The essence of the text centers on Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s unique integration of Advaita and bhakti elements in his teachings, despite being from a traditionally dualistic Madhva lineage. Caitanya’s reverence for Sridhara Svami, an Advaitin scholar, underscores his inclusive approach to various philosophical traditions. By adopting Advaita sannyasa, Caitanya strategically positioned himself to spread Krishna-bhakti more effectively. His teachings highlight a deep commitment to devotional service, transcending conventional sectarian boundaries. This synthesis aims not just at philosophical understanding but at promoting universal devotion to Krishna, making bhakti accessible and appealing across different spiritual and philosophical spectrums.

In the profound text of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, the verse Adi 3.14 shines a light on the divine rarity of pure transcendental love, a treasure not easily bestowed by the Lord. This sacred scripture emphasizes that the essence of spiritual realization lies not in the pursuit of material gains or in the depths of philosophical speculation, but in the cultivation of an unadulterated, selfless love for the divine. It is this pure devotion that forms the cornerstone of spiritual growth and enlightenment within the rich tapestry of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

Nestled deep in the majestic Himalayas lies a valley, a place so ethereal and idyllic, that it can only be compared to the fabled utopia of Shangri-La, depicted in James Hilton’s renowned 1933 novel ‘Lost Horizon’. The Hunza Valley, shrouded in mystery, is a place where reality and fiction converge, where one can truly discover a land that has been whispered about in the annals of myth and legend. A place where time stands still and the inhabitants live in harmony with nature, free from the ravages of age and disease. Welcome to the land of eternal youth and serenity, where the impossible becomes possible and dreams are made reality – Welcome to Hunza Valley, the real Shangri-La.

Phrases from the Bhagavad-gita pop up in management tomes and on the Web sites of consultants. Top business schools teach “self-mastery” classes that use Indian methods to help boost managerial and leadership skills while also finding inner peace in a life dominated by work. Twenty years after “Wall Street” we can ask: “Can the Bhagavad-gita compete with “The Art of War” as the new ancient Eastern management text?”

The problem with this approach is that a decade of research — conducted by us and our colleagues — demonstrates that our intuitions about how to turn money into happiness are misguided at best and dead-wrong at worst. Those televisions, cars, and houses? They have almost no impact on our happiness. The good news is that we now know what kind of spending does enhance our happiness — insight that’s valuable to consumers and companies alike.

Ken Blanchard probably did more in his book ‘The One Minute Manager’ then anyone to bring forth the concept of “catch people doing things right”. For some reason many leaders have the mentality that it is their role and duty to catch people doing things wrong. Once this kind of mentality permeates the culture of an organization, the employees become fearful. A swordwieling leader will never get the best from his employees. People may respond short term to this approach, but in the long term they will move on to another job. I ‘m amazed at how many leaders still think they have to be Attila the Hun. It is interesting to note, however, that those individuals who manage by fear are usually the most insecure.

“To achieve any worthy goal, you must take risks,” says writer and speaker John C. Maxwell. In his book Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success, he points to the example of legendary aviator Amelia Earhart, who set several records and achieved many firsts in her lifetime, including being the first female pilot to fly solo over the Atlantic Ocean. Although her final flight proved fateful, Maxwell believes she knew the risk—and that the potential reward was worth it. “[Earhart’s] advice when it came to risk was simple and direct: ‘Decide whether or not the goal is worth the risks involved. If it is, stop worrying.’ ”

Understanding the long term trends impacting an organisation is one of the keys to reducing uncertainty and helping create robust strategies and resilient organisations. Strategic foresight helps organisations improve the quality of strategic thinking and brings new insights into the planning and budgeting process. Strategic foresight also helps organisations maintain awareness of the trends that have longer term impacts, monitor indicators of the directions of these trends, and focus initiatives on the long range opportunities.

So there is clearly a need for global leadership. But when the public look at what is on offer, they are not impressed. Many of the bankers and politicians caught dozing by the financial crisis were regulars at Davos. Ordinary folk trust Davos Man no more than they would a lobbyist for the Worldwide Federation of Weasels. A survey by Edelman, a public-relations firm, finds that only 18% of people trust business leaders to tell the truth. For political leaders, the figure is 13%.

This really made me think… I let my mind wander free, just waiting for something to come. Suddenly I saw myself as an explorer of ancient pyramids, and that made a lot of sense to me.

‘Why a pyramid explorer?’ they asked.

‘Because when you know where to look, you can find treasures inside places where
nobody has been before. I see people like temples, with hidden treasures just waiting to be brought out!’

IT is well known that when like-minded people get together, they tend to end up thinking a more extreme version of what they thought before they started to talk. The same kind of echo-chamber effect can happen as people get news from various media. Liberals viewing MSNBC or reading left-of-center blogs may well end up embracing liberal talking points even more firmly; conservative fans of Fox News may well react in similar fashion on the right.

Tatjana: A lot of people want to achieve success in life and in business and generally in the beginning they don’t know how? Somehow they start the business, they have certain success but they get stuck somewhere. On the other hand, they start having certain discipline, and become better people and start having a better communication with their business partners because they see that this is needed. And because they hear about it or they have a family custom, they practice some type of spirituality. But it seems like there is no connection between their business life and their spiritual life. So is there a connection between business and spirituality?

