Real human resource development is much more
than just providing promotions and more resources.
Social studies show that the happier a person, the better he performs at both workplace and home. So if the HR (human resource) department can help employees feel more satisfied and happy, then their performance can improve significantly. That brings us to the HRD equation:
Happiness = Resouce/ Desires
Most people feel that when they get the resources, say money, to fulfill their desires say a new car, they will be happy. So if we consider H> 1 as happiness and HRD equation expalins the pursuit of Happiness.
Can we increase our happiness by increasing our resources learning more skills, earning more money and acquiring more possessions? This approach leads to two problems:
1. Sooner rather than later, we will be confounded by the perpetual economic perplexitydesires always exceed resources; desires are unlimited, whereas resources are limited.
2. Moreover, the increase of resources of the haves generally implies the decrease of resources of the have-nots. For example , a doctor's prosperity may cause a patient's bankruptcy. Or more industries may mean lesser forests.
The alternative way to optimize happiness is to minimize desires. However, most people fee l that their desires are too many and too mighty to control. Moreover, many even consider decreasing desires as undesirable, for they fear losing their ambitiousness.
If resources cannot be increased and desires cannot be decreased, what then is the way to increase happiness?
The HRD equation deals only with h appiness at the material level, whereas our current existence is two-dimensional: we are spiritual beings, souls residing in material bodies. Hence, the happiness dilemma can be resolved by tapping the resource that the HRD equation misses out on: our latent spiritual faculty. Indeed, among the numerous species of life on our planet, we humans are the only species endowed with the a bility to access spiritual happiness. Hence, spiritual potential is our unique human resource. And developing that spir itual potential constitutes real human resource development (HRD).
As spiritual beings, we are parts of the supreme spiritual being, God, who is the source of unlimited, everlasting happiness. By mining deep into our consciousness using timetested spiritual processes like meditation, yoga and chanting of the holy names, we can unearth the treasure of divine love. When we harmonize and connect ourselves with the Supreme through divine love, we experience a non-material enrichment so fulfill ing that our desires for material enjoyment automatically come under control.
This does not however mean that we become desireless or ambitionless. Srila Prabhupada states, "We don't have to kill desires, we have to cure desires." The desire to exploit others for our enjoyment is a sick desire; it may temporarily bloat our ego, but it dries our heart. On the other hand, the healthy desire to assist others for mutual well-being may not be palatable to the ego, but it fills our heart with satisfaction. When we are internally fulfilled, we become motivated by the selfless desire to share our spiritual joy with others. We become inspired by the ambition to fully use all our abilities and resources to benefit all our brothers and sisters in our divine family. The Bhagavad gita (5.25) describes this extraordinary state of consciousness, "The wise person, on attaining spiritual happiness, being clean sed of all selfish desires, having pierced the illusion of material dualities, engages in activities meant for the holistic welfare of all living beings."
Thus, by developing our spiritual resource, we achieve three purposes in one stroke:
1. We open our hearts to the flow of oceanic spiritual happiness.
2. We increase even our material happiness, because of having streamlined our material desires. Further, our happiness does not have to be at the expense of others' unhappiness.
3. Because we feel happier, we contribute more and better at home and in office.
Caitanya Carana Dasa holds a degree in electronics and telecommunications engineering and serves fulltime at ISKCON Pune. To subscribe to his free cy ber magazine, visit thespiritualscientist.com