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Pradeep Krishnan talks to Jaya Kishoriji on the importance of inculcating the invaluable lessons from the scriptures to enhance our life journey

A short video clip on WhatsApp caught my attention. A cute, young, fair girl, smiling beatifically, with a small red bindi on her forehead, dark hair tucked neatly at the back with a black band, in a white churidar and saffron-coloured shawl, was giving a talk: ‘I can and I will.’  The intermittent soulful rendering of bhajans invited all-round applause from the audience. She spoke about smart work, tips to overcome failures, and the need for a spiritual orientation in life, and declared that one must have the attitude in life that until one wins, the game is not over.  Hearing her mature words at once prompted me to know more about her.

Born on July 13, 1995, in Kolkata, to Shiv Shankar Sharma and Sonia Sharma, Jaya Sharma imbibed her first lessons in spirituality through the stories from the Puranas and the bhajans that her grandparents sang. At the age of seven, singing Krishna Bhajans, she enthralled the audience on a Vasant Panchami day, and at 10, she started giving public talks on Sundara Kanda from the Ramayana. 

Since then, Ms Jaya Kishori, as she is affectionately addressed, never looked back. Her talks soon extended to the Bhagavata, the Bhagavad Gita, and other scriptures. She is of the view that scriptures like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and the Bhagavad Gita are invaluable in our lives. “Each and every person mentioned in the scriptures teaches valuable lessons of life. They facilitate the understanding of the true meaning of life, and the relatable experiences teach us how to handle tough situations. The answers to all our questions lie in the scriptures,” she says.

She has a million followers on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. She focusses on nurturing faith and positivity in people and inspires them to lead a peaceful life.  Stressing the importance of moulding one’s character, she says that the key to a successful life depends on good parenting so that children grow into competent, successful, and, more importantly, good human beings. 

For her outstanding contributions in the spiritual arena, she has won several awards and recognitions: the Samaj Ratan Award from Narayan Sewa Sansthan, Udaipur; the Sanskar Artist of the Year 2013-2014 from the Sanskar Channel, Mumbai; the Adarsh Yuwa Adhyatmik Guru Puruskar, instituted by the Bhartiya Chattra Sansad, Pune, in 2016; the Youth Spiritual Icon by Fame India Magazine; and the Women’s Era award. Recently, an NGO, Fidatians Helping Hands, bestowed on her the Kanya Kavach honour for her outstanding contributions to women’s empowerment. A large part of her income is spent on various charitable activities.

Listening to some of her talks on YouTube prompted me to register for her session, Spiritual Well-Being, which focussed on a “life that feels good on the inside, not just outside.”  During the one-hour interactive programme, narrating the incidents from the scriptures, Jayaji offered practical tips on attaining mental peace and stability, studying the scriptures, knowing one’s duty, moving away from negativity, having absolute faith in the Divine, writing a daily diary, practising detachment, finding a mentor to learn the scriptures, avoiding blaming others, and meditating.

When contacted, Jaya Kishoriji, who lives in Kolkata with her parents and sister Chetna Sharma, promptly consented to an online interview with Life Positive. 

Jayaji, how did you come to the spiritual path, and who is your guru? 

My spiritual journey started at the tender age of seven. Being born and brought up in a religious environment, my childhood was filled with stories of the Almighty as well as values taught by the elders of my family. This sparked a love for spiritualism in me and inspired me to become a spiritual orator and motivational coach. I have always believed that all that I have achieved till date was not planned but destined to happen, and by God’s grace, it shall keep moving in the same direction.

I consider my parents my first gurus because of the life lessons they have taught me. Every person I meet, every challenge I face, and every failure of my life is a source of learning. All my life, I have had several gurus who have helped me in finding the purpose of my life.

Do you often miss the normal life of an ordinary college girl?

Yes, sometimes I do, but at the same time, I love the work I am doing. I have been blessed with so many wonderful opportunities and friends around the world, so the things that I have sacrificed in life do not matter much to me. 

At a very young age, you have become a guru, teacher, guide, friend, and motivator to hundreds of people. What do you consider yourself to be? 

I do not consider myself a guru, and I request people to not consider me as one. I strongly believe that Lord Krishna is the universal guru, as his teachings are life-changing. I do not give diksha (initiation) or make anyone my student. I feel loved and respected when people consider me as their friend, guide, philosopher, or helper. I am always happy to help people. 

How can one achieve one’s purpose in life? 

The purpose of human life is to acknowledge the fact that success and failure were never the purpose; the purpose was always to learn and live from the experiences and challenges thrown at us. We have been given the life of human beings to utilise our God-given talents to help the needy, lessen the pain of our fellow human beings, and make the world a better place for everyone. The purpose of our lives can be achieved if we are dedicated to it; it demands passion, discipline, and patience. By being spiritually strong, the path becomes easier to walk on, as we are in a much more peaceful and calm state of mind.

How are values and virtues important in the present age?  

Values and virtues help to enrich our experiences in life. At times, when we are in a dilemma, or when our mind is in conflict regarding a doubt, a strong value system facilitates decision-making. It is very important to know that values may differ from person to person, but principles are universal—they do not change. Values are of different types such as biological values, psychological values, intellectual values, moral values, and cultural values. All these values have their importance and power over our beliefs, character, behaviour, and spirituality. So, a strong value system will definitely lead to a peaceful life.

