--A sample from Hints of Laughter, Hints of Joy by Nayaswami Padma
When the community was still small, the leadership was not yet clearly defined. As in any group of people, those with good spirit were looked upon with respect, and often deferred to for important decisions. But once the community had grown to a point where it was no longer possible to manage it in that way, Swami called several of us together to brainstorm a system of governance for the communities as they moved into the future.
At the meeting, Swami posed a question: What would be an ideal form of leadership for a spiritual community? He brought up, as an example, the American system of checks and balanc- es that was meant to keep the three branches of government—legislative, executive, judicial—in a state of balance, harmony, and cooperation.
Swami offered the example as a starting point for further discussion, though not necessarily as something to be duplicated. We left the meeting with an assignment to meditate on these thoughts, and to return the following day with insights for a workable system.
At the next meeting, after some initial discussion, Swami proposed an idea: Each community would have a spiritual director and a general manager. The spiritual director would look out for the spiritual welfare of the individuals, and the general manager would concern himself with the welfare of the community as a whole.
In this way, a system of checks and balances would be appropriate also for communities such as ours. The spiritual director and general manager would work in close cooperation.
It seemed a brilliant solution, and it has worked beautifully not only at that original community, but also, since 1986, in the other spiritual communities Swami founded around the world. I imagine that in a more enlightened age, the two roles could be merged, as issues requiring checks and balances would be resolved easily by an enlightened leader. But for now, the system has served us well.
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Just as a community’s geographical terrain and climate can influence its character—think of remote villages high in the Himalayas, or cities in the desert—so too will the community’s character natu- rally be influenced by the character of its leader. A community, for example, whose leader had exceptional artistic talents might generate income not from businesses but through art and musical productions.
Another type of leader might be skilled at offering educational programs or practical services to serve the interests of the wider local area. One community might have a strong interest in dramatic performances, while another might focus on creating organic gardens and orchards. Each community will be flavored to a large degree by the talents and interests of its leaders.
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Another principle that Swami stressed is that a position of leadership does not indicate that the leader knows everything that needs knowing. Others can supply the necessary know-how; indeed, a good leader can often attract them. Sometimes, and more likely so in a spiritual community, a leader may receive his position in part in order to learn the lessons that the position can teach him, including, of course, lessons in the art of leadership itself.
Swami, like Yogananda, said that the highest qualification of a successful leader is the desire to serve. Anyone wishing, on the other hand, to appear all-knowing, or to bask in others’ attention, will be ill-suited to a leadership position.
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Years ago, the community where I lived at the time, in Seattle, Washington, received a large donation to build a beautiful temple. The temple was designed by a Swiss architect, and modeled after a similar structure near Assisi, Italy.
Building the temple was a massive undertaking for a community of our size. Between raising the funds (including a mortgage) and construction, it took a little over seven years. When the temple was finally completed, I was thrilled to tell Swami that its doors would open as soon as he could come to bless it!
He responded, “You see—I didn’t have to be directly involved. You all were able to accomplish this.” I understood his meaning. Swami taught us, including by words and his example, that a leader should delegate whenever possible. In this way, many people can receive the blessing of allowing the Divine to flow through them.
Moreover, he didn’t merely delegate: He gave constant inner support and guidance.
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Grassroots decision-making normally means that those most directly involved with a project are empowered to make decisions regarding it, and allowed to move it forward without seeking con- stant permission. Centralized decision-making, by contrast, means that every decision must be run through the overall leadership, even if the leaders are living at a great distance, in another commu- nity, nation, or even on another continent.
A good leader will encourage grassroots decision-making by first ensuring that there is a competent leader at the local level. He will then step out of the way and allow the person in charge locally to make the decisions (and mistakes). Swami was such a leader. Grassroots decision-making seemed risky at times, but it somehow always worked out for the best.
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Swami encouraged decentralization—which is another way of saying that he advocated grassroots decision-making. In a booklet that he published in the early 1970s on intentional spiritual communities, he advocated a model in which communities would be legally and financially autonomous, though bound together in the most important way: spiritually.
It would take fifty years for the communities that Swami founded to achieve a fully decentralized structure. Today they are flourishing, united by a common spiritual aspiration, though scattered across the globe.
Most organizations, it seems, have an unfortunate tendency to attract leaders who love to be in control. Any ego-born desire to control others, however, is an impediment, not only to the leader’s ability to serve the organization and its members, but to his own spiritual welfare. Thus Swami worked hard to ensure that the communities would be organized in a manner that would help and not hinder the spiritual welfare of all of us, including the leaders.
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“A work often dies with its founder.” This common fate motivated Swami’s strong effort to select and train good-spirited leaders. He wanted the communities to be able to move forward in the right spiritual and practical directions without his constant outward presence. Thus, he trained the leaders to go directly to the ultimate Source for their guidance. And, drawing on that guidance, to support others by praying for them and their needs, by involving them, by giving them responsibility, and by checking in lightly to support them as needed.
Swami was a superb leader because he spoke and acted only as God guided him inwardly. For those of us who witnessed the unfailing wisdom behind his decision-making, it was tempting to leave the last word to him, and thus avoid the risks in making decisions ourselves. For this reason, to help us grow as leaders, for some of us it was best to live at a distance from Swami, so that we could be thrown in at the deep end and learn to swim. If he had hovered in the background, it would have been a constant temptation to seek his explicit guidance.
This was something I experienced many times, when Swami put me in charge of large projects without expressing clear expectations. Swami was always concerned about our growth—he would give us all the freedom we needed to learn from our successes and mistakes. Being put in charge without detailed instructions forced me to reach deep for inner, intuitive guidance. It was only when I didn’t get it right that he might give a gentle hint to point me back in the right direction. In this way, he helped me grow at my own pace.
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Paramhansa Yogananda lived and taught intuitively; he rarely spelled out what he intended. Swami, too, taught and led intuitively. If he asked you to do a job, he would always offer it as a choice; it was never a command. Nor would he define the task in detail. Thus we had to go inside to find the right guidance. Thus we learned to live intuitively.
--from Hints of Laughter, Hints of Joy by Nayaswami Padma
1 comment
Surendra
Looking forward to reading this book. It’s sure to be a gem, filled with Swamiji’s wisdom for us to channel as we strive toward higher consciousness and our Self-realization.
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