India’s greatest laureate – Rabindranath Tagore taught – ‘Where the mind is without fear, the head can be held high’. As always, such things are easier said than done. But, it is people like Mr. Ravindran G Sethumadhavan that have redefi ned challenges to overcome all the narrow minded materialisticisms’. He has put meaning to the word – ‘devotion’, with his ‘actions’, and is a living proof that the real key to happiness is to seek truth from the inner self. Mr. Sethumadhavan has taken the great cause of Santhi-giri Ashram to an international level with paramount dedication and passion. Santhigiri means the Mou-ntain of Peace, with Santhi for Peace and Giri for Mountain. Mr. Sethumadhavan has brought a deep me-ssage for the social sector and it has been a sheer delight and honour for Cult to bring forward the story of an Alumni who has done something that is diff erent fr om the usual ‘white collar’ work, and the one who lives his life with simplicity, and yet he is very successful. He pays tribute to IIPM for making him what he is today and developing his enterprising abilities. The great Gautam Budhha was right “Enlight-enment never comes from fulfillment of desires, it comes fr om finding the truth and understanding the sufferings of the poor”.
Q. Kindly brief us about the different phases in your Academic Career.
A. I was born in a village near Palakkad, Kerala on Jan17, 1962, as the eldest of the three siblings. I was brought up in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu where I did my schooling till 5th Standard at the CSI School, Pappanaicken Palayam and 6th to 11th (the last batch of 11 year pattern of SSLC-Secondary School Leaving Certificate) at the reputed Mani High School, taking commerce as my electives while in 10th and 11th . I, then did PUC (one year Pre-University Course program again the last batch in Tamil Nadu) in Commerce from the prestigious PSG College of Arts and Science, Coi-mbatore in 1979, where I continued with B.Com program and completed it in 1982. I represented Tamil Nadu & Pond-icherry at the prestigious Republic Day Contingent 1981 at Delhi, as a senior division NCC Airwing cadet. I was further selected for the Republic Day Parade on the Vijay Path, Delhi on Jan 26, 1981 and gave salute to the then President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy and also was selected for the Guard of Honor to the then PM, Smt. Indira Gandhi. I did my solo in gliding as well, during this period. Aft er completing my B.Com, I was then selected for the two year full time resid-ential PGDM program (82-84) from IIPM, though aft er an unsuccessful CAT attempt. At IIPM, I chose Marketing and Finance as my electives and one of the very few out of nearly 50 in our batch, to completed the program successfully in 1984.
Q. How did Santhigiri Ashram originate?
A. Santhigiri Ashram, located in Pothencode, a non-descript village, about 21 Kms to the North East of Trivandrum was founded by NavaJyothi Sree Karunaakara Guru in 1964. Spirituality is the basis for anything and everything in this Un-iverse, the basis of our thought and the action therefrom, be it word or deed. Unless the foundation is pure and stron-g, the edifi ce cannot be of quality. Santhigiri Ashram came into existence due to the long pending (millions of years) correction of the spiritual corruption, the manifestation of which we see in the form of miseries, inequalities, injustices and the degeneration all over, of which we are part and parcel thereof. To bring about the right change in the world, Guru successfully brought about the change in individuals who ultimately constitute the whole world. Guru gives impo-rtance to householders, especially to mother, as she is the fulcrum of a family and has a very crucial role to play in the making of an individual. If each individual is raised with values, such individuals when they take the positions of power in the society, the outcome would be colored by his values with which one has been raised. If we have such pe-ople in politics, bureaucracy, judiciary, journalism, teachers, business and for that matter anywhere, this world will eventually become a true garden of God.
“NOTHING CAN BE ACHIEVED BY FORCE, BUT BY LIVING AND LEADING BY EXAMPLE TO SPREAD LOVE”
Q. How did your association with the Ashram begin?
A. My spiritual quest always has been asking certain questions about life, its purpose, etc. right from the childhood its-elf. In all my prayers to Lord SriKrishna, being my favorite deity, I had submitted to Him that I would like to have just a glimpse of God in human form, before I die. I am so fortunate that my prayers were answered when I met my Spir-itual Guru, NavaJyothiSree Karunaakara Guru in 1993, the single most important and greatest event of my life. The connect was instant and words don’t measure up to express that ecstatic moment. Since then, I have been striving to become a disciple of Guru. I have been a very active worker in Ashram activities since 1993. I was made the Organ-izing Secretary of Santhigiri Ashram, Karnataka activities in 1996. Later, in 2007 Oct I was nominated as a Member of the Advisory Committee, Santhigiri Ashram and in Jan 2008, I was draft ed into the honorary services of the Ashram on a full-time basis at the head-quarters in Trivandrum, responsible for Marketing, Corporate Communication, Inform-ation Technology and MIS. Th anks to my family’s support, I could take a plunge into spirituality on a full-time basis. Very soon I was also made the exclusive authority to deal with foreign funds, especially in view of Ministry of Finance-’s granting special status to Ashram U/s 35 (1) (ii) and (iii) of Income Tax Act, 1961. As the Ashram has been on an expanding spree, it felt that I should be on the Inter- national Front, which brought me to the US since April 2009,I am working on the Healthcare Mission of the Ashram, since it is a pioneer in Ayurveda & Siddha branches of proven anci-ent medicinal systems, as I cover rest of the Americas, Europe, Africa, Middle East among others. I am also the CEO (Designated) of the US Operations of Santhigiri Ashram. That’s the journey so far.
