The Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) is co-hosting a three-day international conference in this tech hub with the Heartfulness Institute, a spiritual organisation, on 'elevating consciousness through mediation for global harmony', a B-school official said on Thursday.
"When the individual consciousness is elevated through meditation, based on the age-old Raj Yoga system, modified to suit modern times, it expands to achieve global harmony, which is in conformity with natural harmony," Heartfulness guide Kamlesh Patel said on the occasion.
Delivering the keynote address on the theme, Hyderabad-based Patel said consciousness is everywhere as it was even before creation albeit in a dormant state as a latent motion. Consciousness is present even in stones though in an inert state.
"When the mind is turned inward and regulated through our meditation with the yogic transmission (pranahuti), the consciousness elevates into higher levels from sub-consciousness to super consciousness and transcending the individual to become universal," reiterated Patel.
Noting that by refining other subtle bodies such as thinking (manas), intellect (buddhi) and ego (ahankar), which are in the realm of consciousness, the guide said modern psychology and psychiatry would be incomplete without an understanding of these subtle bodies.
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes," Narayanswamy said quoting French writer Marcel Proust.
By introducing mediation as an effective tool in the development of consciousness, the Director told about 300 participants from India and overseas that management thought had invested time and energy in developing new thoughts and ideas.
"The times are perhaps propitious to move from the world of thought to the world of feeling, from the outer to the inner, and from the head to the heart," added Narayanswamy.
Heartfullness Education Trust Director Elizabeth Denley said consciousness could be elevated through a meditative practice, resulting in a more purposeful life filled with joy.
"The world in a transition. Managers and leaders need to be anchored within to accept challenges wisely and bravely and the responsibility of supporting their business communities to move forward with flexibility and purpose toward a better future," said Denley in her presentation.
The conference offers participants a forum for reflection, shared insights and interactive learning among working professionals, business leaders, wellness practitioners, scholars and researchers.
Papers were presented on meditation and states of consciousness perspectives and management insights, learning excellence, self-actualization and leveraging the heart through meditation, inner wisdom, purity and shift in human consciousness.
Over 5,000 Heartfulness centres, known as HeartSpots, are supported by certified volunteer trainers in 130 countries the world over.
