This is an account of my trip to India over these last 2 weeks.
I have written about emotional overwhelm several times. It is a central theme in my conflict resolution work and my self-development and leadership programs. Most of the protection strategies and troubles we face as humans come from our strategies to avoid emotional overwhelm at all costs.
Pretty much the easiest way to create emotional overwhelm is to put yourself in a huge crowd of jostling people, many of whom want to either take your photo or sell you things you don’t want. Ramp up the heat, make going to use the bathroom or getting basic food and drink difficult or unpleasant, and then have everyone speak a language you don’t understand. Finally, add a sleep deficiency, apple iPhone battery life, and a heavy bag.
These 2 weeks, I have been travelling in India, visiting the holy temples on a pilgrimage to connect to the holy energies of Krishna and Radha. For thousands of years, millions of people have found resonance with Krishna and Radha and have been uplifted, opened, and guided to higher states of consciousness, or self-realisation.
This article shines a light on some useful ideas from this time for change agents.
So many people; why am I here?
From the multi-faith Lotus temple in Delhi, and the ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) temple nearby, all the way to Vrindavan, the birthplace of Lord Krishna, there is one thing that is a constant; the sheer number of people is astounding. Literally millions of people in every square inch, in queues, in a crowd, as families, as individuals, and groups of travelling friends, India is alive as a heaving mass of humanity.
How is it then, in this multitudes of people, can there be the possibility to change the way we perceive reality and to raise the vibration of one’s existence? And is it possible that any of this conscious self-realisation can be useful back in the virtual and not-so-virtual office and for change agents of modern corporates, public organisations, and medium-sized companies?
In short, can the East help the West shift its state of consciousness and make a better life for itself?
That is what I am here to find out.
State of consciousness and how it is important for leadership roles
What is a state of consciousness?
A state of consciousness is the level of awareness of one’s true nature and how one fits into the world in which we live. The lowest form of consciousness is unconscious, or not aware. This happens when we have an accident or to a lesser degree, when we are asleep.
When we are awake, we have different levels of awareness. Depending on our state of tiredness, hungriness, loneliness, diet, and other factors, we find ourselves being able to perceive more or less of the world around us, and more or less about the nature of ourselves.
Raising the level of consciousness provides higher levels of perception of ourselves and the world. Spirituality, at its core, is a deliberate seeking to raise the level of awareness. Many people do this through better health, better diet, and most importantly changing habits that are borne out of strategies that not longer work for us.
As we raise our levels of consciousness and we adapt to what we now see that was hidden before, we enter into flow-state. When this happens, life becomes easy and the quality of decisions create more flow state, both in ourselves and others.
Why is it important for leaders?
I have spent my life looking for ways to increase my perception beyond the usual or culturally normal levels. It is with this perception I have built my global business and community and made the connections to others who have done similar that have unlocked the doors for me in business and friendships.
Travelling to the heart of India, which has many 1000s of years in raising levels of consciousness, is a very special trip for me. Deepening my level of consciousness and raising my awareness allows me to create new content for leaders and change agents and bring more insights into change into organisations.
Good leaders can adapt and connect better than poor leaders. Using self-awareness techniques that go beyond the normal tools gives you an advantage. I have seen this myself and relate to other leaders who share this.
Raising your own awareness to enable your own flow-state, makes life easier.
This is especially important for fast-changing roles or roles that have an aspect of Change Agent in them.
This article is the first one on this topic of consciousness based on my trip to India, and this will conclude with a live seminar when I am back in the UK.
Visiting the temples in Vrindavan
Everyone is smiling, waving, singing, and generally having a really good time.
If you have been to a rave or festival, wandered around at night, and been amazed at all the activities, people, and lights, then visiting a temple in Vrindavan is similar. As I wandered through the temple, taking in the energy of the takaji (representation of God outside of space and time) and pictures, I came across a man doing a full pranam. He was lying on the ground giving full surrender of his life and body to the gods.
Something about this inside of me shifted and I felt an inner letting go.
A deep blissful joy permeated my body and I felt extremely happy, like giggling. A great space and outward direction of the flow of love from my heart and chest towards everyone there and indeed all of humanity. This was the first shift in my state of being.
From curious observer to an open heart participant.
Photo opportunities
During our stay in India, many hundreds of people, mostly families or groups of friends, have asked us for photos of themselves with us. To start with, I was very nervous about this because I did not understand it. Why would these amazing Indian families want to be photographed with us? We look different with our white skin and especially my son’s white hair. But so many hundreds of people. What is going on?
