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lnaugurating the Two-day lnternational Conference on Spirituality and Skill for Leadership and Sustainable Management organized by the School of Management Sciences (SMS), Varanasi, and supported by California State University (USA), Claflin University (USA), East UP Exporters’ Association (EUPEA) and the Quality Circles Forum of lndia (QCFI) apart from the Varanasi Management Association (VMA), the Chief Guest Padmshree Dr. J. S. Rajput (Former Director, NCERT) said that the Best management is managing self and hence teaching others to manage their selves. We should talk to ourselves and compete with ourselves day-by-day as to find the development in ourselves. Character building is of utmost importance that will build our country lndia, he added. He also said that management is integrative discipline. Through enormous examples from his life experiences, he tried to explain the virtues of life to the august gathering. Citing the example of japan, he said that the country could rise out of ashes only due to education.

hild is taught there how to add-on to nation building that has resulted in best outputs of quality in that country. Even we can bring change through ‘spiritual’ education, he opined.

ln his presidential address, Prof. G. N. Samten, VC, Central University of Tibetan Studies -Sarnath said that spirituality bring the virtues within ourselves through conviction and restrain from negative mental elements that eventually get suLfiued and eradicated. The best management is training of mind, he added, as neuroscienqe has proved managing minds is very important.

Other distinguished Guests also spoke on the occasion. Dr. DS Chauhan (DGM, BIRD NABARD, Lucknow) said that today there is a lot of chaos and disarray in society and values-based management helps us a lot. Prof. Pradyot Kumar Mukhopadhyay(Former Head, Philosophy Department, Jadavpur University) in his address to the audience said that there has been radical change in the concept of business, not only profit but new mantra is having ‘a human face’. He talked about developing civil scientific literacy as a part of the Human Development lndex concept. Dr. Vikram Singh (Pro Chancellor, Noida lnternational University and former DGP-UP) said without spirituality there can be no management.

Earlier, the Conference Director Prof. P. N. Jha (Director SMS Varanasi) welcomed the visiting dignitaries from lndia and abroad in his formal welcome address. Later the Guests and the Chief Guest were felicitated by the Conference Director and the Executive Secretary SMS Society, Dr. M. P. Singh. On this occasion, the Conference Souvenir was released along with the latest issues of the newsletter ‘SMS News’ and all the four lnternationally indexed journals published by SMS Varanasi – Managemgnt lnsight, Purushartha, Computing Trendz and SMS Journal of Entrepreneurship and lnnovation.

The lnaugural programme was conducted by Dr. (Mrs.) Pallavi Pathak (Asst. Professor SMS) while the Vote-of-thanks and the Conference themes was presented by the Convener Prof. Sandeep Singh.

In first plenary session on day 1st Prof. Rana P. B. Singh, Dept. of Geography, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University who is also Vice-President- ACLA, Asian Cultural Landscape Association discussed about Kashi & it’s Cosmos: Scenario of Sacred – Spiritual Landscape. He explained the scientific positioning of Kashi and its spiritual importance. Two technical sessions took place after first plenary session.

On Day two 2nd Plenary session took place in the noble presence of six speakers from different areas. Mr. Anand Vardhan Sales Consultant & Facilitator, Mumbai explained the utility of Spirituality in sales job. He explained satva, rajas and tamas gunas and their utility in enhancing effectiveness of sales performance. He highlighted the importance of Karma and suggested participants to put their best efforts without being in lust of results. He clarified that results will automatically come in the process of Karma.

Another speaker Swami Varishthananda from Ramakrishna Mission, Varanasi discussed the importance of Self-Management. He suggested four ladders of Self-Management. These are having faith in self, efforts to raise self-consciousness, ensuring balanced lifestyle and cultivate love and unselfishness.

Acharya Raganugananda Avadhoot from Anand Marg Pracharak Sangh focused upon three parts of the human body. These are Physical, psychological and Spiritual. He focused on importance of yoga and its utility in maintaining the balance in human life. During discussion he proved the biological effect of spiritual practices and yoga.

Next speaker Mr. Bosco D’Mello, Chief Executive, Conscious Development, USA emphasized on maintenance of balance between heart and mind. He suggested that a leader should be out of dilemma and expected to take quick decisions. He also said that there are varieties of leadership styles but none applies in all the situations. Therefor leader need to be flexible and should adopt balanced leadership to be successful in long run.

Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya, Faculty of Ayurveda, IMS, BHU discussed the importance of Ayurveda in our daily life. She also highlighted the utility of Ayurveda in spiritual upliftment.

Ms. H. Lucy Guest, associated with International Chandramauli Charitable Trust, earlier associated with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, discussed the importance of Ashtanga Yoga which includes Yam, Niyam, Asan, Pranayam, Pratyahar, Dharna, Dhyan, Samadhi. She suggested to have awareness of breath which will help in controlling thoughts and mind. She said that ultimately all the journeys of success ends in Spirituality which leads to true happiness.

On second day last session was Valedictory Function. Two eminent guests in the session were Rt. Rev. Eugene Joseph, Hon’ble Bishop, Diocese of Varanasi and Prof. Pramod Pathak, Head-Management Science, IIT-ISM. Chief guest Eugene Joseph said that we are living in turmoil and spirituality is only answer of this situation. He emphasized on the role of spirituality in leadership and highlighted the qualities of a leader. Leader should have self-esteem, humility, interpersonal skills, empathy, integrity, attention, focus and inner conviction. These traits lead to self-mastery. He also said that leadership is not a position but process to create unity and wholeness. Guest of Honour, Prof. Pathak stated that crux of spirituality is giving back to society happily what an individual takes from society.  Further he emphasized that duty has to be performed with Nishkam bhav.

In the two day conference more than 260 participants across India participated and above 150 research papers were presented by scholars from different parts of India in eight technical sessions. Dr. Balakrishnan Shankar, Associate Dean, Amrita University; Dr. Purnima Awasthi, Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychology, BHU; Dr. V. Chandrasekar, Vivekananda College, Chennai; Prof. Alicia Hennig, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen Graduate School, People’s Republic of China; Dr. Ravindra U. Shenoy, Manipal University; Mr. M.R. Das, DGM HR Indian Oil, Kolkata and Dr. Dinesh Kumar, Chief Manager (HRM) Bank of Baroda were session chair in different technical sessions.  Sessions were conducted by faculty members of SMS Varanasi including Dr. Pallavi Pathak, Mr. Shubhagata Roy, Mr. Irfan Ahmed Khan, Dr. Anupam Shukla, Mr. Rohit Mehta and Dr. Medha Srivastava.