Dr. M L Shrikant, who led SPJIMR for 28 years, successfully devised and taught under his stewardship a course called ‘Gita Shibir’ and then the ‘Science of Spirituality’. This was delivered to hundreds of students across several batches and programmes for over 15 years.
Well ahead of his time, Dr. Shrikant was aware about the necessity of a paradigm shift in the dominant story about business and the current models of individual success, through bringing insights from Indian spirituality in management schools.
The current 'Science of Spirituality' course offered at SPJIMR is in line with the spirit and vision of its creator but also offers revised content. The course experiments with innovative ways of delivering this knowledge.
The success of any organisation depends upon the extent to which the leaders are in touch with certain realities about the nature of the self and the world.
When the business leader is alive to what it is, there is no colouring involved in assessing and responding to the complex situations confronted with everyday.
The vision, short and long term goals, relating to people within the organisation, decisions, actions and responses to challenging outcomes are then based upon an appreciation of realities and not upon a distorted or narrow view.
The realities about the self and the world presented by Eastern wisdom traditions and in particular those unfolded in ancient texts such as the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita can help students of management to fundamentally shift to a more objective, responsible and meaningful paradigm.
This course is thus an attempt to address the innate human quest for purpose and inner fulfillment and at the same time provides practical tools to build leadership capacities.
