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N Vaghul: Evolution and the Extinction of Self

Volume 15, Number 1 Article by Narayanan Vaghul March, 2003

N Vaghul: Evolution and the Extinction of Self :

Narayanan Vaghul, currently Chairman of the Board of ICICI Bank, joined the organisation in 1985 as Chairman and CEO, leading its transformation from a small size long-term credit bank to a large diversified financial conglomerate. In addition to being on the Board of several companies and educational institutions, he has been closely associated with policy formulation at the national level.

However, Vaghul’s interests do not end with business. A keen student of Vipassana meditation and Yoga, he is a persuasive advocate for spiritual discipline, which alone helps one realise one’s fullest potential. Spiritualism, he says, arises from wanting to understand the finer points of our existence in order to lead a better life. Science may figure out the hows and whats of life, but can perhaps never find out why. But 2500 years ago, a knowledge revolution took place all over the world, starting with Gautama Buddha and lasting several centuries. The mystics who represented this quiet revolution, including the Upanishadic rishis, Lao-tse, Zarathustra, Socrates, the Hasidic Jews, the Christian mystics and the Sufis, spoke different languages, but they all converged on one point: that the belief in a supernatural force need not be by inference. The reality could be directly experienced, not by the normal methods of perception, but with your mind. And in order to perceive reality directly, it is necessary to bring the restless and disobedient mind under your control. One of the ways in which this can be done is through Vipassana, a technique taught by the Buddha. Once one is able to control one’s mind, the ‘I consciousness’ weakens and one evolves to a higher level of the mind, where one is not swayed by passions aroused by the obsession with self. The final stage of evolution in human life is reached when the sense of self becomes completely extinct, and you realise that you are the reality you are seeking; and you become one with the cosmos. Dipping into his rich store of science, history, mythology and folklore to illustrate his points, Vaghul builds up a logical argument for the spiritual life.

Reprint No 03109