Breathing oxygen
What is a yajna? Ordinarily, people think that offering oblation in the ceremonial fire is a yajna—fire ceremony sacrifice. But the real yajna is the breath. Oxygen is in the atmosphere, which is breathed in and out by the imperishable soul abiding in the body temple. With each breath Oxygen travels to touch the real fire, which is the soul, the real God. In the Jnana Shankalini Tantra, it says, brahmagnau huyate praanam: “The Oxygen touches the indwelling Self,” Thus, yajna is life, all the activities of life, the fire ceremony of life in man, animals, insects, plants, trees, and even in grain. It is the reason that everything is alive. This ceremony is the life of God. When one feels that every breath is an oblation to the fire in the fontanel for the love of God, this is the real fire ceremony. To know aum tat sat is real spirituality, the real oblation.
Strategic Dimension
Most economic descriptions of a firm talk about survival of the firm and enhancing shareholder value as the aim of business. This is like saying that the objective of a ship is to stay afloat. The entire crew of the ship is busy keeping it in top working conditions, but no one knows where the ship is going or what cargo it is to deliver where. Adam Smith suggests that the "Invisible Hand" of market forces will guide the ship to wherever it is destined to go.
More recently Milton Friedman suggested that the business of business is business. This is perhaps why so many firms are unable to frame their strategic documents other than in business terms. Oxygen has defined its business in human and spiritual terms.
Invocation of Vision
At Oxygen, our inspiration comes from our Guru and he is the HEAD of our firm. While the Guru's words are timeless, ours is a business firm firmly rooted in everyday events of business and transactions. Our firm captures glimpses of the truth in the same way that a lake reflects the moon in an imperfect way... its outline shifting and breaking with every ripple on the surface. By adopting a certain detachment from the ups and downs of business fortunes, we try to calm the surface of the lake so that it might reflect the moon more clearly.
Our Mission:
To Seek The Truth Through Creativity
1. Discipleship
Discipleship is the core competency at Oxygen. Discipleship is above all an attitude. Our idealism lies in seeing every experience in life as an opportunity to learn. We ask: Can we treat every person we meet respectfully as a Guru? This is difficult to achieve; most of us can only have that reverence for certain people and certain experiences. Anyone can learn from a wise man, but a true disciple can learn from anyone. As he progresses in discipleship, the seeker hears the words of his Guru in the wind, in the rain and, of course, words spoken by others. That's our ideal.
2. Fearlessness
That Discipleship requires humility, there is no doubt. But humility should not be mistaken for fear. Humility comes from the knowledge and sense of awe and respect for other people and for the environment. While fear renders a person powerless, humility, paradoxically, makes one stronger mixed with a sense of gratitude. The even greater mistake is to think fearlessness is arrogance. At Oxygen we believe in fearlessness. We believe that we should do our best and speak out fearlessly. No one in Oxygen, will be penalized for speaking the truth. However the aim of speaking the truth is always to learn/understand/grow and to express oneself. Never to put down another person.
3. Work is worship
In the villages, during harvest season, people offer the BEST of every harvest to the temple or church. The attitude of Work is Worship at Oxygen means that we offer only the very best. We do it for HIM and no one else. Work is worship not commerce; however we also WORK at commerce. What this means is that (1) we may sell our products, but when we work our aim is not to create merely a saleable product, but something worthy of offering to the Lord. It also means that (2) our marketing department also considers work as worship. It is a philosophy that unites us all.
4. Secular Space
While Oxygen does have a clear direction that is set by its core values, Oxygen is firmly grounded on the value of mutual respect. There is no compulsion for anyone to follow a philosophy.
The management will try to provide inspiration from the Guru's words but recognizes the fact that we are not carbon copies of each other. For example, while we at Oxygen do not condone arrogance, we understand the burden of our 100% philosophy and we do tolerate personal whims and the occasional outbursts, as long there is an overall commitment to mutual respect. Oxygen respects and protects the individual's right to practice and follow his own truth, even if that truth suggests that there IS no such thing as truth. However, Oxygen expects its members to follow secular principles of being honest and respectful to each other.
5. The Human Dimension
This asks the question: “How does Oxygen’s business enhance the lives of people it comes into contact with?” “People”, in this case, refers to not just employees, but also to customers, vendors, service suppliers, etc....quite literally, anyone who comes into contact with Oxygen. From this perspective, the objective of our business is to help people grow creative and become better persons.
6. The Spiritual Dimension
The spiritual dimension at Oxygen recognizes that all people are engaged in the spiritual quest and sees business too, as part of the quest. Hence we view a business enterprise as a group of seekers, for whom work is worship, their sadhana. Unlike a religious organization, which reaches down to touch the world, we at Oxygen believe that our business firm is rooted in the world of business and transactions, yet reaches up towards Truth beyond this dimension. This calls for a clear vision that touches both the realm of Transactional Reality and the world of Transcendental.
