20. Industrial Peace

Many people who run an establishment, institution or an industry generally used to discuss their work with us and often asked whether Mother gave any guidelines for such a work. As these are people in worldly life of family or business (though the money involved is sometimes lakhs or even crores) and Mother's consciousness is of great power[i], a deeply felt prayer releases on their work Himalayan energies and in no time any existing problem is wiped away. Some friends desired to know more of this and in response to their request once we made a list of ideas useful to industrialists, collecting the principles from Mother's writings. Following some of them, several people expanded their institutions, settled labour strikes, repaid accumulated loans, averted closure of their businesses and benefited in one way or another. We give below a few examples to illustrate the workings of the principles.

There is a multi-crore Public Sector project which had started accumulating several crores of loss year after year. Labour had come under political leadership and had become a thorn in the flesh for the management. The place became known for unmanageable labour situations. Any small cause would lead to a great effect. Production had come down to about 40 to 50% of the installed capacity. Officers here anxiously accepted other jobs at lower salaries  and were leaving the place. For over a decade, life in the project had come to be accepted as such. The wish of everyone was that it should not further deteriorate. One unit of this project is a 100 crore section and a key part of the project. The head of the unit had earned a reputation for his excellent efficiency in production, but he too was helpless with labour. He came to a meeting at our centre, where we had gathered on a certain occasion. Incidentally he was also the President of this centre. After the meeting was over, he invited me to his house and his wife received us. She had a long story to tell. She broke out in a detailed narration of her husband's suffering at the hands of the intransigent labour and explained how they both had no peace of mind at all. Any sound, anywhere, she explained, disturbed them as it might be the shouting of a crowd. Life had become miserable. They were allergic to any development there regarding labour. Finally, she asked if there was no way out and whether Mother could not help them. I replied that Mother's help was always there, only that one should approach Her with faith. The problem that was knotty, thorny and appeared insurmountable would soon disappear, if Mother's Grace were invoked, I said.

Both responded with deep interest and expressed that they had great faith in Mother and would do anything I said to get rid of the troubled situation that had become permanent.

I gave the following explanation: "Mother is great. Her Power is infinite. Her methods are complex (in one sense). That is all true for those sadhaks who do their yoga and it is for them to understand Her complex philosophy. Yours is a human difficulty and a life problem. However difficult it is and complicated it had become, for Mother's powers it is indeed easy to wipe out. All that one should do is to firmly decide to pray to Mother to remove his difficulty. Only that this prayer should be made in good faith. If you agree to do that much, you can take it for granted that the problem will be solved."

He readily agreed. Further, I asked him to write down the history of the installation, so that at several points I could comment from Mother's point of view. Later he showed us around the project and expressed a desire that we should meet his five deputies. I hesitated and said that it might not work and such proposals might not meet with general approval. He insisted and I agreed. The five of them came and formally appeared willing to listen. One of them, perhaps the best and brightest among them, spoke out frankly, "There is no place in India where the discipline is worse. I have no faith in spirituality or anything else. The only thing that could set the situation right is determined enforcement of discipline. Those who disobey must be taken to task."  The head of the unit felt embarrassed for creating this situation in spite of my warning. But I explained to him that no one there believed and everyone was simply polite. He who had spoken was frank and honest, but unfortunately it was not possible for him to know what the spiritual force was. I summed up saying, "Send me your summary of the problems you face. I shall offer my comments. Please remind yourself twelve months from now of my present statement: ‘Labour unrest will be a thing of the past. You will never be able to see any trace of it.'

He sent me his summary. I marked some portions and commented from the points of view of soft speech, cleanliness, orderliness, regularity, attention, maximum utilization, etc.-all general ideas of Mother. I added, "As your project is spread over 12 acres, is kept spotlessly clean, and your efficiency in production is already famous, Mother's Force will act more effectively there."

Several devotees were coming from there. The head of the unit began sending word about the vast improvement in labour relationships. After twelve months the secretary of that centre came to me with a special message from the head: "Labour has become quiet and cooperative. The only strike that was in the canteen at the time of your visit moved away the next day. The last twelve months have been without an incident. Moreover, production moved up to 60 or 70% and is presently at 97%. Labour unrest has vanished, not only from this unit but from the entire project. I do remember your words and they are true. Only that I do not understand how it all happened."  He may not understand, but every devotee of Mother will. Her power and force are so great that no human problem can survive their healing touch.

About five years ago, we compiled a set of principles from Mother's ideas which would be useful to the industrialist, management consultant, manager, etc. One of our friends spoke these ideas to a section of delegates of the All India Management Conference of that year. Several industrialists evinced interest in following them. We prepared a short summary of this and supplied it to all those who asked for it. We sent a copy of it to the President of the Management Centre Europe. In 1978 the devotee who had prepared this paper attended the World Management Conference as a delegate representing us. The President of the European Centre was also there as a main speaker. The devotee met this man and the latter readily recognised him. He started speaking about the paper we had sent him several years ago. He explained, "I appreciated all these principles and would like to know more about it. In truth, I followed the principle of ‘service before profit' and to my surprise the practice was effective. Unexpectedly, now I am the President of the more powerful American centre."  As he was interested in this topic further, we supplied him with additional materials and he constantly asked for more. A year later our friend met him in New York and had a long discussion with him in which he offered detailed explanations to his questions. By now, he was very much satisfied and wanted to test these principles in an organisation. Some months later he informed us, "I have had occasion to use your principles in my own organisation which was losing half a crore of rupees a year. The losses stopped and we are now making substantial profits. In addition, one of my subordinates in South America is spending half his time cleaning. From the organisational profit point of view, he tops the list. It is interesting to see the relationship between cleanliness and profitability."  Again he asked our friend for some suggestions for a college in New York that had a budget deficit of half a crore. Our general ideas were made particular to suit this place and we submitted our recommendations. Eight months later, he said there was definite improvement in the college finances. We learned that the deficit was reduced to half its original size.

[i] Mother's power acts effectively in the field of creation.  Here it is used for yoga.  In comparison to these fields, worldly life is a lower plane.  Hence Mother's Force acts here with far greater effectiveness.