Emotional intelligence arouses out of egolessness and has a direct bearing towards spirituality. However should it be achieved by connecting with the divine or by relevant knowledge.

First, I shall explain what I understand by spirituality. Anything that is legal, moral and leads to peace, happiness and equanimity comes under the purview of proactive applied spirituality which emphasizes more on prevention rather than cure . It has more to do with correct thinking since incorrect thinking leads to wrong action and undesirable consequences. It is concerned more to solve problem at the cause level than at the effect level( Running after different types of meditations and divine knowledge).

A spiritual teacher in one of his discourses stated that once a beggar while giving away his daughter in marriage authorised his son-in-law to beg from a particular street. Strange
though it may seem, it goes on to show that irrespective of position, everybody has Ego mismanagement of which is the root of cause of lack of emotional intelligence

Many youngsters who pass out of college may suffer from “ I know it all” syndrome. This can lead to a lot of inter personal conflicts within the organisation. Swami Sivananda said once that nothing educates a man more than pain and suffering. We know from History how after adverse experiences , Ratnakar became Valmiki and people like Budhdha , Angulimala and Emperor Ashoka got trasnsformed. Even generally it is believed that age is the dawn of wisdom. However the problem in the 21st century with all its complexities is whether one should wait for adversity to happen for the young people to learn or try and impart proactive wisdom.It is also said that it dawns when you make up but the reverse is also true - It is too late to spare when the bottom is bare or It is too late to grieve when the chance is past.

Wisdom can come only from experience but imparting can be attempted like this:-

There is a panchtantra story on how a hungry lion grabs a rat and when
the rat appears for mercy stating that he may prove helpful to the lion
one day, the lion finds it so funny and ridiculous that he roars with
laughter and treats the rat with a condescending attitude. Later when he
gets trapped in a Net, he becomes helpless and is rescued by the rat
which proves embarrassing for him considering his earlier egoistic
stance. The issue is to be able to replicate it with real life examples such as these:-


1) For turning around Chrysler corporation, Lee Iaacocca had to
approach the government for funds. The irony was that he had himself
castigated the govt finances vehemently once and now the boot was in the
other foot . He actually had to face the flak because of his earlier
strident criticism.
2) The story goes that when movie SuperstarAmitabh Bachchan approached Manmohan Desai
for a role when he was struggling, Mr Desai had told him to cut his
legs and come. Later they made some of the biggest hits of both their
careers together.( Truth in this depends on Film magazine)
3) In recent memory, Mrs Jayalalitha caused a lot of problems for the
Vajpayee govt when he did not have a majority in the late nineties.
However the same Jayalalitha had to plead with the centre for funds for
Tamil Nadu when she came back in 2001.

4) When Wasim Akram was captain of the Pakistani cricket team, he was frequently accused of ruining the career of fellow team mate Waqar Yunus. Now the boot is in the other foot with Waqar holding the honour.

On being asked about his achievements towards the end of his life, Einstein replied that he was only collecting pebbles on the sea shore. Even Socrates at the end of his
life said,” The only thing I know is that I know nothing.” If history’s
greatest scientist and greatest philosopher say that ,then where is the
scope for ordinary mortals to be egoistic about their achievements. ?

Nobody remains powerful or weak all the time but this is realized by hardcore practical experience which is unavailable to people who are freshly out of college or university. Having the correct and relevant knowledge to dissolve the ego is as important though not as fancy as doing meditation and connecting with the divine . Both approaches should be followed.One need not be overobseesed with Raja yoga.At most times, an integrated approach is better- one can even try and follow all the four yogas (Rajayoga, Bhakti Yoga, Janan Yoga and Karma yoga)simultaneously if the situation calls for it.