In the year 1890, a bill named Sherman Act was passed by the Parliament of United States of America, thanks to which, the business community was introduced to a new rule called 'No Poaching'. As per this rule, an agreement had been arrived upon that companies competing in a particular sector will not employ their rival company's highly talented or highly intelligent employees within their setup. It was only a few years back in 2010, that the business world got truly informed about No Poaching when the US Department of Law filed a complaint against giant companies like Apple, Google, etc. in this regard. The year 1990 heralded the era of globalization. This era also saw the start of a talent war between rival companies, who would try to attract smart and talented employees as well as high ranking officers of their competitors through promotions and salary increments. This strategy still continues. A no poaching agreement helps to prevent such conflict. Failure to do so results in polarization of intelligence within a single company. Due to this, the other competing companies gradually shut down, eventually leading to the entire business being monopolized by one particular company. Soaking in highly trained and experienced employees is a common practice carried out by almost all companies.
Often a company would do this to weaken a rival company. Sometimes this is done to finish off the careers of particular employees. At times a large company buys out a smaller company and totally wipes it out of existence. Achieving results at any cost, even by posing as a talent shark or a company shark is not an ethical practice. In fact, it does not define a good human being.
Pramukh Swami Maharaj was the driving force of a great institution like BAPS. This organization is developing and growing by leaps and bounds. At its roots are his tireless hard work and brilliant intellect. He was also very resourceful. Despite being a highly skilled leader, he never indulged into talent wars or company wars that are so common in the business world and society. He believed in developing talent rather than hijacking talent. He never got into any kind of conflict with anyone. He would always work with his immediate resources at hand. There is a general impression that the saints of Pramukh Swami Maharaj are highly educated. But the reality is that it is only since the last few years that only well-educated youth have been initiated by Swamiji. In the early days of the BAPS Institute there were only a handful of saints who were very well educated and had renounced highly promising careers. Similarly at that time, even the householders and youth, who were serving the institution were not so highly educated. But all the saints and devotees were very hard working and competent. Swamiji paid attention to their skills and interests rather than their education and entrusted them with abundant services and in turn achieved the expected results. Yes, whenever it was necessary, Swamiji would approach and take advice from experts and other experienced professionals from various fields. But never did he wish that the concerned professionals abandon their employers or their goals and work only for him. Instead, Swamiji would inspire and improve the abilities of all those who were working alongside him.
One such incident occurred in the year 1980. At that time, the organization planned to make an inspiring religious film based on the life of Lord Swaminarayan to mark the occasion of his bicentenary celebrations. Though, this field was totally new for the BAPS organization, many well wishers and actors showed great heart at that time and cooperated wholeheartedly in the production of the film. In one of the scenes of this film, there is a depiction of an incident related to the devotee Sagarambhai Vaghri of Limli village. He used live in an ordinary hut. One fine morning he receives the news that Lord Swaminarayan is coming to visit his small hut. Sagaram goes wild with joy on realising that the Supreme Lord Purushottam Narayan himself was coming to visit him in his humble mud abode. He starts dancing, jumping and singing with unbridled joy. A kirtan was composed for this wonderfully divine and emotional scene. The lyrics of the kirtan too were very beautifully composed. It was decided to have this joyful and glorious kirtan sung by a very famous singer of India at that time. A meeting in this regard was arranged with that singer in Mumbai and the entire scene and lyrics were narrated to him. After getting briefed the singer demanded thirty thousand rupees for his three minutes of recording in accordance to his reputation and his market price. This price was too steep for the organization in those days. No doubt, the singer was justified in quoting his price with regards to his market value, but as his fees were unaffordable, request was made to him to charge a reasonable amount since this was a religious film and was not being made for any kind of money like other commercial movies. But he did not agree. The entire crew of the film was disappointed and frustrated, especially the famous Gujarati song composer Dilipbhai Dholakia. His musical prowess was exemplary. When he met Swamiji, Dilipbhai informed him about the entire meeting with the singer. He then asked Swamiji for advice as he didn't know what to do next. After hearing him out patiently, Swamiji said to Dilipbhai, 'Dilipbhai! Sing this kirtan yourself. You are a very good singer. So you can sing this kirtan as good as any professional singer. Everyone will not only enjoy it, but will love it as well.'
Dilipbhai was surprised! He was speechless and simply kept looking at Swamiji's smiling face. He had never thought along those lines. Swamiji gave him his blessings. Swamiji's faith in Dilipbhai's talent boosted his courage, his confidence too rocketed sky high and he took the lead. The hidden talent in him came to the fore. He sang the kirtan so beautifully, that he received the appreciation of millions. Such was the motivating spirit of Pramukh Swami Maharaj.
Thanks Giving
This article is written and submitted to The E Today by Sadhu Amrutvadandas. We thank swamiji for his research and analysis and hope to see the awareness about life and peace being spread ahead to larger mass of our citizens.