ISEC Talks: A Philosophical Entrepreneurial Journey

Being an Entrepreneur is a dream of many, as it provides you the liberty of being your own boss and take charge of your financial future. While there are many aspects of entrepreneurship that lure the young minds, but being a businessman i.e. a man who is always busy, can be a daunting task with the never-ending stress & anxiety. Some of the occupational hazards which an entrepreneurial career is full of includes loneliness, unwavering focus, sporadic income, avoiding time wasting activities and last but not the least work-life balance.

Dr. Har Prashad addressing the audience of faculty and students

Prof. Mrinal Phalle introduced Dr. Har Prashad, preceded by his long list of achievements at national and international level. Dr. D. Y. Patil and Prof. Kiran Yadav welcomed him with a bouquet of flowers and a small gift bag as a token of love from the GNIMS family. As the students kept pouring in for the seminar after finishing their lectures, the guest speaker engaged in a deep conversation with the GNIMS faculty present. He asked everyone a simple question “Who are you?”. Prof. Satvinder Singh Bedi replied to it that he is someone who has developed from a child to an adult, searching the purpose of life while fulfilling his duties along the way. He was curious to know what is the objective of everyone’s life, as inspired by John Lenon’s Poem – The Meaning of life. After acknowledging the replies from the audience, Dr. Har Prashad shared his insights on the philosophies of life and said that the purpose of life is living it fully while fulfilling the tasks assigned to us. He enchanted everyone with references from holy books of Bhagvad Gita and Guru Granth Sahib.Dr. Har Prashad (Senior Deputy General Manager at the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited) was invited to the ISEC Talks platform for sharing his deep wisdom on how to manage life while on your entrepreneurial journey. He obtained an M.E. (Hons) degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1970, and subsequently, Ph.D. in Tribology; but his yearning for understanding life and its philosophies has encouraged him to publish 18 books on Human Sciences & secrets of leading a happy and content life (Know Thyself, Scientific Integration of Queries on Inner Human Life, etc.).

All the students and faculty alike were inquisitive about gaining the knowledge of Life and Love from the wise person standing in front of them. Dr. Har Prashad very beautifully broke the two words into meaningful acronyms, stating: –

LIFE = Learning + Intelligence + Freedom + Evolution

He summarized it saying that in Life we need to keep Learning to garner intelligence which gives us freedom of thoughts and eventually evolves us as a human being. In the same way, he broke the word LOVE as: –

LOVE = Listening + Observe + Venture + Evolve

Audience listening intently to the wise speaker

Dr. Har Prashad said that when someone is in Love, they need to listen to their partner attentively, observe them carefully and venture to make any changes if needed, to evolve into a healthier relationship and thus a contended life. Later, he asked the audience another question – What has not changed in you? Considering the perplexed crowd, he decided to answer it himself. He said that whatever has not changed in you is life – Consciousness. Your consciousness remains unchanged throughout life.  He considered that self-realization or enlightenment can be achieved by visualizing your consciousness. We need to annihilate the mind to feel the presence of soul. All the wisdom shared by the speaker had been thought provoking but it would be much more relevant for the GNIMS students venturing into the industry in future.

There was a lot of debate among the speaker and the faculty. They challenged the speaker’s thoughts on karma, fate, stress and Destiny. He said that we are not in control of anything and that everything happens as per the almighty’s subtle plans. On which Prof. Kiran Yadav pointed out that if everything is written in fate, then why should we even stress and toil in our life. Dr. Har Prashad explained him and the audience that we often misinterpret our sacred thoughts expressed in the religious scriptures. Stress won’t bring solution to the problems but add up to it, said Dr. Prashad. Buddha, the enlightened one had said that, do your best to the maximum extent and leave all the rest, then you will achieve success. Lord Krishna even said that, do your duty honestly and forget the rest. Why to worry and compare when you are doing your best was the answer to the faculty’s queries. Karma will take care of the rest. You need to make peace with yourself. You should do your duty and not take stress. Sometimes acceptance is the only thing we are left with in life as it works according to law of nature and we cannot challenge it.

As the session was coming to an end, one of the students asked about how should we apply these concepts of well-being, happiness, longevity and transcendence in life, while pursuing our studies for entrepreneurial career. He replied that learn to be Happy and live in present, live in your breath. Keep your mind calm, fulfill your duties honestly and try to develop yourself physically, mentally and spiritually. He said that happiness can be achieved if we curb our desires and so expressed it mathematically as,

Happiness = No. of Desires fulfilled / Total No. of Desires

This means if we can eliminate all desires then Happiness will be infinite. If you could limit your desires, happiness will multiply, longevity will increase and you will transcend with the force.