Invites for gabfests under the guise of seminars, discussion forums and lectures are a part of any journalist's itinerary. Thus, it is with a mixture of trepidation and curiosity that I approach a three-day event hosted by The Art of Living Foundation (AOL) (from November 19-21, if you must know) on "Corporate Culture and Spirituality" at AOL's international centre.

Located some 30 kilometres from the heart of Bangalore on the Kanakapura Main Road, the ashram of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar--the man behind AOL-is a verdant piece of greenery dominated by a main convention centre called Vishalakshi Mantap. This, I discover, is to be the venue for the meet.

Profit-or so I have always believed-is the fundamental driver for any corporate. Reconciling profit motive with spirituality seems a little hard to digest. It must be interesting to see how some 350 denizens of the corporate world from India and elsewhere try to make sense of it all, I chuckle to myself as I make my way to the venue.

The first incongruous sight that greets me is Nikhil Sen, the coo of biscuit giant Britannia (the company has just announced that it has found a CEO, Vinita Bali, who is expected to join in January), in a starched crisp white kurta-pyjama greeting visitors with a 'Jai Gurudev'. Having seen a usually-in-a-suit Sen in his corporate avatar, it is a pleasure to see him engage in some grunt work like moving chairs and showing visitors around.

Enlightened souls: (From left to right) Ajay Bagga, CEO, Kotak Mutual Fund; Ruth Kouk, Heiress, Kouk Group of companies; A.L. Rao, President (Telecom Solutions) Wipro; and Nikhil Sen, COO, Britannia Industries
With Indian execs galore, a smattering of international ones, even a Nobel Prize winner for variety, this is as high-powered as it gets

And it is not just Sen.

The gathering includes Ajay Bagga, CEO of Kotak Mutual Fund (the youngest CEO in the Indian mutual fund industry, I am told); Myron Scholes, Nobel Prize winner for Economics in 1997; Anil Singhvi, CFO of Gujarat Ambuja Cements; Bill Elkus, Managing Director of the $600-million (Rs 2,700-crore) Clearstone Ventures, which has invested in 14 companies in India including Aceva, iPolicy Networks, Mimosa Systems and SiNett; G. Mallikarjuna Rao, Chairman of the Rs 2,500-crore GMR Group; A.L. Rao, President (Telecom Solutions), Wipro; and Ruth Kouk, heiress to the Kouk Group of companies (which includes the Shangri-La group of hotels and the South China Morning Post newspaper). I meet more such worthies, but surely, you get the picture: this is more high-powered than some corporate dos I have attended (and I have done several) in my career.

The conclave begins with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar outlining the objectives. There are two, I realise: to challenge the concept that ethics and spirituality in business blunt competitive edge; and to discuss whether an organisation whose foundation is based on trust and ethical transactions can create wealth through sustainable competitive advantage. Clearly, Gurudev is up to date on his Porter.

Spiritualists often look down on business, says Ravi Shankar, and businessmen frequently dismiss spirituality as something that isn't really practical. "Spirituality is the heart, business is the legs," he says. "Trust is the breath of business, ethics its limbs, to uplift the spirit its goal. An individual or a society is incomplete without both these aspects. Business brings material comfort and spirituality brings mental and emotional comfort. Spirituality brings ethics and fair practice to business." The gathering is suitably impressed.

Dog Or Man?

Myron Scholes, an (economics) Nobel laureate is on then, and argues that bringing a spiritual context to business is all the more important because of the recent spate of corporate scandals. "If you look at all great businesses, they are based on two fundamental premises: Ethics and Trust (the capitals are his, not mine). Business needs an anchor, and ethics as well as trust plays that role."

Giving the example of a dog and a man, Scholes (of the famous Black-Scholes model used to price stock options; for the record, he is the first Nobel laureate I have met) says companies had two choices: "Chase profits (like a dog) or follow ethics and be a man. If you chase a dog it runs away; if you do your task correctly, the dog chases you (rather, follows you)." I am suitably impressed, just not totally convinced, something that must come from years spent listening to glib CEOs. So, at the first available opportunity, I corner Gurudev and ask him just where spirituality belongs in a corporate context.

Focus On The Next Quarter Century Not Just On The Next Quarter

The ever-smiling Ravi Shankar, Guruji or Gurudev to followers, of which he has millions, smiles and says, "One should not confuse spirituality with religion. Spirituality transcends religion. There are certain fundamental immutable values across cultures, religions and geographical boundaries. Trust and Ethics, for instance, are about spirituality irrespective of the religion one belongs to or even if one does not believe in religion. The need of the hour is for businesses to realise that they can build a long-term competitive advantage if they are, and are seen to be, fair, transparent, ethical and trustworthy. These are not woolly things, but can be measured and translate into profit." He's got a point there. A conversation with Ruth Kouk, the heiress I referred to earlier, convinces me more. Spirituality, she explains, holds the key to success. "Money can buy you the services of an individual," she says. "How do you inspire creativity, research and invention? Enthusiasm cannot be bought." It definitely can't; stifling notions that my editor has sent me here in lieu of next year's increment and expected promotion, I listen on. "There is no dichotomy between profit and ethics," says the next person I speak to, which is Alexander Raikov, Professor (Artificial Intelligence), Moscow Institute of Radio Electronics and Automation. "Companies should not adopt short-sighted measures; the next quarter of a century is as important as the next quarter." Bravo, is the best response I can muster.

Increasing Productivity Spiritually

Meanwhile, Gurudev is on to the measurable impact of spiritual well being that he mentioned. He points out that after the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's employees learnt Sudarshan Kriya, a patented-by-AOL breathing exercise, its annual health insurance bill came down by around Rs 1 crore. "If workers are healthy and de-stressed, they can contribute better towards the growth of an organisation."

Cynics die hard, and I decide to head for a finance professional to air my last defence. Isn't it sufficient that companies pay their dues (taxes) and conduct their business? Aren't corporates to some extent discharging their responsibilities towards society through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) already? Why, the need to bring in spirituality? Ajay Bagga, CEO of Kotak Mutual Fund, agrees with everything I say: "Yes, some organisations are doing admirable work through CSR. What we are looking for is that the very basis of doing business should be based on values that we call spirituality." Bagga points out that socially responsible mutual funds (these check, for instance, the environmental policies of companies before they invest in them) have grown tremendously over the past five years and that their returns are either equal or better than those of their peers. Spirituality, he concludes, "pays". Defeated, I return to my office, a wiser, spiritually-richer hack.