The wrath of social media was unleashed on spiritual orator and life coach Jaya Kishori when she was seen at an airport with a Dior handbag. A bag is a woman’s best friend. But this didn’t stop her from being trolled mercilessly because she is a spiritual speaker. Her critics claimed the handbag was a luxury product, worth over Rs 2 lakh, and it was made from cow hide. Jaya Kishori countered the critics, but this brings us to the bigger question — is a spiritual speaker prohibited from savouring the good things life has to offer?
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The critics said that a spiritual speaker and coach should not own a bag worth 2 lakh, and that it was abject materialism.
But this is not the first time Jaya Kishori has been open about her love for finer things in life.
She discussed her love for Iphones in an interview with Lallantop, a sister media platform of India Today Digital.
“I buy one [iPhone] as the latest version comes each September,” she said.
WHAT JAYA KISHORI DOES FOR A LIVING
Her carrying a Dior bag was slammed because of what she does for a living.
Jaya Kishori’s website reads that she is a “spiritual orator and life coach. Motivational Talks”.
Kishori also has a YouTube channel with over three million subscribers. She discusses religion, spirituality and life, which resonate with millions of people across India.
She started her career in bhajan singing and spiritual oratory when she was just 7.
She even appeared on the popular dance reality show ‘Boogie Woogie’ at the age of 10 and performed classical dance.
While she holds kathas regularly, Jaya Kishori has also sung in music videos for big brands such as T-Series with singers like Sonu Nigam and Jubin Nautiyal. She also produces and sings for her YouTube channel.
She owns a PR firm, Kishori Ventures, which looks after the business side of her work. This involves events and her merchandise, which includes everything from notebooks and posters to plants.
“This Jaya Kishori Chhichha Leather bag is a manufactured controversy. She is bagwati because she is rich. A successful entrepreneur, she commands a high price for her time and storytelling skills. Yes, she doesn’t practise what she preaches. But then, who does? Let her enjoy life,” satirist and columnist Kamlesh Singh wrote on X.
JAYA KISHORI DOESN’T PROMOTE RENUNCIATION
Essentially, Kishori is a content creator who makes use of spirituality to speak to people. This is similar to how other content creators use science, economics and art to connect to people.
She uses spirituality as a vehicle to put across her message, and it isn’t that it defines her entire personality.
To add to this, Kishori is also a 29-year-old woman who works hard and earns her own money. She has never said she was a renunciant of any kind. There is hardly any video where she asks her audience to renounce worldly belongings.
“Those who have come to my ‘katha’ know very well that I never say that everything is ‘moh maya‘, don’t earn money or renounce everything. I have not renounced anything, so how can I tell you to do so?” she said after the controversy over her Dior handbag snowballed.
Kishori motivates people through her words. But even in her work, she has always encouraged a balance between enjoyment, principles and values.
From humility to truth, she discusses it all along with her devotion to God.
There is also no kind of spirituality which prohibits a person from buying what they like after they have worked hard for money.
Neither does spirituality ask for abject renunciation.
Sadhguru is seen with his superbike. Osho also used to travel in luxury cars.
“I am a normal girl, I live in a normal house, I live with my family. I tell the same thing to young people that you should work hard, earn money, give yourself a good life, give your family a good life, and fulfil your dreams,” she told ANI.
SPIRITUAL SPEAKERS AREN’T ASCETICS
Kishori also clarified that she did not use a leather bag. It was made of fabric.
“The bag is a customised bag. There is no leather in it and customised means that you can get it made as per your wish. That is why my name is also written on it. I have never used leather, nor will I ever use it,” said Jaya Kishori.
Moreover, one needs to make a distinction between spiritual speakers, kathavachaks, and ascetics.
While ascetics renounce everything materialistic, spiritual orators, on the other hand, make a living by narrating stories from the scriptures. Spiritual orators aren’t spiritual gurus either.
There is a storyteller’s curse at work here.
When a person narrates a story or a certain type of story repeatedly, people start associating them with the characters in the story or the morality of the story.
That is exactly the curse at work here, but people need to keep discerning here. Spiritual orators might speak of Gods and ascetics, but they aren’t ascetics themselves.
As far as her love for Dior bags and iPhones is concerned, Jaya Kishori works hard for them, and nowhere does she ask her audience to stay away from them. What she teaches is balance in life. A balanced opinion, which social media trolls lack, is also the hallmark of any thinking person.