Bhakti and Krishna consciousness
A day later, our visit to the ISKON temple in the evening, provided another consciousness uplift. My favourite way to let go and connect to the divine is through singing, movement, and dance. Bhakti Yoga, or worship through singing and chanting, is a very powerful way to reach alternate blissful states.
Whilst visiting the temple, we heard chanting and singing, and entered one of the main buildings. A group of musicians, singing Bhajans (holy chants), were singing my favourite and the most powerful chant of all. The Maha Mantra.
Hare Krishna,
Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna,
Hare HareHare Rama,
Hare Rama,
Rama Rama,
Hare Hare
This mantra is sung over and over again, at different speeds. We were lucky enough to be able to sit near the musicians, just a few people away, so we got the full power of the singing. The method of singing is called ‘call and respond’. The singer of the Bhajan band sings the words above, and then the devotees (that’s us), sing it back at the same tune and speed. This is repeated usually 108 times and then a new singer takes over and has their own tune and speed. There is no gap whilst the singer is swapped.
The crowd built up quickly and soon thousands of people filled the temple, singing and dancing, and laughing and praying. Looking around, there is bliss, tears, joy, and worship. As far as the eye can see, a beautiful sea of colourful saris and other materials. Whole families are dancing around, and children join in with grandparents alike.
In the centre is the Bhajan band, with us next to them, all of us singing and letting go of our worldly worries and singing for the pure joy of connecting to something bigger than ourselves.
This was the second shift. One from open heart participant to flowing bliss.
My body entered into a state of sublime bliss. A freeing, and expanding, light joy, that went to my core. The bliss of tears of joy, so profound that I reached a state of deep love and compassion. (see my experience of what we are made of).
This left me in a very high state of warmth and friendliness long after the experience.
State of flow
During this experience and for many hours afterwards, I found myself in a deep state of flow and bliss. The people I met immediately lit up in my presence, and navigating the busy streets and rickshaw drivers was a totally different experience.
Everything flowed and worked. People were friendlier. Life became easier.
In the state of flow, the realisation is clear that things happen exactly as they should. The interconnected pathways between interacting people and places become visible and one becomes aware of the immediate future with a very high clarity. Life seems to live itself.
More photo opportunities
Outside the temple, more families asked for our photos, and at one point, an entire school wanted their photo taken with my son Thomas.
Only with this new shift in my state of being, it became clear why.
As our consciousness shifted, it was obvious that this was a form of love. A gift from us and from them. So many people asking for our photo. A curiosity yes, but ultimately a gift of the highest order. We experienced whole families bestowing their love on us, as foreigners, travellers, and visitors into this country and way of being. More than that, as fellow people in this great journey of life.
Thank you to every one of the many hundreds of families who took their photos with us and offered their support, their friendship, and divine love.
The third realisation due to a shift in perspective and growth of awareness is that people want to connect and they do so in very different ways. In this state of awareness, it is possible to see inside others and see what they are offering and hoping for, regardless of how their external request is shaped.
The third shift is transparency in other people’s energy field that goes deeper than their words or actions. This sight shows you who they are really.
Radhe Radhe
Radhe Radhe is a joyful chant, greeting, and blissful prayer said on the street to each other in passing and in day-to-day exchange. It is a reminder that Lord Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, the Hindu divine supreme god, gets his power from the power of Radha. His divine girlfriend. Rhadarani, is Krishna’s divine and eternal consort. All of the gods have their pair in the masculine and feminine. Both are needed and both are ever-present.
Krishna and Radhi, Shiva and Shakti, Rama and Sita. There can be no Shiva without Shakti and no Shakti without Shiva. These two principles of masculine and feminine interwoven throughout all of Indian society.
Many men here have told me, that the highest worship is that of a man to his wife and from his wife to her husband. A divine blissful union representing the heavenly plane.
It is worth remembering that each one of us holds both masculine and feminine energy inside of us and that it is not about women and men, but finding that union inside of us, and gender is not always aligned with the body or with masculine and feminine energies. What is important, is that we find balance in ourselves, and this allows us to love and connect with others and their balance.
The forth insight is that we all carry masculine and feminine but they are not always in balance, and we seek to find balance in the external world when our internal world hasn’t got it. We feel whole when we balance these two energies. This is a good place for many to start.
A crossroads world
Everything is possible and much occurs. In this world, we are at a crossroads. We get to choose which path we take. Will you take a path to heaven and bliss, or one of misery, lack, and aggression?