Many organisations are investing in training fail to get the most from their investment. Staff are sent on courses without being sufficiently clear about why they are attending the course. Staff attend courses without setting clear learning objectives for the course. They come back from a course and are not debriefed and set longer term learning goals. Here are some ideas for getting the most from your investment in training.

Clarity might help you achieve success and happiness.

Lack of clarity is probably more responsible for frustration and underachievement than any other single factor.

That’s why we say that “Success is goals, and all else is commentary.”

People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine.

His Holiness summarised how Rama’s primary focus was to deal with every situation morally and with integrity. Trials, tribulation and pain give birth to the greatest of opportunities. Through a mother’s pain of labour children are birthed. Despite witnessing 2000 years of history, Redwood trees in California stand strong through stable roots. His Holiness described religious revelations manifesting through trials commenting in particular how in the Jewish tradition the sacrifices of the sons of Abraham gave rise to the Ten Commandments. Through the crucifixion, the resurrection of Christ gives hope to his followers.

3. If you won a million dollars cash, tax free, tomorrow, what changes in your life would you make immediately?

4. What do you really love to do? What gives you the greatest feelings of value, importance and satisfaction?

5. If you could wave a magic wand over your life and have anything you wanted, what would you wish for?

6. What would you do, how would you spend your time, if you only had six months left to live?

7. What would you really want to do with your life, especially if you had no limitations?

That evening I understood the true purport of yet another statement from the Bhagavata Purana which states that envy is nothing but appreciation that is corrupted by a strong obsession to exclusively possess what we value. Envy results from a deep-seated desire to be the lord and master of all that we survey. It is the strongest weapon of the ego in its relentless pursuit for self-aggrandizement.

The term “inquiring leader” refers to leaders at any level who are self-aware, curious, solution-oriented, and value asking questions as a core leadership skill. In general, the model and concept of inquiring leadership is meant to complement, supplement, enrich, and operationalize effective leadership thinking and behavior that lead to desired results.

Body

Assume you’ve head a heart attack. Now live accordingly.
Heart

Assume everything you say about another, they can overhear. Now speak accordingly.
Mind

Assume that half-life of your profession is two years. Now prepare accordingly.
Spirit

Assume you have a one-on-one communication with your Creator. Now live accordingly.

Mini-surveys are a simple and efficient way to measure behavioral change. They are very short and focus only on the leadership behavioral goal that has been selected by the person being coached. They are designed so that the colleagues evaluate behavior that occurs only during the coaching period.
Conscious coaching!

10. Surrender your goal completely to Divine who is within your heart. Turn your goal over to the Supersoul, act responsibly as if the outcome depends on you, but be aware that it depends on Supreme. Combination of a sincere, intelligent personal effort and God’s mercy brings great results.

1. What do I worry about?
2. Do I really need to worry about it?
3. How would I feel if I would not worry about it?
4. How would my life be different if I would not worry about it?
5. What needs to happen so I will stop worrying about it?
6. Instead of worrying, what could I think and feel in order to peaceful and without worries?

An interesting question is whether this intellectual divorce might change in the light of the global economic mess of the last few years, in which much of the anger has been righteous. At least one leading economist, John Kay, thinks we should go back to talking about political economy, instead of economics, to show that moral values are still inescapably in there.

The Gita is as fresh in insight and as relevant today as it was 5,000 years ago. If only every manager, administrator, politician, employee, worker and others pick a copy of the Gita and spend a few minutes daily reflecting on its message, one can experience the positive transformation. Who doesn’t wish to be disciplined, to achieve home-work balance and bring peace and harmony in a secular environment?

The first lesson of management science is to choose wisely and utilise scarce resources optimally. During the curtain raiser before the Mahabharata War, Duryodhana chose Sri Krishna’s large army for his help while Arjuna selected Sri Krishna’s wisdom for his support. This episode gives us a clue as to the nature of the effective manager – the former chose numbers, the latter, wisdom.

Chanting yoga is based on the principle of vibrational medicine and involves the primordial sound vibration of mantras. Much of the popular yoga practiced in the West is about posture, which is only one of the eight limbs of yoga. In chanting yoga, we use mantra meditation as a sublime process for deep relaxation, achieving greater concentration and transformation of conciousness to a higher level.

Different aspects of human beings

* Not meant for classifying persons in a drawer
* Not meant to judge others
* To learn about human beings
* To better understand behaviours
* To better understand the own position
* To easier perform in the personal development

Four types of behaviour / persons

* Analyst
* Driver
* Charmer, charming one
* Expressionist – expressive one

If you are convinced you need others’ help to achieve more, then please treat your people with respect. Invest in making them highly successful by helping them develop their character and competence.

In my understanding, leadership is not only about the leader achieving things by engaging people, but also about helping people grow and develop as humans and devotees through these tasks.

One last caution about the simple yet complicated phenomenon of love: you should constantly try to anticipate beforehand and review afterwards how each of your policies increases the love of those whom you lead. Indeed, one of your main functions as a leader is to express love and help others develop their experience of love. If you fail to understand basic point in this (first) chapter, you stand to lose position, prestige, co-operative association, your good health, your sanity, or perhaps even your life.