Do you think that today’s youth are aimless wanderers? Why do they get easily depressed, fall prey to suicide, and become drug and alcoholic addicts? 

I don’t consider them aimless wanderers. Rather, our youth are exceptionally intelligent and capable of forging a bright future. However, they lack the proper guidance that they search for due to a lack of true mentors. The system needs to bring a change in the way life lessons and values are taught to the youngsters. Previously, we had the gurukul system of learning, where each student had a guru who would guide them in all aspects of life till the day the student was ready for the world. But nowadays, learning has become a race. It is not about values or behavioural learning anymore. It is not about how to be a good human being but about inculcating a materialistic mindset in children’s minds, where one who gets the highest marks or earns the most is given importance. Due to this, parents are setting higher goals for their children, not realising how this behaviour is adversely affecting them. This gap, between the expectation of the parent and the capability of the child, needs to be addressed with good parenting so that our children are close to us, share their problems with us, and do not suffer alone in pain when faced with any problem in life. By addressing these issues, we can understand and help each other so that our youth do not fall into any of these self-destructive habits. Listening to each other will always help in overcoming misunderstandings and reducing pain.

In your talks, including motivational sessions, why do you often narrate stories from the scriptures?  

The stories contain valuable teachings for all of us to imbibe. Let me share three life teachings from the Mahabharata: 

In the company of Shakuni, who poisoned the relationship between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, the latter’s negative emotions—hatred, jealousy, and aggression—towards the Pandavas, grew stronger and stronger. On the other hand, had it been Krishna, he would have guided them to be on the path of righteousness, making them understand the power of love over hatred.  So, it is important to be surrounded by friends who always try to lift one up. 

Every struggle, failure, or loss in life teaches us a deep lesson.  During their years in exile, the Pandavas went through innumerable difficulties, painful experiences, and struggles. The lessons they learnt and the struggles they underwent made them ready for the war and, ultimately, made them victorious on the battlefield. In life, everyone will have to face success and failure as well as stressful situations and happy times. These first-hand experiences play a major role in shaping our lives. When faced with adversity, instead of getting scared and restless with fear, we must try to learn the lesson behind it and control our minds to be ready for the life ahead. 

Being human, one must possess feelings like kindness, caring, and attentiveness. However, being too sentimental is a weakness; one is not able to view the thing or the person one is sentimental about in the right perspective, and ultimately, it leads to problems.  Dhritarashtra was a good king, a good husband, and a good father, but his extremely blind attachment to his children made him take the wrong decisions that led to the battle of Kurukshetra. Had he paid proper attention to the mistakes of his children and punished them, perhaps, the war could have been avoided. The story teaches that by becoming overly emotional and attached, one tends to neglect the negative traits of the other and thus invites unfavourable life situations. 

How can one benefit from the study of the scriptures?   

Our scriptures teach us valuable lessons on how to live our lives with peace, patience, love for all, compassion, walking on the path of righteousness, personal growth, and many more. I request everyone to read the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavata and share their experiences. But mere listening or reading will not help. One must practise these three things: shravana (hearing with concentration), chintan (comprehending the meaning), and manana (contemplating). I have a video on my channel explaining this topic.

Have you ever felt any limitation as a woman? What is your advice to young women? The media is increasingly reporting atrocities on girls and women. What is the way out?

As a strong, independent woman, I believe it is my duty to stand up for our women. I am forever grateful to my parents for raising me with the respect and freedom that every woman wishes to receive in life. Women empowerment is a very crucial step for all of us to unite together and make a safe working and living environment for us and our future generations.

My advice to young women is to be confident and not let limitations stop them from achieving their goals. The journey is tough, so at moments when you need a ray of sunshine, always remember the powerful women who made history by standing tall and making a mark in the world by not letting the world limit them or decide what they were capable of doing. Learn from the great and become the greatest.

Yes, I too deal with a lot of limitations and negative people who try to pull me down and not let me fulfil my dreams, but with the support of my family members at every step, I conquer these situations. I would say women are unsafe and treated unfairly on monetary grounds in most parts of the world and not just in India. 

Jayaji’s message to the readers, especially the youth?

Inculcate spirituality in your lives. Spirituality is the process of being fully aware of yourself and your surroundings. It is a process to realise the greater purpose of life. Self-realisation is one of the most important aspects of spirituality. In order to comprehend the different situations of our lives from a wider perspective, we need spirituality. 

There are certain virtues associated with spirituality, like compassion, empathy, and open-heartedness. Before interacting with people, we must first try to listen to our own thoughts and address them. Here is where spirituality comes into the picture; the path of Self-realisation addresses our fears and provides solutions on how to overcome them.

If we are spiritually strong and we know who we are, only then will we be able to help others and take care of them. The sooner we understand this, the better it is for us.

Quotes of Jaya Kishoriji

“Sometimes the problems of your life can be solved by changing yourself instead of changing others.”

”It is not about where you are; it is all about where you want to reach.”

“Every moment of your life is an experience to learn from. Cherish it because this treasure of experiences will make you distinguished.”

“Waiting for the perfect opportunity will make you waste your whole life. Start with everything you have today and do your best.”

“Patience, consistency, and a peaceful mental state are necessary to excel in life”