Q. What are the main challenges for the social sector on a global front?
A. Though many, I would give prominence to
1. Absence of values or lack of character in individuals
2. Concept of family
3. Institution of marriage
4. Conflicting religious groups
5. Failing healthcare
6. Falling educational standards, among others.
These have paved the way for global unrest, plundering of natural resources, skewed accumulation of wealth, corrup-tion, rising poverty, exploitation of all kinds, besides having its residual effect on the part of the governments and its inability to implement social welfare projects, failure to facilitate generation of adequate employment and its adverse multiplier impact on the economy and society.
“ALMOST 100% OF THE HUMAN POPULATION IS BLISSFULLY IGNORANT OF THE CONCEPT OF SPIRITUALITY”
Q. What are the ways of overcoming them?
A. 1. Effecting ‘Social Renaissance’ for bringing in basic changes in each and every individual, without which no law or benefit, from any form of government would be of use to any person
2. Ensuring religion to be strictly a personal affair.
3. Quality free education
4. Guaranteed healthcare
5. Removal of corruption
6. Strong independent judiciary
7. Strengthening the pillars of democracy with adequate checks and controls or preventing its abuse
8. Honest implementation of social welfare measures.
Q. After your management studies, what were the driving forces for you to get into the social sector?
A. 1. The strong inherent spiritual attribute within me
2. The inequality and injustices all over the world
3. The strong middle-class upbringing, which reinforces the essential values of life.
4. Th e greatest factor is reaching my Spiritual Guru, NavaJyothiSree Karunaakara Guru in 1993 and His practically implemented Ideologies causingtectonic shift in my attitude, approach and outlook towards the very purpose of life
Q. What is your vision for Santhigiri in the years ahead ?
A. Of course, I would consider myself to be extremely fortunate and blessed, if I can truly be one of the best tools of my Guru and thus be employed in the implem-entation of His Ideologies and achieve His Vision for a just and equitable world, which leads to lasting peace. As a first step to-wards this, I would like to work on the following:
As part of effecting a great ‘Social Renaissance’ as per the Vision of Guru, in the first phase, ensure that the Messa-ges of Guru reaches every nook and corner of the world, which itself is a very tall order. These Messages would be imbibed by people at the appropriate time. Patience, tolerance and perseverance need to be demonstrated very hon-estly.
Primary among that is Guru’s stress on inculcating values in each child, the role of mother in upbringing a responsi-ble human being and the importance of ‘family’, to facilitate this process.
Nothing can be achieved by force, but by living and leading by example to spread Guru’s ‘unconditional universal love’.
Being a pioneer and authority on authentic healthcare provider, Santhigiri’s Healthcare Mission with Guru’s ‘New Healthcare Philosophy enshrined in Righteousness’, would be the vehicle, which would lead the above process.
Q. How can their prominence increase across India as well as US and other nations ?
A. 1. Steering the first venture of Santhigiri Ayurveda in Florida to success so as to showcase and speed-up setting up other Centers, not only within the US, but all over the globe.
2. Simultaneously working for the recognition of Ayurveda in the US to be covered under health insurance and thus make Ayurveda affordable.
3. Supporting this process would be an effective concept education and word of mouth publicity.
4. Till such time, the US government facilitates practicing Santhigiri-Ayurveda in its authentic form, promoting health tourism to Santhigiri India for the treatments, besides spiritual tourism.
5. Going operational of the recently signed up Brazil MoU at Canto-da- Floresta, Ampara and also spreading Santhigiri-Ayurveda & Siddha in Brazil.
6. Forming ‘Santhigiri Family Groups’, to spread
a. the importance of ‘Family’
b. the role of mother
c. inculcation of values and raising responsible children and creating future leaders
d. the awareness on the adverse effects of mindless modern living, among other points.
This would be the starter. Based on Guru’s directions from time to time, the course will be altered and implemented.
Q. What is your view in the context of ‘Spiritual Renaissance’?
A. Spirituality is the basis for everything in this Universe and it is beyond human ken. Life cannot be interpreted by logic and led by intellect. Spirituality is the ‘pure experience on understanding the purpose of life and how to lead life’. This necessarily has to be guided by a fully evolved spiritual master or in other words, Guru.
Spiritual Renaissance is a must for getting this ‘experience’ in all genuineness, in order to use this invaluable oppor-tunity called ‘human birth’ to evolve further, per Cosmic Rules. Whenever we act against such Norms, owing to ignor-ance or otherwise, we create imbalance in Nature and thus in our life too, resulting in waste of energy and opportunity by pursuing misplaced objectives and priorities, only to be burdened with utter agony and misery, for self and the wo-rld.
