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The three-day international summit on Corporate Culture and Spirituality, organised by the Art of Living Foundation in Bangalore, concluded on November 21 with a call by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to harness spirituality as the vehicle for integrating social responsibility into corporate culture. The roadmap the summit drew up for corporates became amply clear when Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said, “We are not here just looking for answers. We are here to create the way. And it is a highway.”

With a view to promoting corporate social responsibility and recognising ethical business practices, the Art of Living Foundation has instituted three annual awards. Announcing this at the valedictory function, Nikhil Sen, COO of Britannia Industries and one of the organisers of the summit, said the awards would become a regular feature of the annual global summit from next year.

Of the three awards, one will go to the most effective labour leader in India. The criteria for selection will be his/her contribution to society, the company and the workers he/she represents, he added. The second award will honour the company that is rated successful in terms of ethical practices and the third award is for commitment to social development and corporate social responsibility.

Debunking the notion that companies had to adopt unethical ways to be profitable and showing the spiritual way to minimise unethical practices, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said, “Corruption can happen only beyond the boundaries of belongingness. If you can create that (belongingness) within the company, there will be no break-up of discipline.” Similarly, if companies could extend that belongingness to society, corruption could be “minimised to a great extent” because the companies would be supported by society in their endeavours to reduce red-tapism and corruption, he added.

Emphasising the interplay between corporates and society, noted environmental activist Vandana Shiva said corporations do not have just rights, they also have responsibilities. “The laws of creation run on the laws of return. We should return more than we got.” 

During the three-day deliberations, the panelists shared practical wisdom on how ethical and profit objectives can flourish together. How important ethical values are for business success was vividly articulated by Dr Myron Scholes, winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Economics, when he pointed out that ethics are a part of profits. “The question is about enhancing human values in the disorderly world,” he said. 

The three-day summit at the International Campus of the Art of Living, near Bangalore, was attended by 350 delegates from 25 countries. The panel of speakers included eminent personalities from the corporate and spiritual world. These included Bill Elkus, Clearstone Venture Partners, US; Francesco Pira, journalist and faculty of Public Relations Department, University of Udina, Italy; Jim Garrison, president, State of the World Forum, US, Thierry Pauchant, chairman in Ethical Management, HEC, Montreal, and Dr Myron Scholes, in addition to delegates from Korea, China, Japan, Russia and Brazil.

The speakers from India included D Sundaram, director - finance of HLL, A. Mahendra, MD, Godrej SaraLee, and Narendra Desai, chairman, Apar Group. Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Brahmarishi Rishi Prabhakar and Dr Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari, Dharmasthala, were among the spiritual leaders who addressed the delegates. Croatian Ambassador Deno Debuljuh was one of the panelists. 

Showing how spiritual values could be used to sustain long-term advantages and nurture success, Swami Dayanand Saraswati pointed out that there was no line between greed and ambition. “Once you transgress the dharma (righteousness) which is universal, that means greed has started. Success is when one is able to manage one’s desires and not let desires manage us. Dharma must be the basis for all our activities. That is success.” 

Mitsuoda Yashiro, founder of the World Children’s Fund, Tokyo, cited the Japanese experience to prove that success on the material front alone could not bring happiness and peace. He pointed out that despite tremendous material success in the last 60 years, the Japanese youth today “are very perplexed” because they have no idea how to deal with the environment around them. Consequently, as many as two million people from the business world had been found to be suffering from depression, he added.

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