PVLF 2025

Interview with Kishore Asthana, Author "Awaken Your Inner Self: Stories for Your Soul"

In this interview, Kishore Asthana, author of 'Awaken Your Inner Self,' offers profound insights into nurturing your soul and embracing inner peace.
on Jan 24, 2025

Kishore Asthana is an engineer and an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad). He was with the Tata Administrative Service and then spent 26 years in Oman. At the time of voluntarily returning to India in 2004, he was the Group Vice Chairman for the group owned by Sayyid Asad Tariq Taimur, the brother of the Sultan of Oman.

Mr. Asthana has read and mulled over the holy books of all the major faiths and has made a special study of the Upanishads and the Gita. He has constantly tried to present a rational view of the Sanatan Dharma. A number of his articles towards this quest have been published in the Speaking Tree column of the Times of India.

He has been meditating for many decades and has had some wonderful spiritual experiences. He has mentioned these in his Book of Living in Contentment & Dying Serene.

Swami Paramatmananda ji is a senior direct disciple of Swami Dayananda Saraswati ji & founder Acharya of Arsha Vidya Mandir. He has this to say about Mr. Asthana:

”Kishore Asthana has lots of Punya Karma and some ‘brought forward’ sanskaras that have brought a 180 degree turn-around in him”.

”He is blessed and among the few chosen ones whose thoughts can resonate with truth that everyone misses knowing in general.”

Frontlist: The theme of 'New Beginnings' often involves self-reflection and mindfulness, both of which are essential for personal growth. How does meditation, a practice you've honed for decades, empower readers to develop these qualities and apply them in their everyday lives?

Kishore: Imagine holding many items in both hands. You need to move something from a cluttered table to make space for these. However, with so many things in your hand, you cannot move anything from the table.

Our mind is like that. Usually, we have a large number of thoughts crowding it. New inputs are bombarding it all the time—new concerns, worries, even good news. All its 'hands' are so full of stuff that it does not have time for self-reflection and mindfulness, which, as you have noted, are essential for personal growth.

Meditation helps clear the items on the mind's 'table' so that a place can be found for self-reflection and mindfulness. A good meditative session 'drains' all these thoughts out of present consciousness and makes the here and now ready for self-reflection and mindfulness. And then, this is where one can reach:

My mind flits from desire to desire,

Craving ice now, and then fire,

Forming the wave I call my life

Till one day, it meets the sea.

All is calm, there's no Me.

No "who" nor "what" nor "why".

No "am", just I.

Frontlist: Many people feel disconnected from their inner selves due to the chaos of modern life. What practical advice from your book can help them take the first step toward spiritual awakening?

Kishore: This book clears some common misunderstandings. One of them is that people tend to expect that anyone else's spiritual experience will be the same as theirs. The story of the Lotus Pond in the Himalayan village explains why everyone's experience is unique to the person and why we should not keep anyone else's spiritual attainment as our goal.

Other stories similarly make the reader aware of other spiritual truths.

Frontlist: In your book Awaken Your Inner Self, you introduce the concept of meeting an eternal guide. What is this guide, and how can connecting with it provide readers with clarity and support to overcome the challenges they face in life?

Kishore: There are two steps to finding the Eternal Guide. The first is to follow a Guru who understands the seeker's needs even better than the seeker himself or herself does. There are many forks on the way ahead, and the Guru will advise on which one to follow. Such support provides the clarity needed to overcome the challenges in life.

A wise Guru realizes that he or she is only a means for the seeker to find the way to where the Eternal Guide is to be found beyond the challenges of life.

This Eternal Guide is no other than the Self.

Having said the above, it is important to remember that it is not always possible for everyone to find the desired Guru, especially at the start of their journey. One should not wait for that to happen. Sincere meditation will lead the seeker to their Guru like a guided arrow.

Frontlist: Holistic wellness is about aligning mind, body, and spirit. How does your book contribute to achieving this balance, especially for those new to the idea of spiritual growth?

Kishore: The best way to answer this question is to quote from the book review by Mr. N.B. Nair, Scientific Officer (Retired), BARC, Mumbai, on Amazon:

"Awaken Your Inner Self" by Kishore Asthana is not just another cumbersome book of philosophy; but a delightful bouquet of small flowers of varied shades: each inviting you to experience its unique blissful scent. The book features a collection of independent short stories, each can be read in just two or three minutes: but deserves to be followed by hours of contemplation and meditation to get a real feel of it.

In many philosophical texts, the author religiously drives you to greater and greater depths, and the ordinaries like me will find themselves lost on the way and opt to retrieve back. Here, Asthana takes a different approach: he guides you gently, allowing you to delve deeper based on your own attitudes and abilities. He is neither the Guru who dictates nor the engine that drives you deeper but just a signpost indicating 'You may go this way as well,' leaving the choice in your hands.

It is a new concept of taking you in steps, at your pace, to the same destination, through novel and varied routes, with absolute freedom. Each one of these stories is totally independent and complete! They just trigger you; how deep to go is at your will and pleasure.

Frontlist: The book is as much about discovering inner peace as it is about connecting with the divine. How are these two aspects interconnected in your book?

Kishore: Inner peace and the Divine are not in two different places. The Divine is discovered in the sense of bliss that is found in inner peace. That is a place that you reach when you have gone up the ramp that leads to the Highway of Spirituality, from the crowded and noisy Roads of Religion that are below it.

The stories in this book illustrate what to expect when you reach there. The beauty of this place may motivate some seekers to try earnestly

Frontlist: As we begin the year focusing on 'New Beginnings with Holistic Wellness,' what key takeaway from your book do you believe readers should carry with them to start their journey?

Kishore: My advice to all seekers is this—MEDITATE. And then this in the here and now:

When you reach the Beloved's door

And you want to enter,

Don't knock or call,

For I have been told,

The password is soundless.

Your objective is not mundane. It is what seekers have strived for from ancient times till now. Some enlightened ones have reached the place where they can say:

Not for me pilgrimages galore

Or visits to seers, door to door.

Wherever I look, there I am.

My holy land is where I am.

These short stories can help you start your journey today.