferred several awards.

Foreword In professional education today, we place, or misplace, emphasis on getting jobs and pay packages. We miss out on inner development, which is essential to find fulfilment and deal effectively with the demands and challenges of society around us. All around, we see a 'rat race' culture: desperation, selfishness, lack of concern for others, greed, corruption, frustration and despondency (including suicidal tendencies). We need a holistic development of the individual, with spirituality at the core. Unfortunately, this is not actively patronised or even discussed in our modern temples of learning, in sharp contrast to our more renowned ancient universities at Takshashila and Nalanda.

In an attempt to fill this vital gap in education, my esteemed colleague, Prof. Devdas Menon, author of this book (and also of Stop sleepwalking through life!) has introduced `elective' courses titled Self-awareness and Integral Karmayoga at IIT Madras. These have turned out to be popular and transformative courses at our Institute and some of us have had the good fortune of attending them. The teaching notes related to the timeless wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita have been carefully worked upon by the author to result in this seminal work, titled Spirituality at Work. This is a sacred offering of a truly learned person, who has experienced the nectar of the Gita and has chosen to share his insights and joy with those who seek a truly meaningful and fulfilling existence. He is also widely known as a teacher, researcher, consultant and author of popular textbooks in structural engineering.

This book, like the Gita, comprises eighteen chapters, each devoted to a particular theme, based on a careful selection of key verses from the Gita. Each chapter is replete with insights worthy of deep rumination, containing the essence of the Gita, made relevant to modern times. The analysis of human psychology and the presentation of ancient Indian wisdom is deep and awe-inspiring, particularly because it also includes actionable items of the yoga of the Gita for authentic transformation. Clearly, we are all in need of clear insight, self-awareness, inspiration and strong inner motivation to do the 'right thing', our dharma. The Gita's yoga shows a way to realise complete fulfilment through union with our Divine Source. This book advocates an integral approach, with Karmayoga as the fundamental basis, and with our actions supported by the wisdom of Jnanayoga and the devotion of Bhaktiyoga. It is pointed out that the best place to seek the Divine is in our innermost being, in the cave of our hearts. For it is there that we can truly find an inner delight and ease of being, as well as an inner radiance that can show us with certitude the 'right way' amidst all confusions.

We are urged to excel at work, to self-actualise and bring our inherent talents and potential to fruition, dedicating all our work to the Divine, and eventually transcending the egocentred notion of `doership'. We are urged to discover our true inner calling and life purpose, to achieve mastery and serve as instruments of the omniscient Divine. We will then find ourselves frequently in a 'flow' state of perfect action. This is referred to as our 'higher nature', and it is here that we can find enduring fulfilment and consummation of our life purpose. But attaining to that state of perfection and union is not easy. We find ourselves pulled down, time and again, by various forces (inner and outer) beyond our control. These can be well understood in terms of the three gunas (qualities) of nature: tamas (inertia, ignorance), rajas (dynamism, restlessness) and sattva (lucidity, balance). The inter-play of these three gunas, and our total identification with a narrow separate ego-self keep us trapped in 'lower nature' (Prakriti).

Preface Spirituality may not be a popular word in today's technological world. It is considered 'unscientific' and often viewed with suspicion and scepticism. Whether we are spiritually inclined or not, we all basically seem to want to be happy and successful, be inspired and find fulfilment in our lives. That indeed is the very objective of Spirituality at Work, properly understood and lived.

Sadly, the harsh reality is that we are rarely able to find and sustain such fulfilment at work and in our relationships. Stephen Covey summarises this human condition in modern times in his book, The 8th Habit, based on decades of research conducted worldwide: 'Despite all our gains in technology, product innovation and world markets, most people are not thriving in the organisations they work for. They are neither fulfilled nor excited. They are frustrated. They are not clear about where the organization is headed or what its highest priorities are. They are bogged down and distracted. Most of all, they don't feel they can change much.'

Clearly, in order to live life whole-heartedly, and to enjoy what we do, we need to be motivated by some inner inspiration or meaningful purpose in life. Mostly, we are driven by short-term goals, but the motivation is extrinsic, and the promise of enduring fulfilment does not come to us. We need to have clarity on the very purpose of our lives, our dharma, on who we are and why we are here. We need spirituality.

Spirit is what keeps us inspired - a word that in fact is derived from spirit! We need daily inspiration to keep us motivated and to sustain our enthusiasm. We also need to develop the unique skills and potentials that lie latent in us, and put these into creative use for a higher purpose. We need to individuate and self-actualise, so that the unique potential given to each one of us is authentically realised - which means not just being part of the herd, or caught in some rat race.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages