RADHANATH SWAMI ADDRESSING SENIOR BANKERS IN KOLKATA

On July 16^th, Radhanath Swami addressed 25 senior managers and bankers of the State Bank of India (SBI), in Kolkata (Calcutta). SBI is the largest banking and financial services company in India. Ranked amongst the top 30 reputed companies in the world by Forbes 2009 rankings, and the only bank featured in the “top 10 brands of India,” SBI has a mammoth 20% market share in deposits and loans among Indian commercial banks.

Radhanath Swami spoke on “Balancing the Balance Sheet of Life.” He recollected a similar program he attended with the HSBC in London. “I find it quite humorous and fascinating that you are asking me to speak to you because I have not had a bank account or signed a check since 1969. Someone asked me in London, ‘How do you survive without having bank accounts, and without signing checks?’ and my reply was, ‘Very happily.’”

Radhanath Swami emphasized how money is sacred when seen from the proper perspective. “The difference between material and spiritual is the consciousness in which things are utilized. If a knife is in the hands of a thief it will be used to cut the throat of a person. But in the hands of a surgeon it can save a life.”

In his talk, Radhanath Swami explained that the secret to balancing one’s life is to see the sacredness of our occupation, to realize, “I have certain boundaries of values and ethics within which I earn, and the money I get I understand is what God has entrusted me with, and real fulfillment is when I use it with compassion.”

He also presented a refreshing insight on ‘evolution’ by sharing his thoughts that human evolution really takes place when we progress from our tendency of ‘need to get’ to the ‘joy of giving.’

“And Bhakti Yoga helps us to reconnect with our inner nature,” concluded Radhanath Swami. “When we gain inner fulfillment through a balanced spiritual life, then temptations and fears cannot disturb our values. We then truly leave a legacy of which we can be proud.”

The bankers unanimously expressed feeling enlightened and enriched by the experience. All also got their copies of The Journey Home signed by Radhanath Swami.

http://www.radhanathswami.com/2013/08/addressing-senior-bankers-in-kolkata/

Who is Radhanath Swami

Radhanath Swami is a Vaishnava sanyassin (a monk in a Krishna-bhakti lineage) and teacher of the devotional path of Bhakti -yoga. He is author of 'The Journey Home', a memoir of his search for spiritual truth. His teachings draw from the sacred texts of India such as The Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, and Ramayana, and aim to reveal the practical application of the sacred traditions, while focusing on the shared essence which unites apparently disparate religious or spiritual paths.

Born Richard Slavin, on December 7, 1950, in his teens he came to confront a deep sense of alienation from suburban Chicago life and the civil injustices of mid-century America. At the age of nineteen, while on a summer trip to Europe, his internal struggles culminated in a commitment to search for God wherever it might lead him. Meditating on the Isle of Crete, he felt a supernatural calling and the next morning set off alone to find spiritual India. The Journey Home documents his odyssey as a penniless hitch-hiker though Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and finally India. There he lived as a wandering ascetic, first amongst the forest dwelling Himalayan yogis and later amongst a wide variety of gurus and spiritual practitioners throughout India and Nepal. Ultimately, he was led to the holy town of Vrindavan, where he found his path amongst the Bhakti-yogis.

In Vrindavan he found the teacher he was searching for in A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977) the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), and representative of Gaudiya Vaishnavism (the Krishna-bhakti tradition stemming from the 16th century mystic avatar Sri Chaitanya). In choosing Bhaktivedanta Swami, as his guru, Radhanath Swami felt compelled to shear his matted locks and reenter Western society with a mission to share the sacred wisdom he had received. This return exemplifies the form of devotional yoga which is at the heart of Radhanath Swami’s teachings, a spiritual practice expressed as tangible action meant to bring about personal fulfillment and benefit the world.

At the the age of 31 he took the monastic vows of a Vaishnava sanyassin and became known as Radhanath Swami.

Today Radhanath Swami travels regularly throughout India, Europe and North America, sharing the teachings of Bhakti-yoga. He resides much of the year at the Radha Gopinath Ashram in Chowpatty, Mumbai. For the past twenty-five years he has guided the community’s development and has directed a number of acclaimed social action projects including Midday Meals, which daily serves more than 260,000 plates of sanctified vegetarian food to the children of the slums of Mumbai. He has also worked to establish missionary hospitals and eye camps, eco-friendly farms, schools and ashrams, an orphanage, and a number of emergency relief programs throughout India.