The Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya organised a four-day All India Conference for Administrators, Executives and Managers from 12 to 15 October, 1996 at its international headquarters at Mount Abu in Rajasthan. This organisation had set up an ‘Academy for a Better World’ and called its campus ‘Gyan Sarovar’. It was a new complex located at Mount Abu and was the venue of the conference. The participants, exceeding six hundred in number, came from all over the country and from all kinds of organisations, government as well as non-government. The theme of the conference was “Value-Based Administration— Prospects and Challenges”. All the participants highly appreciated the contents as well as the arrangements for the conference.
This complex easily compared with any modern international venue while maintaining its serene and spiritual environment. The organisation of the conference was a part of the Diamond Jubilee Celebration of the Brahma Kumaris Organisation. I had the honour to attend the conference as a Guest Speaker. The Brahma Kumaris Organisation came up in the year 1937 and has since spread all over the world on account of its dedicated and useful services rendered in all fields. The main aim of the organisation is to make this world a better place to live in by making each human being a better person. The approach is to make each individual realise his true potential aseveryone is a child of God. Most of us forget this reality in the rush and clamour of the world and confine ourselves to our bodies only, while the true potential is in our 'Atma'. The body is mortal while the ‘Atma’ is immortal and is a part of ‘Paramatma’ which is ‘God’ or ‘Supreme Reality’. This way we all are children of God and if we can establish this relationship, we develop Godly qualities and become better persons for society. Not only this, we enjoy tremendous peace of mind and all good qualities come to us effortlessly. Thus, we achieve true happiness which is never disturbed by the vicissitudes of the world.
While there were sessions on different aspects of administration and management addressed by eminent speakers from different fields, the day would begin with Raja Yoga classes. Raja Yoga is a way of connecting ourselves with God and in the process becoming our own king, living like a ’Raja’ irrespective of our external conditions. However, it is not as simple as it appears. For this, one has to make a very determined and sustained effort but it is worth the results. After all, even for transitory success in this worldly life, we face and tackle so many troubles while here we get something which is eternal. I feel that the Raja Yoga classes were the best part of the conference. The speaker who explained the principle of Raja Yoga was a very senior member of the Brahma Kumaris Organisation. Her deliberation was extremely logical and interesting. While I have no intention of going into the details nor am I capable of doing so, I am touching upon an interesting part of the talk on Raja Yoga.
For making contact with the Kingdom of God, we have to call Him up. To do so we must know His dial code but most of us do not know it. In Raja Yoga classes, this code was disclosed as '0001' and it was beautifully explained. In our worldly connections also we now have STD codes. For reaching any part of our country the code begins with ‘0’ and if we want to reach the Kingdom that is New Delhi then ‘0’ is to be followed by ‘1’. Similarly, for international dialling, the code begins with ‘00’ and if we want to reach the Kingdom of the world which we can safely consider to be USA, then ‘00’ is again to be followed by ‘1’. In order to reach the Kingdom of God, one has to rise even above the world and therefore one more ‘0’ is required followed by ‘1’. Thus, by dialling ‘0001’ we reach the Kingdom of God and we may call it the dialling code of God.
While it is interesting when seen in a light vein, there is great depth in its connotations and very few are fortunate enough to reach the Kingdom, though everyone of us is capable of doing so. For this, one has to understand the meaning of the zeros of the code. The zeros mean that in order to rise above the world, we have to reduce ourselves to zeros at various levels. It is like the launching of a rocket in which the ascent begins only after we count down up to zero. While in our worldly ascent, one zero is enough, we require three zeros for Godly ascent. The first zero implies that we have to give up material pleasures and have to develop detachment from them. It does not necessarily mean that we have to give them up physically. It only means that mentally they should have ‘zero’ meaning for us, if we wish to reach God. The second ‘zero’ implies that we have to rise above persons also. However pleasant a human relationship may be, it is only a body relationship and hence transitory. It is, therefore, essential to rise above all body relations, which means that we must reduce our human relations to zero. Again, it does not mean giving them up physically but mentally one has to be above them.
Having transcended material and body relations, one has to rise above the mind. It means that we must rise above our thoughts also. The thoughts arise in the mind which is a part of the body. Therefore, in order to reach the Kingdom of God, we have to transcend our own bodily senses completely. This is what is implied by the third ‘zero’. Having done so, we become one with God and that is what is meant by the digit ’1’. Thus the dial code of God very well explains the way to reach Him. It is a hard process and requires a great deal of determination on our part but the outcome is more than worth the efforts. According to me, this was the conclusion of the conference. The closer we reach God, the easier it is for us to imbibe the values and value-based administration becomes a natural outcome in all fields of life.
