I was born in Delhi and am the daughter of the late Padmashri Shantikumar Raja and Smt. Kamalini Raja. My father was the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Food & Agriculture. Around the time I was born, my father refused to join politics when asked by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and Shri Morarji Desai. He was posted on loan service from the Central Government to the public sector undertakings as Chairman to improve general working. The family started travelling to the places of his postings, such as Pimpri, (Pune) Rourkela, Ranchi, Vadodara and Mumbai.
I graduated and topped University (M.S. University, Vadodara ) and completed my post graduation in Political Science from Mumbai University. I registered for a PhD but could not complete it, as I got married within the year.
Since childhood, we had a senior and very elevated guru in the family whose spiritual teachings became a way of life for us. He taught us respect to adults, honesty, motivation, helping others always, ethics in everything we do and much more. Spreading these spiritual teachings has become my calling since the last few years.
Tell us about any current projects or initiatives you wish to promote
I have been actively trying to promote a spiritual way of thinking and living among people. Being an Independent Professional of Hypnotherapy for ten to 12 years, I have seen the misery of people up close and personal. I help my clients wherever I do workshops and talks, to take charge of their lives in every way.
My current project is the beginning of a beautiful sharing of practical spirituality, hopefully, on an annual basis. We have a new spiritual group called SOULSEEKERS . It is an international group and I am spearheading its first Spiritual Retreat this year, from 15th to 19th September, 2016 at Hotel Taj Gateway, Coonoor. Specialists from all over the world will come and teach practical ways of spiritual evolution. The topics covered will be Akashic Records, Chakras, transforming negativity to positivity for wellness, Health through Ayurvedic principles of living, Dualities, polarities and sexuality and many more.
What has been your biggest challenge in achieving your success?
When you set a goal, challenges will always confront you. I have realized that when you are guided, things work out smoothly. However in this field, my biggest challenge has been to appeal to people to separate spirituality from man-made religions. The word “spirituality” is a very misunderstood word and people generally shun what they don’t understand. There is a huge movement of imparting knowledge about everything being energy, thanks to stalwarts such as Dr. Brian Weiss (Past Life regression), and many therapists like me. The knowledge of the form being dense energy is leading gradually to an understanding that energy changes its form but can never be destroyed. This is vital knowledge that we have to impart to further the cause of evolution and establish the eternity of the soul. But it is very difficult, because this is all about what the human eye cannot see. But, I am sure, with more and more of our tribe of light workers taking on the mission of spreading this knowledge; we will see a growth in spirituality as the science of the human soul.
Before embarking on this career, I wanted to become a singer. From 1983 to 1992, I have had many performances, TV programs and recordings to my name. I performed in India and abroad and wrote and sang my own songs in many languages, such as Bengali, Gujrati. I have solo albums in Tamil, Hindi, and Bengali; ghazals, bhajans, geets and light music recordings. I am a trained Hinustani Classical and Semi Classical Vocalist and have performed at prestigious classical conferences like Dover Lane festival, Kolkata, The Music Academy, Chennai, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, and London.
That was a challenging field from many angles. But while I was in it, it was wonderful. I never gave it up as a conscious decision.
One day, it was just amazing how I was guided into Hypnotherapy classes without having had any previous intentions that I can recall. When someone asked me if I was interested in training to be a Hypnotherapist, I went in as if I was meant to do this. The rest is history, as they say. I started my own clinic BodyMindSoulCentre. I have been doing one-to-one sessions with clients with any kind of mental, emotional or physical challenges. Life has been wonderful and has acquired a new meaning.
What has been your greatest achievement personally?
I think each time you master a quality, it is an achievement. Achievements are a lifelong process. I can say with confidence that every healer like me has overcome their own personal negativities from past lives and this life, and should have succeeded in cleansing much of the baggage before arriving at a stage of helping others with theirs. Like they tell you on the aircraft, we need to put on our oxygen mask first, before helping the neighbour.
If you weren’t doing what you do now, what would you be doing?
I have learnt to be happy with whatever I do. From a small town, traditional upbringing to the exposure of a city and a well-known family, I took every opportunity to hone my skills and do plenty of organizational work to build up my confidence and facets of my personality. I have multi-tasked on many levels. Now, if I had to leave it all, I would still be at peace and spend the rest of my life helping people, reading, meditating and evolving more and more.
Who has been your biggest inspiration?
My mother, definitely. She is my first guru. She has been a living example of inspiration and motivation. Growing up, I watched her develop herself beautifully to stand shoulder to shoulder with my bureaucrat father. She played the sitar, sang melodiously, and is a great cook and social worker. She educated herself from matriculation to Master of Arts after marriage, drove a car, learnt Bengali and many other languages. All this while having been a small town, traditionally and strictly brought up, and completely unexposed to the outside world. She is my biggest inspiration, for sure.
What does the future hold for you?
Only evolution and more evolution, both for myself and as many people as I can help. Practising spirituality is to clean up one’s karma from past lives and this life. Today, we have several effective techniques to achieve this. I am and will always be on this path
