15 June 2012(2) - QA 6

I work in the Business Industry and I see a lot of competition in the industry and lot of companies struggling with each other to get market share to improve their bottom line; and I see at the end of the day that a lot of stress and malpractices basically originating from the concept of corruption.
So I would like to know your thoughts on corruption and how to deal with it at different levels.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I have been the founding member of India Against Corruption (IAC), and in Russia also we have formed an association against corruption.
Corruption begins where the sense of belongingness ends. Again when the spiritual quotient finishes that is exactly where corruption begins its field. Nobody will be corrupt or take bribe from someone who they feel belongs to them. An officer who is sitting in an office will not ask for bribe from his kith or kin, or his own friends. He starts asking for bribe from those whom he thinks he has nothing to do with. So we need to create the sense of belongingness and for that the spiritual awakening in people is necessary – education!
Secondly, competition is not bad but unethical competition will not be sustainable. This is essential.
There is an ancient thought that says that a business can use as much ‘lies’ as there is salt in food.
‘Lies’ may be a little too strong a word, but it basically means that a business man can say that his product is the best in the world, knowing fully well that it may not be the best. This much is allowed, and can still be considered ethical – claiming your thing as the best although you may know that it is the second or third best.
If you say, ‘I have this product, but I am not sure that this is the best, maybe there are other better products’, then you will not be a good salesperson. So that little skill in action is allowed, but the skill should only be as much as tolerable levels of salt in food.
If there is too much salt you can’t eat the food, and if there is no salt also, it is not palatable. This is an ancient thought from the Vedic times.
But the same is not allowed for a social worker or intellectual, or even a king; only for businessmen a little bit is allowed.