Why do we need a series that discusses spiritual stories and draws insights to help us in the workplace? Let me share a small story that highlights how these themes are intertwined. Four brilliant young Americans came to meet an Indian saint, Neem Kiroli Baba. When they left a few years later, they changed the world in different ways.
Neem Kiroli Baba also significantly influenced Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.
When we come to work, we bring our whole selves to work. Applying lessons shared by ancient masters and cultures helped us find more fulfillment and success at work.
A washerman visited a village every day. He went to every house in the town, collected all the dirty clothes, loaded them up on his donkey, and set off to the river. After reaching the river, he gasped in horror. He had forgotten the rope at home. He panicked and looked in all directions for some help. Without his rope, he could not tie his donkey to a tree. If the donkey remained untied, it could walk away, and he would lose his livelihood. If he went back to the village, he would not have enough time to return and wash the clothes. He would lose his day’s work, which meant he could not earn money to feed the family.
He was sweating anxiously when a wise man walked up to him and asked him about his troubles. After listening to his story, the wise man smiled and offered the washerman a suggestion.
“Pretend to tie the donkey with a rope and go to the river. The donkey will graze and wait for you here.” The washerman was astounded, but he tried it out because he lacked other options. He took an imaginary rope, wound it around the donkey’s neck, and pretended to tie it to a tree.
He walked a few steps and saw that the donkey had begun grazing. He walked all the way to the river, and the donkey had not moved. The washerman spent all day washing his clothes peacefully, drying them, and loading them back on the donkey. He pats the donkey and signals that they are ready to go, but the donkey does not move. The washerman is puzzled when the wise man appeared and reminds the washerman to untie the donkey. The washerman opens the imaginary rope, and the donkey starts trotting off to the village.
When I look back at my career and the careers of so many friends and colleagues, I see invisible ropes binding all of us. Let’s review a few of these ropes.
I am too old to learn new technology. I will hang around till they keep me and then figure out what to do.
My management team will never accept this idea. They want all the answers, but I have not yet figured it out.
I know we have a glass ceiling at work. There is no point in interviewing for the role since I will never get it.
My colleagues in different geography have all the control, and they never send us valuable work.
These are invisible ropes I have encountered in my career. My routine of meditation and mindfulness helped me see these ropes. Proactive communication and acquiring new skills helped other stakeholders trust me more. Sticking my neck out and delivering results helped cement that trust. It takes time and some mindfulness to identify such ropes. Meditation as a practice helped me a lot. I used Black Lotus, and it made a difference.
Let’s try a small visualization. Imagine for a few minutes that you don’t have any monetary or other limitations. You have unlimited time, money, and resources to do whatever you want. Write down that state and see yourself doing that.
Then create a simple plan on how you can spend a little time and resources to begin on that path. Once you exercise the will, you will be surprised how much nature will support you in your initiative.
A donkey that is free all the time thinks that it’s tied. Similarly, we, the immortal beings, feel tied to the body at a metaphysical level. Our soul is captive, and that seems to be the concrete truth. We are bound to the world, people, bad relationships, and financial problems at a physical level. We believe that we have to find a key to our prison. That key could be more money, freedom, passion, true love, or any other desire. What if we are already free? What if we could solve our problems by removing the layers of conditioning (imaginary ropes) that tie us to our problems. Maybe living within our means is a good thing. Maybe walking away from a toxic workplace is the right thing to do, irrespective of what others think about it. Perhaps not being bound by praise or criticism can liberate you. So shed the rope of expectations and desires that tie you to this world and experience true freedom. The following video provides you with more profound information about this story.
When we explore the spiritual realm, it always helps to have a spiritual master. This visualization exercise was recommended by my master Om Swami.
Indic knowledge systems present some of the most esoteric knowledge in the world. However, in ancient times, the guru would choose the brightest students to give them this knowledge. We are fortunate to have these texts available to us. However, in order to receive them we need to purify our minds and Vedic Sadhana is the most powerful way to do it. You can use the Vedic Sadhana app, which makes the ancient rituals and practices followed by the sages of India available for you.
