BUSINESS GURUS & SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLES

TATJANA STANKOVIC, PXD SYSTEM INTL., INTERVIEWS ALEKSANDAR AKRURA TODOROVIC, GITA COACHING

BUSINESS GURUS AND SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLES FROM BHAGAVAD GITA

        Many questions have been asked on the Topic of personal realizations from different business gurus ( very famous ones ) and realization of their named principles by different people and businessman. Many questions were answered and also many questions remained unanswered by the most brilliant minds and business gurus. Some of the crucial points have no crucial answer and bring people in confusion. Me as a long year reader, attainder and follower of all new business trends make me ask some questions for resolving certain dilemmas. Today we will compare mighty principles by Brian Tracy, Robert Kiyosaki, Jonas Riderstrale, Steven Covey, Frank Bettger, Jim Rohn, Tom Hopkins, Robin Sharma and others with the principles from Bhagavad Gita. We have an honor that on those questions answers Mr. Aleksandar Akrura Todorovic, GITA COACHING, who is a Spiritual Life Coach, success teacher, lecturer, and seminar leader.

T.S. Each of the Business Gurus has its own characteristic area which is developed to perfection by them and by which they are recognized or they have certain unique style for which also they are known, so let us start with Brian Tracy. This is the first guru I was listening and was on the Seminar. What I remember most to be honest is his FULL day Seminar in Skopje called “Strategies for success in 21st Century” and the main points were on Competitive advantage on the Market, the way of doing the sales ( presentation and so on ). But one interesting thing happened.

When a friend of mine asked him directly How would you create sales euphoria? Euphoric sales means people buy your product like crazy, he didn’t give the answer, he avoided answering, I don’t know, very strange. So my first question is what BG say, How would you create sales euphoria ?

A.A.T. By becoming fired up about your product yourself.

T.S. As a matter of fact I remembered now, you also challenged Brian with one so called provocative question What about success beyond this life time and he said we don’t know so no point of discussing. Maybe a little bit rude to mention but very useful at this moment. What about Success beyond this life time, what BG says ?

A.A.T. BG teaches success beyond this lifetime. It means your the way you act in this life will create success now and in your next life .

T.S. I remember the other Business Guru that turned a new wave of so called innovative explanations on the business and gave definition that I remembered very well. This is Jonas Ridestrale. His book is Funky business : Talent makes capital dance. He is rather young compared to other Business Gurus, PhD, professor in University and so on. I went to his Seminar also and I remember few points from him especially the one that this world is full of copies and millions of samples of same product. What cannot be copied is man’s mind that will think a new idea not copy copied one ? The new fresh idea will allow the company to temporarily have a monopoly on the market. Now, the main question is who does the ideas Mind or Soul or Supersoul ?

A.A.T. Ideas come from the Supersoul in the heart. It is expansion of God within our heart that gives us knowledge, remembrance and forgetfulness. It gives us inspiration and creative ideas.

T.S. And if everything is copied I think now days world doesn’t miss anything only personalism towards the customers, with the customers. And this is spiritual principle from BG ?

A.A.T. BG wishes that everyone become happy permanently and it explains how.

T.S. The other Business guru, that made a new paradigm in Business by his quadrants is Robert Kiyosaki. He says people according to their way of thinking and their current business position are placed in four sectors Employed, Selfemployed, Businessman, Investor. The other point is Education that can change your life and that is great. But still something is missing. I personally visited course of Kiyosaki, paid money and his trainers and him supposed to help me, teach me how I and all our company’s team can make our company grow. But they didn't. I was asking tell me practical things but it was always very theoretically. I don’t want to insult anybody.

You see one of the questions Business Gurus should answer, should be connected to Karma, because if you have bad Karma you should first improve it and then looking for better results ? IN all those books there is theory, great examples ok, some small practical stuff, but something is missing. So the question is how does karma influence our success ? This is main question for all Business Gurus because they say do this and you will become successful. But somebody becomes successful and somebody not still both of them doing the same things same discipline same time ????

A.A.T. Your success depends on your karma but you can also transcend your karma by honoring and applying spiritual principles of success. You can be successful despite your bad karma, God willing.

