Corporate Management - Spirituality anchors life

by Nilima Pathak

Rocky Mohan, Executive Director, Mohan Meakin Ltd.

Rocky Mohan recounts how his company's origins go way back to Edward Dyer from the UK who set up the first-ever brewery in 1855 at Kasauli, India. Years later, another British entrepreneur H.G. Meakin bought the old Simla and Solan Breweries and set up more units. Today, Mohan Meakin has diversified into breakfast cereals and glassware.

Despite changing times, the company's basic values remain the same—integrity and craftsmanship.

"I'm a believer in supernatural powers. I also believe there's divinity," says Mohan. In his opinion, God is a derivation of goodness in man. At the same time he feels the downside of it all is combining spirituality with religion. He elaborates: "I'm averse to religion and feel it's for the weak-minded and not for those who have belief in themselves. I agree we all need an anchor in life, which spirituality provides.

"We are not a religious family. But our upbringing has been such that goodness is imbibed in us..." Being good and noble gives one a sense of satisfaction, he feels. "But I tend not to use spirituality as a form of meditation or spend time invoking the kundalini."

Cool, confident and composed, Mohan has always had faith in himself and has never felt the need to have a guru. Yet, he gushes: "I find Osho an extremely vibrant thinker. I feel he has been grossly misrepresented. I have also read Swami Vivekananda and U.G. Krishnamurthi, both enhanced my ability to understand spirituality without the religious trappings."

Mohan feels that people like Shiv Khera and Deepak Chopra are successfully selling Indian spirituality abroad. "The simplicity of the erstwhile days is over," he opines. "There's a constant need to alleviate the stress we live with in this complex world. And because we are unable to comprehend what's happening around us, we tend to bank on different forms of spiritual guidance. This means looking towards people we think know more. But I personally feel by looking inwards we would be able to become more spiritual.

"If the fundamentals are right, if your family nucleus is strong, I don't think one needs gurus. I spend a lot of time with my wife and children and that helps a lot."

A workaholic and practical person, Mohan says: "I believe in the good things of life. In the sense that I like to practise some goodness in whichever form I can. But I do question certain things: Is giving food to orphans a form of spirituality? When you are philanthropic in any way, most of the time the fear is whether you are really doing justice to someone, whether the donation will be correctly used. One is skeptical about the help one extends. And after a point of time, one does shy away."

Besides exercise, cooking is a form of relaxation for Mohan. His book Art of Indian Cuisine provides simple, lucid instructions on cooking.

Being a businessman gives him a good feeling. "I definitely feel that ethics and business can go together," he says. "There are numerous examples. Now there are laws that make you ethical. Plus one remains content with oneself. Today I'm a very happy and content person. Fortunately, God has been kind. He's given me the ability to feel very relaxed by what I do and I enjoy what I do."