ONCE UPON A DREAM....
What made Bhavanishanker Kandlurmam donate a silver mantap for the utsava murti of Lord Bhavanishankar during Kanakanjali –the 50th birthday-commemoration of our Mathadhipati Parama Pujya Sadyojat Shankarashram Swamiji? The story of a man who journeyed from Puttur to Zurich without leaving his roots behind Photo credits - Jaikishan Kandlur (July 2019)
If I were to tell you that the Managing Director of Credit Suisse A.G.Zurich Switzerland has advised our Yuva-s to “religiously do japa, perform puja and dedicate yourself 100% to whatever you take up,” what would your response be? Either you would dismiss me with a “You must be joking.” Or you would permit me to introduce you to an amazingly successful Chitrapur Saraswat gentleman named Shri Bhavanishanker Kandlur. Born in Puttur, South Kanara, educated in Mangaluru, initially working in Mumbai and for over 26 years now – based in UK, USA and Switzerland, Bhavanishankermam’s life story reads like a modern fairy tale, except for the applause-worthy fact that his meteoric rise in the exclusive world of super-success on an international map has been due to “hard work, perseverance, self-discipline, dedication, passion, ambition and the drive to conquer new heights year after year!”
It is time to say "Thank you"
Over and above all the qualities listed above is Shri Kandlurmam’s long and strong association and deepening bond with his ‘maternal home’ – the Shri Chitrapur Math. Here is his ‘truth-is-stranger-than-fiction’ story, in his own words-
Meet the Best Relationship Manager
“My parents –the Late Shri Suresh Rao Kandlur and Smt Seetha Kandlur brought me up in Mangaluru where I studied at the iconic Ganapathy High School and graduated with a degree in commerce from the Government College. After a few stints of work-life at Thomas Cook under the expert tutelage of Shri Ramakrishna Hemmady, at the Shamrao Vittal Co-operative Bank under the guidance of Shri. P. P. Bhat, The Bank of Credit and Commerce International, the American Express Bank Mumbai which gave me postings at London and New York in various capacities, then the Standard Chartered Bank , London and finally in 2010 I joined Credit Suisse, London from where I was relocated to Zurich, Switzerland in 2012. Today I work there as the Managing Director.”
Hear what he has to say about his strong connect with our Math and Guru and how this has empowered him to give of his best to the world outside -
'Tvameva Mata cha Pita Tvameva' Bhavanishankermam and Vijayapachi with Pujya Swamiji
“My earliest recollection of our Math is when my paternal grandfather- Ved. Kandlur Dattatreya Bhat was Pradhan Archak at Shri Samadhi Math, Dattatreya Sannidhi and Shri Umamaheshwar Temple, Mangaluru. My connect with our present Mathadhipati Parama Pujya Sadyojat Shankarashram Swamiji began with their first visit to Shrimat Anantheshwar Temple, Vittal in December 1997.
“Ever since my upanayanam at age 15, I have religiously performed Sandhya vandan and Deva-puja of the deities at my home. Till today I continue to perform the same along with japa and yogic exercises as taught by Pujya Swamiji. Every morning my entire puja routine takes almost an hour. This is the best way to begin my day for it enables me to face all the challenges thrown up at work.
“ I took mantra diksha in the year 1999 at Khar Math, Mumbai and I have been religiously practising this irrespective of which part of the world I am in”.
Some years ago Bhavanishankermam was blessed with a dream in which he was directed to offer a silver lalki in seva to Lord Bhavanishankar. He immediately contacted Pujya Swamiji and was told he would be informed when and in what form to offer the seva. The ‘golden’ opportunity came during the Kanakanjali utsava which took place at Santa Cruz, Mumbai to commemorate the 50th birthday of our Mathadhipati- Parama Pujya Sadojat Shankarashram Swamiji. That was when Kandlurmam offered a silver mantap for the utsava murti of Lord Bhavanishankar.
'Tvameva Bandhu Sakha Tvameva'
For the last four years he has been the Chairperson of the Shashti Organising Committee at Shri Anantheshwar Temple and from 2018 he has also been a trustee of the Shri Umamaheshwar Temple. Earlier, Kandlurmam has been Treasurer and President of the Saraswat Samaj, UK. He has also performed a lot of seva-s for Shrimat Anantheshwar Temple like the renovation, re-installation of the ‘dhwaja sthamba’ and much else..
The Divine Power is a bhukti-mukti pradayak... its Blessing ensures both material prosperity and spiritual progress. Speaking of his brilliant, award-studded professional journey on an international canvas, Kandlurmam happily proclaims, “ I attribute 100% of my professional success to the Grace of our Guru Parampara, Lord Bhavanishankar and Lord Anantheshwar”.
This is how the outstanding track-record reads-
Bhavanishanker mam has been consistently winning awards since the year 2000 with American Express Bank as ‘Greatest Achiever, Sales Excellence in the years 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. In 2013 he was awarded with ‘Top Client Advisor with Credit Suisse’ in Zurich. In 2016, he got triple awards for ‘Best Relationship Manager’, ‘Contributor of the Year’ and first member of the ‘IWM CEO Club 2016’. This year, once again on 6th March in the fourth International Wealth Management Conference, held at Burgenstock, Lucerne, Switzerland the CEO of Credit Suisse AG, Zurich-Tidjane Thiam conferred on Kandlurmam the highest award of Credit Suisse AG Zurich - Best Relationship Manager. The CEO said that his hard work, skills and experience, plus the qualities his colleagues see in him have earned Kandlurmam a position of particular importance for the future with the bank. The CEO also invited him to be a member IWM CEO club 2018 within the International Wealth Management Division for his exceptional performance and achievements that have distinguished him among his colleagues. “Bhavanishanker is a great role model of IWM’s entrepreneurial spirit and winning mindset and he epitomizes meritocracy – a key element of the bank’s conduct and ethic standards,” the CEO commented.
This globe-trotting sadhak ,whose exceptional success on the career-front is more than matched by a strengthening connection with his roots, sums up the reasons for his sparkling success story in just three words: hard work and dedication.
“I attribute 100% of my professional success to the Grace of ourGuru Parampara, Lord Bhavanishankar and Lord Anantheshwar”