T.S. Still I think that Steven Covey touched the point more successfully than others because the “Seven habits” are still very strong spiritual principles as well. So his seventh principle is totally holistic body mind soul. Still I would add the quote of HH Srila Prabhupada Swami very spiritual and very special person. He says "Religion without philosophy is sentiment, or sometimes fanaticism, while philosophy without religion is mental speculation". We have very strong business based philosophy in Coveys books but there is no religion behind that as Prabhupad says. What would you say about that ? What BG says ?

A.A.T. Covey says that his principles (7 Habits) come from God. But he does not speak about it very much. There are few books where he expresses his religious views.

T.S. And there is one author that was one of the first I read it was Frank Bettger. His most famous book is How I raised myself from failure to success in selling. He was illiterate, didn't know how to write, he was selling insurances ex baseball player. In his book “How I….” there is a story about Abraham Lincoln. In the Chapter when he explains its not important even you do million shots, only good counts. So Abraham Lincoln story was so many defeats he had, he lost one elections, another, his wife died, again he lost elections and so many defeats but still he marked the history and became one of the most famous presidents. Now the main question is was he responsible for his success because he was persistent ?

The point is, you do thousand bad shots and you do one good and that is that,  but who is responsible for the good shot ? Whose credit it is? Is it his credit because he was persistent ?

A.A.T. Ultimately results depend on God. Our part is to make a sincere effort with the good motivation.

T.S. Oh now I remembered. Also all of them have a right attitude Jim Rohn for example, the legend of all legends, irreplaceable personality, I was listening to him live in Munich in 2000. He was like a preacher, he was preaching and that’s why I remember him a lot. Putting personalism and real emotions in our business. His voice is different and he is excellent but still something is missing.

Again he teaches principles that we should apply and success comes like river flows but it is not like that. Rohn's book Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle, published in 1991, was built around what he considered the five components of success: Philosophy - how you think, Attitude - how you feel, Action - what you do, Results - measure often to see if you are making progress, Lifestyle - the kind of life you can make for yourself out of the first four pieces. According to Srila Prabhupada’s quote from above, religion is missing ? What would you say about that ?     

  A.A.T. Most today's success philosophies are Godless. God is not popular in the world of business, but according to BG He is the one who gives all results, so every successful man should grateful to God for his success.

T.S. I remember Tom Hopkins and his very very good book How to master the art of selling and his practical advices with his legendary word in the end of sentence "Is it not ?" And alternative question with two answers not to allow the customer to say No, then many small Yes to one big Yes, then techniques porcupine and so one. Can you name sales techniques if I can ask like from BG ?

A.A.T. BG does not speak directly about sales. It speaks about cooperation between humans and demigods for economic prosperity. It is important to not sell things that bring bad karma, like meat, toxic substances, pornography, gambling.

T.S. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari is the 5th best selling book in the history of Israel. It has been on India's Top 10 bestseller list of over 2 years. Robin's books have been the fastest selling books in Turkish publishing history. His books have also been blockbusters in Japan, Spain, England, Dubai, Mexico, Singapore, Puerto Rico and throughout South America, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Serbia, Romania, Russia and Sweden. And if you look at the cover it is very amazing and it talks about the lawyer whose life was consisted only of work, work and work. He looked like he had 50 and some and he was still a young person. So unfortunately this kind of life, the crazy race for money brought results. The lawyer got a heart attack and in one moment he disappeared. When he came back his friend could not recognized him. He looked like he had 20-30 maximum. He discovers the truth. After he had a heart attack, he went to India and he went to the Monks there that taught him very spiritual principles. And the main is Money ok but this what now days happens is  Crazy and continuous  race for money, where people run run run run run after the money. The Center of their Universe is money, connected to that the business. What BG says about that ? The principles are amazing. Here are http://www.slideshare.net/ztmbharti/the-monk-who-sold-his-ferrari-5562937. 

A.A.T. Economic development depends on dharma, or laws of God.  The more you follow them the more you are likely to be successful. But even if you follow them perfectly, God is not obliged to give you results. You may succeed on your won for some time, but with God your success is long-term – beyond this lifetime. And your success is double: both material and spiritual.