Pages 34-37

The reason spirituality is more in vogue than religion (a quick dipstick on Facebook preferences will validate this statement) is because the old paradigm of iconic religious texts, idols and persona are being replaced by energy shifts. And quantum physicists have also got a handle on this now. It was always evident to Reiki masters and Pranic healers… but today ordinary people like me are becoming energy channels, which are drawn from divine masters in constant connection with the brighter world.

Some of these masters I have personally experienced. Sai Baba, Amma-Bhagwan, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Chariji. Equally admirable are the many others who have evolved systems that empower others to enable self-realization through modular teaching packages. I encountered Colin Tipping and Louise Hay through Antharyami; an awakening institute. Bijan was my client. James Redfield, Bob Proctor, Laura Silva, Joe Vitale, Tony Robbins and John Assaraf came to me through various media; books, seminars, courses and programs. All of them are of evolved consciousness and play an active role in furthering the evolution.

And of course, a special mention is due for Jim Dornan. When I first encountered network marketing in the mid-nineties (then mostly multi-level marketing or MLM), I was appalled and cheesed off by the way people almost deified their uplines. Now I understand. It’s a low vibration response to a high vibration being. The job of the high vibration being is to create the charge for enhanced consciousness. With Jim, work has always been in progress.

“So what will network marketing do in such a context?” I was intellectualizing with Nama (a highly evolved spiritual being himself) the next day as I carried my thoughts over.

“It will empower”, he said, “because leaders empower and network marketing is all about creating leadership.”

“And it does not require a management degree to become a leader”, I mused.

Nama laughed, “that usually gets in the way!” I knew he wasn’t taking a dig at me but I felt miffed anyway. And then I realized I was in awareness of how I felt. Which meant I was better connected to divine awareness. And I felt better.

We were meeting after work at a coffee shop to plan the week. With all the thoughts connecting consciousness with network marketing in my head, I had been silent for most part of the day. My wife had not even noticed, but that too was ok. Any explanation would be like one of the fabled six blind men describing the elephant. The subject was like that. No wonder it took about 6 exposures for an average person to begin to ‘get it’.

“Cappuccino?” “That’s for him”, I said, happy to distract myself again. The waiter placed the iced tea before me and left.

“As long as you can continue to understand the other person Sandeep you will be connected with the other person. “Network marketing is a great practice-field to live life”, Nama remarked, continuing the thought.

Hmmm. I didn’t really know what to say. All of a sudden the tall tea glass before me seemed to develop a life of its own and briskly swept itself off the table and through my fingers onto the floor. “Oh gosh!”

Without missing a beat Nama said, “we always create our circumstances. The glass reflects your state of confusion about where to land. On the management side or in the leadership stream.” He smiled. Always smile when you say anything potentially offensive. “By the same token, you can change everything anytime.” Hey, that was the same thing the Antharyami discourse had said out of Colin Tipping’s book. Things seemed to be converging again.

“Meditate on it. The answers will come from inside” offered Nama with a smile. Was that a network marketer telling me this? No that was a mentor. Till then I hadn’t realized how network marketing success depended hugely on right mentorship. I had always thought it was about ‘convincing people’ to buy products and enroll. At the coffee shop I was beginning to understand that the only one who needed to be convinced about success was the one I saw in the mirror. This entire industry primarily facilitated that process.

As the attendant returned to clear the mess I’d created with the tea, Nama commented, “you know, to do any business one needs 5 things… Products, Marketing Strategy, Training, Finance and People.”

“Right”, I said, wondering what that was leading to.

“Let us look at each of these in the context of Network Marketing” he continued. “The product for network marketers is wide open. Anything can flow in the network. For example, in a telecom network, once your cables are laid, you can flow data, voice, video, text… whatever, through them. Similarly, a network marketer is actually in the business of laying the cables… comprised of consumers consuming good quality products.”

“So what you’re saying is, as B-quadrant business owners our focus is to maintain the robustness of the cable… the product per se, is immaterial?” I was surprised. Most people I knew earlier started and finished the conversation with the name of the product company.

“Yes, that’s what I’m saying. As a network marketer you can be sure you will always have a great product… or in fact various product lines… which is why it is the least of our worries. What’s more important is the strategy for success in network marketing. And that’s designed to reduce individual work and increase System and team work. By allowing a System to work, every Network Marketer can leverage more from the team than by charting their own strategies.”

This I understood. Robert Kiyosaki recommended Network Marketing so passionately because the marketing strategy was set in place by a System. True network marketers will search for a system for success and abide by it… and in doing so would change their everything… from mindset to finances to relationships!

Encouraged by my emphatic nods Nama continued, “Further, in Network Marketing you get training and operating advice for free, from extremely successful business owners! Because they have a vested interest in your success. Every action of yours… the cost-benefit… the effectiveness… the impact… is well known in advance and you can follow footsteps to operate like the best.”

Thanks Nama. You are leading by example. How I wish people would just accept help rather than fight their individual battles with life. This I believe is the most undervalued bonus of Network Marketing…  it builds the mindset for leadership in all walks of life. And once that develops everything else is a cakewalk!”