A modern organization is a network of work and relationship. So corporate wellness has to be discovered not entirely through inner peace but through the joy of effort, work and action and in the harmony of working and living together.

Key Perspectives

Happiness and well-being; joy of effort; harmonious self-actualisation; mutual trust and goodwill; unitive action; notes on matching natural gifts with the nature of work from a top corporate executive.

Happiness and Well-Being

Money does not bring happiness. The Sanyasi who possesses nothing and usually eats only one meal a day is perfectly happy if he is sincere. Whereas a rich man may be thoroughly unhappy if he has ruined his health by all sorts of excess and over-indulgence.

I repeat, it is not money that makes a man happy, but rather an inner balance of energy, good health and good feelings.

The Joy of Effort

It is the effort, which gives joy; a human being who does not know how to make an effort will never find joy. Those who are essentially lazy will never find joy – they do not have the strength to be joyful! It is effort, which gives joy. Effort makes the being vibrate at a certain degree of tension which makes it possible for you to feel the joy.

It is only effort, in whatever domain it be – material effort, moral effort, intellectual effort – which creates in the being certain vibrations, which enable you to get connected with universal vibrations; and it, is this which gives joy. It is effort, which pulls you out of inertia; it is effort, which makes you receptive to the universal forces. And the one thing above all which spontaneously gives joy, even to those who do not practice yoga, who have no spiritual aspiration, who lead quite an ordinary life, is the exchange of forces with universal forces. People do not know this, they would not be able to tell you that it is due to this, but so it is.

It is quite certain that, whatever you do, even the most material work, like sweeping a room or cooking, if you make the necessary effort to do this work to the maximum of your ability, you will feel joy, even if what you do is against your nature. When you want to realize something, you make quite spontaneously the necessary effort; this concentrates your energies on the thing to be realized and that gives a meaning to your life. This compels you to a sort of organization of yourself, a sort of concentration of your energies, because it is this that you wish to do and not fifty other things, which contradict it. And it is in this concentration, this intensity of the will, that lies the origin of joy. This gives you the power to receive energies in exchange for those you spend.

Harmonious Self-actualization

My aim is to create a big family in which it will be possible for each one to fully develop his capacities and express them. Each one will have his place and occupation in accordance with his capacities and in a relation of goodwill and brotherhood.

Work should not be a means of earning one’s livelihood; its purpose should be twofold: first to develop one’s nature and capacity for action, and, secondly, in proportion to one’s physical means and moral and intellectual aptitude, to give service to the family to which one belongs and to whose welfare it is but proper to contribute, as it is proper for the family to provide for the real needs of each of its members.⁽¹⁾

Mutual Trust and Goodwill

Nothing lasting can be established without a basis of trust. And this trust must be mutual.

You must be convinced that it is not only my good that I am aiming at, but also yours. And on my side I must know and feel that you are here not merely to profit but also to serve.

There is no welfare of the whole without the welfare of each part. There is no harmonious growth of the whole without the progress of each one of its parts.

If you feel you are being exploited, I also will feel that you are trying to exploit me. And if you fear you are being deceived, I also will feel that you are trying to deceive me.

It is only in straightforwardness, sincerity and confidence that human society can progress.

The goodwill hidden in all things reveals itself everywhere to the one who carries good will in his consciousness.

Goodwill for all and goodwill from all is the basis of peace and harmony.

It is when things are going wrong that it is the best opportunity to show one’s goodwill and spirit of true collaboration.

The Unitive Action

It is only in harmonious collaboration that effective work can be done.

The important thing is to find the point on which you can all agree – and after this is firmly established, each one must be ready to yield his personal will in order to keep intact this point of harmony.

When we have to work collectively, it is always better to insist, in our thoughts, feelings and actions, on the points of agreement rather than on the points of divergence.

We must give importance to the things that unite and ignore, as much as possible, those that separate.

Even when physically the lines of work differ, the union can remain intact and constant if we keep always in mind the essential points and principles which unite, and the Divine Goal, the Realisation which must be the one unchanging object of our aspiration and works.

There is another practice, which can be very helpful to the progress of the consciousness. Whenever there is a disagreement on any matter, such as a decision to be taken, or an action to be carried out, one must never remain closed up in one’s own conception or point of view. On the contrary, one must make an effort to understand the other’s point of view, to put oneself in his place and, instead of quarrelling or even fighting, find the solution, which can reasonably satisfy both parties; there always is one for men of goodwill.

Surely we must always want peace and harmony and work for it as much as we can – but for that the best field of action is always within ourselves.

Look for the inner causes of disharmony much more than the outer ones. It is the inside, which governs the outside.

The Mother

Notes:

1. The following observations of Nilofar merchant, President of Rubicon consultants, USA, demonstrates that what Mother has said here on harmonious self-actualization is not an utopian ideal but practically feasible:

“When I was managing people, while leading in my corporate positions, I always wanted to find a way to use their gifts well. So I often spent time with them personally, rather than on their job duties, and talked to them about what they personally most wanted to do. I would ask them what they felt their natural gifts were. I would then tailor their jobs so that they could use these skills and strengths optimally. In places where their job required them to do something that they just did not really have the gifts to do, I would find someone else on the team to help them. I would create a team around the responsibility that they would not fail. I never wanted to spend any energy trying to get a person to do something that they did not want to do. I always wanted to find a way to bring out the person’s essence. This has been an important part of my own spiritual development, and I have tried to pass that on as a leader.”

(Leading with Wisdom, Spiritual-based Leadership in Business by Peter Pruzan and Kirsten Pruzan Mikkelsen, Response)