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The 'heartful' way: Why leading with compassion and kindness is the need of the hour

Compassion, kindness, empathy, trust – these are all traits of a leader who follows the heartfulness way

The cloak of leadership tends to be a heavy one, and each fibre woven into it is a thread of responsibility, an obligation, a need. Not everyone wears the mantle well; so, what differentiates the people who do? Perhaps it’s their empathetic outlook, their sensitivity to others’ needs, the ability to encourage agency, to draw out the best in an individual.

Kamlesh D. Patel, the fourth spiritual guide in the Sahaj Marg system of Raj Yoga meditation, who is also known as Daaji, believes the best leaders follow the path of ‘Heartfulness’.

Daaji has nurtured and inspired young leaders the world over in what he refers to as ‘Heartfulness leadership’.

The Heartfulness style of leadership is about embodying the values of the heart. “Kindness, empathy, compassion [are important traits],” explains Daaji. “We all remember those leaders or bosses who are arrogant or rude. And such individuals are remembered with negative feelings in our hearts. But whenever we are in the presence of a leader who makes a difference in our lives, those are the people you like to work with. You like to even sacrifice your time for whatever they want you to do, because they are so present.”

A tenet of good leadership is the ability to communicate, another is to inspire confidence. “It's not only saying, ‘Do this’, but how the boss conveys [the task that’s important]. The leader must do it in a very compassionate way, in a very confidential way [that makes the employee feel] that yes, he [the boss] trusts me and I can surely do it,” he adds.

Daaji was born in Gujarat, India, in 1956. In his formative years, he showed both interest and aptitude in the meditative arts. In fact, he went on to coin and start his own practice of ‘Heartfulness Meditation’ when he was only 19 years old. This didn’t mean he gave up on mainstream education; he studied to become a pharmacist and thereafter built a successful business. However, he never stopped delving into the Heartful state of being. He went on to become a teacher before becoming a spiritual leader.

Today, he’s at the forefront of the Heartfulness movement globally and says that it’s a state of being that focuses on developing level-headed, sensitised people. “A Heartfulness way of practice is not just for creating leaders or good husbands or good wives or good children. Those [are just] the side-effects of doing meditations,” he tells wknd.

Self-improvement

Heartfulness is a state of being where the centre or locus of control is the heart, explains Heartfulness.org on its website. It allows one to look past judgement and see things as they are. Such objectivity is rare. Often, explains Daaji, when people are meditating, negative self-talk hampers them. It stops them from looking at themselves because “who would want to be criticised?” “If you can listen to it with all humility, then you can emerge as a better person. So meditation, [a Heartfulness] way of meditation, sensitises you from within, so that you can continuously keep changing, [evolving] for [the] better. And as a result, you become a better person,” says Daaji, adding that the practice can make you more analytical, contemplative and creative.

His programme has been engineered to give people agency, to be able to meditate — and thus heal or evolve. “In order to start contemplative Heartfulness practices, one has to somehow get trained under someone. So, we offer a few sessions of meditation with an individual. They meditate with you … and help you meditate better, centre yourself better, and prepare you on your individual spiritual journey,” says Daaji.

The Heartfulness Institute is present in 170 countries and has 5,000 meditation centres across the globe; in Dubai, the Heartfulness Meditation Center is located in Jumeirah Lake Towers.

On-the-go Heartfulness

However, if you are in a spot where you can’t get one-on-one time with a meditation expert, you could download an app called heartsapp. “They [people] can download it and follow the steps, so that’s very easy… you can meditate wherever you are. And not only that but whenever you want.”

The app connects people who want to meditate with trainers from across the globe. “So, someone who is awake at the time [you are ready to meditate], they can see [your request] and connect with you.”

As for how long a person should meditate in a day, Daaji laughs: “24x7.” It’s like building muscle memory, he explains. At first, meditation can be tough, but a person has practised enough, they’ll get to a place where it’s ‘effortless’.

“Through meditation practice, one arrives at a meditative state of mind. [That way] even though I may have meditated for five minutes, its impact will last

for a very long time. And with that meditative mind, I continue to work,” says Daaji.

Hiccups of personality

That relaxed-yet-focused state of mind can help one get past their biases as well. We are sum total of all our experiences and emotional responses to these stimuli. And they tint the lens through which we see the world. “That’s why a Heartfulness way of meditation recommends a different approach. That means all the indoctrination that I have gone through, I should dissolve it somehow,” says Daaji.

In order to do this, it’s important to recognise that “anything that happens creates two levels of impression. One, is at the mind level, another is at the heart level. Psychologists call this storage of memory at a mind level cognitive memory. What gets stored in the form of feelings remains at the emotional level. The burden at emotional level is much heavier.”

Through meditation, we may develop certain qualities that help us forgive and move on. “And the moment you forgive, that load is lost. It frees us.”

Seeing the bigger picture

If a person is open-minded and has the ability to see the big picture, says Daaji, imagine the kind of leader s/he will be. “They will never have biases, no preferences. They will be able to recognise the ability of a really efficient worker versus [one who is] not so efficient. And he will enable that person to become more efficient.”

Such are the leaders who dole out compassion and kindness. They are the ones who offer the aegis of courage and the guidance of power. “They [the leaders] are able to become so compassionate because they empathise.”

How can you tell if someone’s a good leader? The answer is simple, just have a look at their empowered, happy team. As for how you get there, begin by looking inwards. “You have to meditate,” says Daaji, “there’s no other way.”

Email: uae@heartfulness.org

Web: www.heartfulnessmena.org

karishma@khaleejtimes.com