Stressbuster.(The Talk of the Town)(Sanskrit Vedas; Swami Parthasarathy)

When an American businessman calls upon a guru of the Eastern persuasion, he is generally seeking to be abused for his attachment to success and worldly goods while also learning how to acquire more of both. Swami Parthasarathy, eighty years old, a native of Chennai, India, having renounced a lucrative career in the family shipping business and the Rolls-Royce that came with it, and founded the Vedanta Corporate Academy two hours southeast of Mumbai, has a deep understanding of this delicate role. In the past, he has harangued and soothed supplicants at Microsoft, Ford, and Lehman Brothers, and has been invited by the deans of Kellogg and Wharton to instruct M.B.A. students in the use of the Sanskrit Vedas for purposes of serenity and profit. On a recent visit to New York, he appeared at "21" to instruct members of the Young Presidents' Organization (to join, you must be younger than forty-five and run a business) in the management of self and stress.

"After that traffic, he's gonna help us relax, right?" one young president, wearing an open-necked blue shirt and a blazer, said as he waited for the elevator.

"I hope he makes us think," a female young president in a white trouser suit replied. "Not relax, but the opposite."

The meeting took place in a room upstairs whose walls were lined with ornate beer steins. The Swami was introduced by a female acolyte in a silver-and-white shalwar kameez, who informed the audience that Parthasarathy still followed a regular regimen of yoga, jogging, and cricket, and noted that "Swamiji's corporate seminars are always a sellout."

The Swami himself, wearing a white cotton dhoti kurta, walked to the podium and regarded his audience for a moment in silence.

"Stress!" he declared in a dramatic undertone, his hands clutching the lectern. The room hushed; the Young Presidents chewed their roast beef very quietly.

"Stress is entirely an internal phenomenon!" Parthasarathy shouted. "You are the architect of your fortune, you are the architect of your misfortune. Don't blame the stars! Blame yourself! A man goes to his lawyer to divorce his wife and says, 'What's the fee?' 'Five thousand dollars.' 'How long it takes?' 'Six months.' 'I pay you ten thousand dollars, you make it three months.' Another man is desperately waiting to marry the same lady! What's this? The lady is the same who produces agony to one and ecstasy to another! Therefore I put it to you for your consideration: stress is in you. Period."