In Hindu philosophy, there are many planes of existence called Loka. We can move between these worlds by changing our habits, activities, and who we are in relationship with. The highest plane of pure bliss is beyond the body, beyond the birth and death and eating cycle. Have you wondered about those pictures of peacocks, and deer living alongside lions and tigers, and yet nothing is eating each other?
These beautiful gardens and scenes are a representation of the highest Loka. The Goloka, where bodies are no longer required, and we exist as pure bliss.
Lord Krishna is a being from the Goloka. The Goloka intersects with our world with a thin veil in Vrindavan. This is where Krishna was born. His birthplace. We can see that Krishna was not just a human living thousands of years ago but a divine representation of our higher state living in this Goloka. We can find Krishna’s birth inside ourselves.
Vrindavan is therefore an entire town for the singular purpose of achieving Krishna and Radha consciousness. This is on a whole other level in terms of numbers than we try to change in our organisations. Here we have a town set up for millions of people to explore their own consciousness and to increase their levels of awareness. Imagine what would happen if we started to explore a similar setup for an organisation.
The West’s organisational change movement in the agile space has not even scratched the surface of what is possible. We are like children playing house with no idea of the complexities of what could be.
Many leaders cannot grasp the basics of servant leadership, delegation of power, or collaboration beyond a handful of people. I expect it would be hard to find leaders, or perhaps even many change agents, who are aware enough to lead others by deliberately creating environments to shift consciousness and help people enter a flow state.
The fifth realisation is that people cannot see the wisdom from one state of consciousness from another. You MUST first shift your consciousness and then seek to understand, it cannot happen the other way around.
Emotional overwhelm and transcending the mundane
In our organisations, we are plagued with well-intentioned bosses who can’t seem to lead, staff who are mired in apathy and not caring, and systems that are optimised for small fiefdoms that disable flow of value.
What can we learn from India on this?
Much of India’s stories involve heroes and love affairs. It seems to me that we all play the hero, and all play the villain at different times. Much depends on which role we choose. I observe how quickly the hero can become the villain. Think of the current wars. Who is the hero, the victim, and the NPC? Which one are you?
As I detailed above, spiritual growth is finding new tools to reconfigure your internal strategies to find meaning, bliss, and new better strategies for flow state.
Travelling through India, and especially Vrindavan, with its people, connections, and thousands of temples with practices and people that elevate the consciousness towards the Goloka, it is very easy to transcend the mundane and to rise higher than emotional overwhelm to flow state.
The crowds and people with their beeping horns and bustle and hustle are a divine form of humanity creating a whole being that moves and flows with a grace that can only be seen from a flow state.
Emotional overwhelm comes from a consciousness trapped in a non-bliss state. People ask for photos as an offering of divine love (even if they don’t see it that way), seeing every transaction as a chance to offer a higher connection.
Playing the villain is a state of consciousness. It comes from protecting against emotional overwhelm. Knowing yourself, creating the right partnerships, and the right connections elevate us out of suffering and put us in a state of flow. When we do this, we can transcend the villain.
Change agents and leaders
In terms of modern leadership, we stop being the boss who is a can’t-do, risk-averse, micro-managing manager and start being the kind of leader who is in flow and creates the perfect environment for others to find their flow state. We start building systems that enable, empower, and ignite the passion we all were born with.
We can also move beyond the apathy of the NPC, that plagues so many people in our organisations and leaves us with such high attrition rates and such poor-quality services.
Changing our state of awareness and bliss state which results in a better flow state, is the most important skill one can develop as a change agent and leader. (or indeed anyone). The good news is, is that it is all there within you, it is a shift of awareness, not a new skill to learn.
In our organisational change work, we accept we are already whole and we set about reconfiguring our environment to experience ourselves in our blissful or more commonly phrased flow state.
I know why I am here - my purpose
I have deepened my commitment to bringing a deeper change.
I am here to bring back this energy of bliss with methods and tools we can use to create flow state. This is highly understandable and applicable to our work of organisational change. I intend to bring as many people out of the partial despair I am seeing on the faces of so many change agents who are struggling every day to make organisations better but are not heard or cared about.
Through the AWA and the Deeper Change community, we can develop a higher state of personal awareness and create a better world through our own flow state. We can create organisations that are deliberately aware. This is why I am here. I hope we can work together on this.
What’s next?
I will continue writing from India and when I get back, I will start the new series of live seminars on organisational change. They will not all be about India, but it seems good to finish this East-to-West chapter with the first seminar of the series.
The first seminar on organisational change and leadership will detail how modern leadership can learn from the Bhagavad Gita.
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I look forward to seeing you there.
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