New Delhi: The co-founder of Fortis Healthcare, Shivinder Mohan Singh, has sprung a surprise by renouncing the corporate world and joining a spiritual organisation. The 40-year-old responded to a higher calling and will soon be moving from providing service for profit to providing service for its own sake.
Shivinder and his brother Malvinder Mohan Singh are two of the poster boys for the burgeoning Indian health care industry. The brothers were ranked 63rd on the recent Forbes list of India's 100 richest people, with a net worth of $ 1.8 billion.
The Singh brothers were originally in charge of pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy which was acquired by their grandfather and then expanded by their father.
The brothers diversified into health care by starting Fortis in 2001 and then shocked many by selling off Ranbaxy to the Japanese company Daiichi Sankyo in 2008.
After wrapping up his duties as executive vice-chairman at Fortis, Shivinder will head to the town of Beas near Amritsar and do voluntary work on a full time basis for the Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB). But he will continue to be associated with Fortis in a non-executive role and will retain his seat on the board.
Read Also: Fortis Executive Shivinder Singh to step down; to join spiritual organisation
In a statement, Shivinder said, "Having spent almost two decades setting up and running Fortis, our mission of saving and enriching lives is an integral part of my being. Over time, this has inspired me to do more direct service and give back to society a little of what I have received in abundance."
The RSSB is headed by Shivinder's uncle, Gurinder Singh, whose discourses reportedly incorporate teachings from a diverse set of religious texts.
According to the RSSB website, "The basis of every religion is spirituality. With the passage of time and changing social values, the basic spiritual teachings become embellished with extra rules and considerations, and eventually take the shape of a religion. RSSB is trying to maintain the core of spirituality without allowing it to take on a formal structure."
The RSSB allows its followers to retain their religious preferences. The only conditions are a vegetarian diet, abstinence from intoxicants and the practice of daily meditation.
Incidentally, while the RSSB does not have any name recognition outside Punjab, some of its followers are much better known.
Shivinder is not the most famous among them. That honour goes to Bollywood heart-throb, Shahid Kapoor. In fact, Shahid's wife Mira Rajput is also a follower of the sect and reportedly their marriage was arranged by Gurinder Singh himself.
Will Shahid Kapoor now renounce acting to join the RSSB full time? We will keep you posted on that!
