Why Money And Moksha Need To Coexist

Yoga is in. But not for some. A businessman quit this yoga class saying it made him too calm and reflective, which wasn't good for business that needed aggression and action. So in a chaotic, competitive and often corrupt arena, he needed the fighter in him at the forefront.

Is this true ­ that pursuit of inner balance is at odds with pursuit of business? Does the fighter spirit go away with adherence to your own inner spirit and values? Is there a dichotomy between being wise and worldly­wise?

Or so we have come to believe. Whatever you do, business or otherwise, you are the center and source of it. Why should you then have to subdue and sideline all that truly makes you feel alive and aligned?

Maybe since traditional understanding puts 'grihastha' or the worldly householder and 'sanyasi' or the wise renunciant as two hyphenated stages of life, our common understanding has misconstrued inner life and worldly life as mutually exclusive. This illusory dichotomy determines our often painful preference of the worldly over the inwardly.

That's where your yoga or vipassana or travel or hobby or music or any ritual can help: to help you align your inner and outer realities and transform the tearing hyphenation into settling wholesomeness. And this process itself releases a lot of creative energy for more refined and resolute directions to emerge.

The perceived dichotomy between quest for inner peace and pursuit of power has also colored and shaped our understanding of business as an unscrupulous site of advancing mere self­interest and profiteering. It could be, but doesn't have to be.

"No man can become rich without himself enriching others," said Andrew Carnegie, the legendary industrialist and philanthropist. Many billionaires eventually turn to philanthropy to share their largesse for giving back, and large companies also do their balancing act through CSR. For the majority of small businesses though, it's business as usual.

Yet customers want more and are letting that be known. More than ever, customers are buying not just a brand, but a brand they can trust and believe in. A brand perceived to be passionate, purposeful and invested in the wellbeing of people and planet gets the edge.

This also explains the rise of impact investing and social entrepreneurship as new models for start­ups and enterprise. Because businesses can be more and do more.

It's a challenging new dynamic, but also a great opportunity for transforming what businesses stand for; and an even greater opportunity for women to lead this change.

Women entrepreneurs are worldwide drawn to to community­building and purpose­driven business models that also powerfully engage their inner strengths of nurturing and empathy. President of Chile, Veronica Michelle Bachelet Jeria famously said that women are natural social entrepreneurs.

Money and Moksha can thus not only coexist but actually make perfect business sense in a changing world where customers are becoming intolerant of companies taking short­cuts to profits in blatant disregard to societal needs and concerns. A case in point being the cold shoulder given to a taxi start­up in India being for not owning up to its responsibilities toward security of female passengers.

Money and Moksha are two sides of the same coin that require constant play and interplay for our evolution. Lord Krishna played the flute of love even in the midst of the battlefield of life. The Gita gave us the secret of achieving balance through its eternal edict of "renunciation­in­action, and not renunciation­of­action," as explained a spiritual master. So we don't have to choose between moksha and money when we can have more moksha in money. Together, they are a force of good for all.