4 0 S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 3 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 1 7 using a different system, the teachers of the Himalayan dhyāna yoga tradition know how to include and incorporate that method into the larger set of practices. It is considered most important that a meditation guide should avoid creating conflict in a student’s mind, and should reconcile into one what on the surface might appear to be two different methods. What does all this have to do with the maxims of Chanakya quoted earlier? The Himalayan dhyāna yoga tradition works on a personality in all its different components within the personality that is constituted of spirit-mind- prāṇa-body and their interactive mechanisms, and within the relationship between personalities that constitutes family, society, nation and all smaller and larger interactive social units and their functions like polity and economy. The meditation changes the way the mind looks at the world and interacts with it. For example, in the basic beginners’ exercise the awareness of breath replaces the arising of the random sentiments and negative emotions, the awareness of a word or sound flowing in the mind with the breath replaces the random thoughts. The first of these, breath awareness, then helps one to interpret the world – whether in the form of one’s spouse or a business colleague or a different country – with a more positive sentiment. This, then, brings a positive response from the other and the marital life or a business deal goes ever more smoothly. After a while, with constant self-observation, it makes a person irresistible to others who, then, think of him/her in friendlier, more favorable terms. In the original ancient terminology, we may say that this will help an establishment develop its business and organizational policies based on the principles of: (a) Ahiṃsā, “non-violence”, and (b) Maitri (Buddhist mettā), amity towards all beings, based on the principles of karuṇā, (compassion, seeing the difficulties of others as one’s own and helping them out with that attitude), muditā (joyfulness at others’ progress in virtue, such as developing positive sentiments that replace the negative ones), and upekṣā (indifference to the weaknesses or failures of others, so that one encourages them to discover their own stronger areas of character, capacity and genius). The second, the use of a single verbal thought flowing with the breath, helps with concentration, not only on a specific task at a given moment but in the overall patterns of life. The breath awareness practice, coupled with methodical relaxation exercises, changes the common beta brain wave pattern into an alpha wave one; and the focus on a certain sound leads one to the theta brain wave. The dominance of alpha wave invokes in one a non-violent response to a possibly violence-producing situation; whether such violence is verbal or physical, or worse still mental. Mental violence leads a human being to malicious and conspiratorial attitudes and efforts, which can destroy the harmony within a family as well as within a business establishment. Try to get even 5 % of the people meditating in a company and see the human resources invariably improve dramatically within three to six months. The part of the practice leading to theta brain wave activity of the brain will help the members of an establishment to (a) concentrate deeply and clearly on a given task, and (b) improve imaginative, inventive creativity. Try to get even five per cent of the people meditating in a company and see the productivity of the entire establishment rise within three months. I call this succeeding without really competing. The improvements in the psychological profiles of the meditative members of an establishment will diminish the need for embittering, hurtful, frustrating, stress-producing over-assertiveness and negativity among negotiators and work partners. It has been found that a twenty-minute siesta in the daytime helps with concentration and productivity of the workers. The Himalayan dhyanā yoga system teaches two other ways, which can be even more effective: (1) conscious sleep, which can be taken for three to ten minutes even while sitting on an office chair; (2) frequent two-minute breath awareness breaks, even less time consuming than the conscious sleep. Many years back in USA, my receptionist called me in my chamber saying that someone wanted to speak to me. I picked up the phone. The caller turned out to be a meditation student whom I had not seen for several years. He said that he had called to thank me. “For what?” I asked. He explained: “As you know, I am president of the trade union of […] industry throughout the state. We were on the verge of a strike. For the last one week, the atmosphere was very hard, confrontational and angry. I remembered your advice from the meditation classes. In the meeting rooms filled with cigarette smoke, as everybody was tense, I used the technique. Every time we came to a deadlock in the negotiations, I counted my breaths for two to five minutes. Every time, I came out with a fresh proposal. Finally, my proposals were accepted yesterday and we were able to avert the strike oth-
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