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The purpose of this paper is to outline the unique aspects of Vivekananda’s interpretation of Vedanta philosophy.

The doctrine of the One and the many being the same reality is the philosophical core of the vast and varied treasury of Vivekananda’s teachings and, indeed, of his life.

Vivekananda has given a remarkable interpretation of the Vedanta philosophy which is not only universal but also both inspiring and rational (and accommodative).

Combining service with spirituality, grounding religion in rationality and being very contemporary in its sensitivities, Vivekananda’s thought is poised to become the ideology of the modern Indian nation.

Vedanta philosophy is inclusive of ethics that are well-grounded in Vedantic metaphysics and constitutes a very effective response to the inequities and corruption widespread in contemporary societies.

This chapter explores the concept of ‘dharma’ (duty orientation) and ‘karma’ (action orientation) of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from Vedantic (Vedanta) viewpoints. Islam, Buddhism and Christianity have received wider attentions in the CSR literatures from philosophical and religious perspective. However, Vedanta is yet to be explored in the context of CSR. This chapter therefore is timely and fills the gap in the CSR literature.

In this chapter, the authors employ hermeneutics, a qualitative research methodology which involves the study, understanding and interpretation of religious texts of Vedanta particularly the ‘dharma’ and ‘karma’ in the context of CSR.

In a nutshell, the Vedanta provides an inside-out approach to CSR, which is development of the individual leader’s self-conscience. The leaders and the role they play in corporations are crucial in ensuring transparency, good conduct and governance towards the ultimate aim of achieving CSR.

This chapter analyses the Vedantic perspectives on communication in establishing CSR objectives. It investigates the problems and prospects of Vedantic style of communicating CSR.

This study aims to identify the various dimensions of workplace spirituality (WPS) and determine whether these dimensions act as predictors of innovative work behaviour (IWB) among bank employees. This study also aims at studying the moderating role played by sense of God (SOG) between WPS and IWB.

The methodology involved both qualitative and quantitative approaches. This study was carried out in two phases. Item generation, questionnaire development and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were conducted in phase 1. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted in phase 2. Seven WPS dimensions originated through EFA, which got validated through CFA later. Structural equation modelling was used for hypotheses testing. To explore the proposed relationships, cross-sectional survey was done on a sample of bank employees from public, private and foreign banks.

The findings reveal that WPS is a seven-factor construct and affects the IWB of bank employees. The results indicated that four dimensions of WPS significantly increase IWB, and that SOG moderates the relationship between WPS and IWB.

With increasing globalization, there is a growing concern as to whether Indian employers would be able to meet employees’ spiritual needs. Indians tend to have high inclination towards God; through their religious associations, they try to develop a sense of spiritualism. Awareness about the effect of SOG and also the dimensions of WPS on IWB will help organizations in designing effective interventions for making employees more innovative.

The authors believe that the empirical studies testing the consequences of WPS on IWB in the banking industry are limited; also, SOG’s role as a moderator remains unexplored; thus, this study is an attempt to fill the gaps.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how Vivekananda, in his quest for sustained human development, explores a new generation of humanity by combining some of the active and heroic personality elements of the West with the meditative and yogic personality skills of the East.

Because of Vivekananda’s pioneering efforts in the last decade of the 19th century, ancient India’s Vedânta philosophy of human life, along with the Yoga system, has now become a common heritage of all mankind. Vivekananda’s assertion that a human being is potentially divine – one of the major tenets of ancient India’s Vedânta philosophy – has been used as the philosophical foundation of sustained human development.

A psycho-physical human being’s initial individuality could be developed towards a psycho-social personality with its manifold existence by manifesting the aesthetic, ethical, heroic and spiritual possibilities lying hidden in an individual person.

Persons with different degrees of higher assimilative qualities create different personalities. A psycho-social personality could lead to the path of sustained human development essentially by controlling its mind.

