acumen that drives the mission, but also a firm spiritual basis, inspired by the teachings of sri aurobindo, a mid-20th century spiritual leader. he believed that good work and good ideas are a manifestation of the divine. >> part of that is to recognize that whatever ideas you get, it's not really your ideas; they are divine ideas. so, how do you kind of act on it but are not taking the egoistic ownership to those ideas, like "i have done it"? so, how do you train yourself to open up? >> reporter: one way aravind has opened up, or shared its ideas, is by training some 250 hospitals in 40 nations to adopt its methods. it's the ethos set by his uncle. dr. v, who was single, never took a salary. in fact, he mortgaged his home to start aravind, and he also coaxed or inspired 34 members of his extended family to work here, starting in 1976 with his sister natchiar and her husband. both left surgical careers in america to work here for about $20 a month. >> today, oh, my god, we are very, very happy. in fact, at that time in '80s, we were not happy, even though dr. v was happy. in the family, li