Q. Is the majority of our society still unable to realize the value of self realization in a spiritual light?
A. Almost 100% of the human population is blissfully ignorant of such a concept, predominantly due to their inability to sift the genuine spiritual masters from the fake. Santhigiri is precisely educating this great ‘knowledge’ and experienc- ing this process to the masses, with hard evidences as irrefutable proof, to the justifi ably suspecting people of this world. It is a harrowingly painful task consuming centuries, to undo this unimaginable entanglement of errors in each soul, accrued over countless births in its process of evolution.
Q. A ‘daily routine’ for Santhigiri is referred to as ‘CSR’ in the corporate sector?
A. Thank you for appreciating the daily chores of Santhigiri and placing it above the ‘CSR’ tokenism shown by corpo- rates.
Q. Are you happy with the current CSR activities and the eff orts?
A. I am not at all happy with the current CSR activities as pursued by the Corporates, for the simple reason that these are not done for its purity of purpose per se, but being used as a conduit to further their commercial interests, which are characterized by constant shifting of goal posts.
Q. Do companies need to seek beyond just ‘goodwill’?
A. Th ere needn’t be an iota of doubt that these corporates should go beyond mere tokenism, if they want to fulfill their responsibility to the very society, which is sustaining them. By doing meaningful CSR, besides the corporates and the society scratching each other’s back, they contribute their might in the Nation building exercise and perhaps some-times on matters that concern the humanity.
Q. How can the simple values like peace, love, unity, and respect be imbibed in the young generation which seems to have lost all belief in simplest of human values?
A. At Santhigiri Ashram, Guru has given prominence to developing ‘Ideal Householders’, as any true human being (im-bibed with values), be it a Karmi, Yogi, Gnaani, Bhakta or anybody, can come from a proper up-bringing only and the role of mother in such a crucial process of evolvement cannot be underemphasized. This process of inculcation of val-ues at home should be reiterated with value based education, instead of the present system, which encourages only unhealthy competition with a pure materialistic outlook, where ends justify the means. The parents, teachers, social, business and political leaders should demonstrate as, people of character and values, to the children to observe and adopt the same and evolve as responsible and fi ne human beings. Th is demands patience and sacrifice on the part of the elders and seniors, as they can’t expect change overnight or the moment they decide to change. It is a tough and slow, but a sure process. Importantly, there should be meaningful follow-up and constant communication among all the players, be it, a family, school, college or work situation. That’s why the saying goes, ‘the family that eats tog-ether, stays together’. The US has woken up to this hard reality very belatedly, as President Obama exhorts every American to learn from the Indians and ironically, the Indians are mindlessly aping the miserably failed, hollow, social concepts of the West, without bothering to study the merit of the time tested, great Indian values and concepts.
Q. What ways can faith be instilled in ethics and values?
A. By being impeccable role models only, can the seniors instill confi dence and faith on the part of the juniors and youngsters in ethics and values.
Q. How is spiritual leadership more powerful than day to day ‘corporate leadership’?
A. The difference is in the objective. Spiritual leadership is concerned about the welfare of others and not the self, wh-ereas, corporate leadership is all about self-aggrandizement. Having said that, according to the Law of Nature, any altruistic act is always powerful than any selfish act. Of course, if the so called ‘spiritual leadership’ is fake, it is more dangerous than the corporate leadership.
Q. For the young generation who are willing to contribute to the society, what is the right way to go and achieve something substantial?
A. 1. Identify the organizations that work in the areas in which one is passionate about and conduct a thorough genui-neness exercise about such organizations and then associate.
2. If someone decides to plunge in fulltime, let them ensure that they have made adequate fi nancial security for the rest of their life.
3. Social work is a very thankless job and one’s ego should not come in the way of contributing one’s might to the society.
Q. What is your message to the management graduates for them to be aware of their basic morality as humans, and maintaining the right balance between eccentric materialism and human spirit of oneness?
A. I still cherish the advice given by my IIPM Prof. Manab Adhikary for Managerial Economics, 28 years ago, whose saying ‘Money is important, but not the only important thing’, is still and would always remain relevant. At some stage in life, one would realize that money can’t buy everything and at times money can be a liability too. Th e management graduates would do well for themselves, if they realize that they are a blessed and better placed lot than others. Th is equally puts an onus on them to give back to the society, more than others, as a token of gratitude for having made them what they are. If they use their smartness, the exclusive opportunities they have been off ered with by the she-er virtue of the management education and the expertise, for the benefi t of the truly deserving ones, then there can’t be a better ornament on their personality that expresses that they are truly smart and a cultured and compassionate human being; lest, we would be dubbed as double legged lower beings.
Q. Share some personal likings with us.
A. I like Anna Hazare as a social leader and love the book – A dialogue on the Human Prospects by OV Usha. I savour the vegetarian dishes of Tamil Nadu and prefer visting tranquil places like Santhigiri Ashram in Trivandrum, Coorg in Karnataka, Palakkad and Wayanad in Kerala and Canto-da-Floresta in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Cult bows with deepest gratitude to this man who has lived the ethos of IIPM by contributing to the society and bringing about a revolution.