Paradox theory looks at ambidexterity as a set of paradoxical yet interrelated demands. A form of response to such paradoxes is transcendence. Currently, there is limited understanding of the concept among researchers. Using concepts from the Indian philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, this paper aims to provide a deeper understanding of transcendence, highlight some of the epistemological challenges it presents and suggest ways in which the concept can be used by practitioners and ambidexterity researchers.

The paper uses concepts and theories from advaitic episteme to look at concepts of paradox and transcendence. The method of adhyaropa–apavada is introduced as a way to help individuals get a transcendental perspective of paradoxes. The application of the method is demonstrated using secondary data from published research on ambidexterity management.

It is postulated that transcendence is an “intuitive experience” born out of reflexive thinking. The dialectic of adhyaropa–apavada (affirmation followed by recension) is suggested as a pedagogical tool that can promote reflexive thinking.

The paper significantly adds to the theoretical understanding of paradoxes and transcendence in ambidexterity literature. The paper also makes a strong pedagogical contribution to literature by suggesting the dialectic of adhyaropa–apavada that can be used by managers to promote reflexive thinking among subordinates when faced with paradoxical situations.

The aims of this paper is to deal with the issue from the perspective of Swami Vivekananda’s original contribution toward our fight against “Inequality and Poverty”.

Some of our approaches toward sustained human development are tangential in nature. However, it is a fact that no single objective is achievable without development on others.

“Sustained Human Development” is a comprehensive subject.

Ever since Vivekananda’s historic appearance in the Parliament of Religions in 1893 in Chicago, scholars of different fields have been engaged in assessing his seminal contributions in various areas of human development.

This paper aims to define a capability-based sustained/total human development, after reviewing both the concept of “Surplus in Man” as the source for achieving the Vedântic ideal of transcendence, and the capability approach to human development.

The capability-based sustained/total human development has been defined by integrating the Vedântic concept of “Surplus in Man” and the deontological theories of morality into the basic approach to capability-based human development.

An answer to the question: “How to apply a holistic approach to our daily life?” is outlined.

An example is provided on the role of yoga and meditation as the key initial bridging forces between the Western and Eastern concept of mental health. Also, the recent trend in a morally demanding lifestyle of a section of people in the Western societies for moving towards a galloping spiritual pluralism has been exemplified.

Role of responsibility of an individual human being along with his or her right has explicitly been emphasized in the approach to capability-based sustained/total human development.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on Swami Vivekananda’s teachings on higher self-development through karma yoga – spiritualizing contemporary life in today’s fast-paced world – and on evolving a more humane civilization through the service of enlightened citizens.

Stressing the essential role of self-development in human progress, Swami Vivekananda taught Vedanta to East and West as a practical dynamic philosophy.

With his prophetic vision, he adapted ancient wisdom for modern living in his concept of karma yoga. Extending the idea of “holy” to the whole of human endeavor, whether exploring truths in the world or discovering the light of the soul within, Vivekananda deemed every struggle sacred when pursued with sincere, selfless intent.

Each action taken in the right spirit, Vivekananda taught, can manifest our innate divinity and bring us one step closer to our sublime nature, which acts in the common good.

An ecologically sustainable future calls for fruitful dialogues between spirituality, modern science and policymaking at large. What could be that connects them all? We found out that ideas about holism exist across time, space, culture and thinkers – ranging from mathematics, philosophy, sociology, medicine, education, religion and quantum physics to finding its roots in ancient Indian Vedic tradition and later usage in Greek and Roman cultures.

This chapter takes a look at the history and intricacies of two seemingly distinct but interconnected fields – spirituality and modern science, particularly quantum science – with an aim to uncover what these fields can teach us about the idea of holism. This chapter, therefore, highlights one of the most fundamental and profound spiritual principles of the unity and interconnectedness of the entire universe – encapsulated in the concept of holism – and its practical applications in approaching sustainable development. We hope to ignite further research on this topic.