KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 6): Sustainability will not happen if it does not begin from an inner consciousness that we are one with the universe. This is the message of Indian spiritual leader Sri Preethaji, who was speaking at a talk entitled “Conscious Sustainability: A paradigm shift from within”, in Kuala Lumpur on Friday (Aug 5). “It may look like we are separate from the world, but in reality, we are connected with it.

The trees produce oxygen, which we breathe. Our existence is supported by the whole universe,” she said in her talk organised by the Asia School of Business (ASB). “Do you think we can survive if we keep destroying the species around us?” she asked. Preethaji zeroed in on the consumption frenzy of modern society as a root cause of the sustainability crisis.

“We are facing this problem today because we just want more and more and more — more wealth, more profit, more food, more growth,” she said. The solution is to go within and find our inner stillness, said Preethaji, who is the co-creator of Ekam, described in her profile as a global centre for enlightenment. When we act from that place of oneness, she said, our existence becomes a blessing to every being around us.

Preethaji is on a world tour for the next two years “to share life-transforming insights and practices to ignite a passion and quest for enlightenment”. In his opening remarks, Dr Renato Lima de Oliveira, an assistant professor of business and society at the ASB, presented an overview of the sustainability programme of the business school. The talk was organised under the outreach activities of the programme, he said.

Speaking to theedgemarkets.com, Preethaji said that when we are stressed internally, we may strive for wealth, but it does not give us fulfilment. However, when we create from a sense of inner calmness, that harmony is reflected in our entire being and all that we do. She recommended a three-minute practice — “The Serene Mind” — to increase inner clarity.

Originally published by The Edge.