Kindness in Business

The more you think in terms of serving others, and not of using them, the more you will find those principles working with you, not against you.

Swami Kriyananda is a direct disciple since 1948 of Paramhansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi. He is the founder of Ananda Sangha, and of seven Ananda communities in America and Europe. Now 78, he has moved to India to make his Guru’s teachings known in the land of his birth: to teach the liberating meditation technique of Kriya Yoga, and to establish communities where householders and renunciates alike can seek God in the company of fellow devotees.

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Several years ago I entered a shop in Taormina, Italy. The owner, a woman somewhat advanced in age, had on display, along with other things, a number of hats. The weather was chilly, and I thought it might be good to get a covering for my head.

"Which of these hats" I asked the lady, "do your customers like the best?"

"How should I know?" she asked indifferently. "I take their money, and they leave. That's an end to it as far as I'm concerned." Even her display showed none of the care that might be expected of a someone who wanted people to like what they bought. I thought, This poor lady needs help!

"My goodness!" I exclaimed to her. "Here you sit all day, thinking only in terms of the cash you amass? How do you expect to be happy that way? Don't you think you'd enjoy your life more if you looked upon each customer as a potential friend?"

Interestingly, I met this same woman again the following year, when I paid Taormina a return visit. She was standing outside her shop, which I'd not intended to visit. When she saw me, she greeted me effusively. Then, to my surprise, she gave me a big welcoming hug in the Italian fashion.

The hotel where I was staying with a few friends had given us a bottle of wine to thank us for having returned to them. None of us drank wine or spirits, but I thought, "That woman will appreciate this gift." As I handed it to her, she actually burst into tears and kissed me on both cheeks -- again, in the Italian fashion. My words to her a year earlier had, with God's grace, changed her life.

What about you, assuming you're not a shopkeeper but earn your living in another way? The same principles apply. The more you think in terms of serving others, and not of using them, the more you will find those principles working with you, not against you. Try it!

As my Guru often said, "If a thousand businessmen could see their work as a service to others, each would have nine hundred and ninety-nine friends. But if they all see one another as competitors, each will have -- potentially at least -- nine hundred and ninety-nine competitors, and perhaps even enemies."

Swami Kriyananda's programme appears at 2200 hours IST on the Sadhna Channel. (For more, visitwww.anandaindia.org)