Last week, Mr Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, visited the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateshwara at Tirumala near Tirupati.

He was accompanied by Mr Krishna Kumar, chairman of Tata Tea, and they participated in the pre-dawn rituals conducted at the shrine. They were at the temple for about 30 minutes. Sources say that Mr Tata regularly visits Tirupati along with Mr Krishna Kumar.

Mr Tata is just one among many big businessmen of the country who frequent temples for solace and for strength.

"They seek out their own way to peace," says Mr Bikhubhai Chauhan, a well-known astrologer consulted by several businessmen. "They seek guidance and advice for good dates or good mantras," he says.

Most of them also pray at favourite temples on the eve of major business ventures or mergers. Business is not just about economics in a religion-soaked country such as India. And Tirupati stands out as one of the biggest pilgrimage centres for businessmen.

Mr Anil Ambani, the chairman of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group, is another frequent temple visitor. Sources close to him say that he makes at least two visits to Tirupati every year. Prior to 2002, when his father was still alive, Mr Ambani had performed the parikrama at Kailash Mansarovar. It's a three-day trek and he had done the gruelling rounds on foot while many others do it on horseback or are carried.

Mr Ambani also undertakes the Amarnath yatra regularly as a devotee of Lord Shiva. He often visits the Nathdwara Temple with his mother.

Before the split of the Re-liance group, he had made a flurry of visits to famous temples across the country.

Similarly, his friend and superstar-businessman, Mr Amitabh Bachchan, became the devotee of the famous Siddhivinayak temple in Prabhadevi in Mumbai after his business ventures ran into trouble.

After he started going to the temple, Bachchan was able to revive his fortunes through Kaun Banega Crorepati. He still walks barefooted from his home at Juhu to the temple. Now his family members, including son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya, often join him for this ritual.

"It is a common practice among businesspeople to conduct pujas at particular temples on every important occasion," said a famous priest. "Sometimes there would be 20-25 purohits performing rituals," he added. A leading businessman of yesteryear, Satyanarayan Goenka, had fallen very ill when he was on a business trip at Brahmadesh. He then came into contact with a guru who teaches the Vipassana meditation technique.

It gave him relief from his disease and so he started this school of Vipassana meditation in Maharashtra free of charge.

Mr Goenka recalled how another businessman had approached him saying that his partner was trying to grab the whole business. The veteran advised him to practice Vipassana.

"After a while, this helpless businessman became the sole proprietor and he bought out his worrisome partner," said Mr Goenka. "He is now a successful businessman and also a de-stressed person," he added.

Businesspeople are also heavily tuned to Vastu. Mr Murali Krishnan, a Mumbai-based Vastu consultant, said he had helped many a company make a turnaround. One IT firm located at Vashi was facing huge problems in the area of order booking, employee performance and profitability. Day by day the orders were going down and good staffers were leaving. The growth graph started declining and eventually it entered the negative terrain.

Then Mr Krishnan was called in. After a thorough investigation, Mr Krishnan asked the directors to vacate the area in the northeast direction, where unwanted material was dumped.

Toilets were also located nearby and Mr Krishnan asked them to shift the toilets and empty the space.

The management did so and soon the ambience changed from negative to positive. "Within a month, the company experienced a positive response on all the fronts and now it is making good profits," he said.

Another loss-making firm in Mulund was also reportedly salvaged by Mr Krishnan. The firm had placed its heavy machinery in the no-rtheast direction, the director's cabin was in the wrong place and most importantly, the entrance was not in a proper direction.

"This kind of interior creates turmoil in the long term," said Mr Krishnan. "I advised them to shift the heavy machinery towards Southwest and create an entrance according to Vastushastra. Within a few months company saw a turnaround," he added.

He claimed that at least six companies in the same belt were facing a similar crisis, but all have become better after they changed their interior arrangements suited to Vastushastra.

Another Vastu consultant said that the executives of Microsoft Corporation usually took the prasad of a Hanuman temple at Srirangam in south India for Mr Bill Gates. He also claimed that Mr Gates had built his home according ro Vastushastra.

It is believed that Vastupurush will shower prosperity if pleased. No wonder then businessmen go the extra mile to keep the spirit in good cheer.

Yogesh Mehendale