MysticMag had the absolute privilege of conversing with Feroze Dada – Meditation teacher at the Sylvan Healing Sanctuary, Author, Philanthropist and Entrepreneur. He shares some of his thoughts and views on the art of meditation and offers us a glimpse into his world of fascinating experience and wisdom.
Feroze, how and when did your own spiritual journey begin?
Going back to my childhood, I always remember a voice inside me asking what my purpose was for being in this world. I didn’t fully understand the reason for this question, nor did I know what kind of answer I would get.
I had to wait fifty years before meeting my Spiritual Master. He once said to me: “A seeker is like a rose growing in a desert!”. And similarly, the well known adage – when the student is ready, the Master appears – certainly applies. I believe it takes many many lifetimes for the right Spiritual Master to appear in one’s life. This is where it all began for me.
How, in your opinion, does one become a healer?
Firstly, let’s clarify or define what a healer is and what a healer does. What is healing? Healing is the harnessing of the Universe of energy, through the healer who acts as a conduit.
How does this energy work? My Master once said that to define a spiritual concept in human terms is impossible.
Healing energy has its own intelligence – and therefore is beyond our comprehension as to how and where it works. It is not what you expect but rather what you need! Often the person receiving the healing may be disappointed because their expectations were different. The healing energy has its own intelligence and does what is required.
Certain spiritual concepts cannot be understood and defined in human terms; they are experiential. They need to be lived, felt and breathed to be understood.
Your latest book – A Disciple – focuses primarily on the powers of spiritual meditation? What can you tell us about this – in a nutshell?
I had the very good fortune to meet my Spiritual Master and, in addition, also an amazing meditation teacher. The latter was a monk in Myanmar, and this story I recount in my first book, Children of The Revolution. He taught me meditation of the mind, or Anapana & Vipassana meditation, which really hones into our senses of smell, touch, audition and cognition, and allows us to focus on the moment or to live in mindfulness – in the present.
The second, was my Spiritual Master who, on the other hand, taught me Sufi or mystic meditation. This is a meditation of the inner self – the Soul, the Spirit, God Divine. We all have these subtle senses within us which we do not refine and do not use correctly (consciousness, perception and intuition). Fine tuning these senses with breath meditation in the heart allows us to connect to the world intuitively without the preconditioning of the mind and the knowledge is received in a much more complete and undistorted way.
What advice do you have for those who have not yet discovered the magic of meditation and how does the novice approach such a seemingly immense feat?
I would refer back to my story where I landed in the monastery in Myanmar, and which later inspired my book, Children of The Revolution. I saw hundreds of children but children like I had never seen before. They were the poorest of the poor, yet the happiest of the happiest. I realized that something extraordinary was happening. The monk was teaching them meditation and from as early on as one year old – Meditation was all that they knew. This brings me to my point; start early and be patient. The benefits derived from starting early on will be much greater and we all know it is more difficult to teach an old dog new tricks – possible but difficult.
The exercise of meditation is in fact simple – it is being aware of your breathing in its simplest form. Listening to the breath coming in and out and allowing the mind’s thoughts to drift away like the clouds in the sky. Of course, there are more refined methods as one progresses.
And with this simplicity comes impediments; because it is easy, people get bored and start fidgeting or allow their thoughts take over. There are several techniques mentioned in my book – A Disciple – to allow people to overcome this. Another problem is expectation. You have to be modest and patient in your expectations. What I can say is that you will be given what you need and not what you expect and you will certainly enjoy the rewards of your meditation.
What is the mission of the Sylvan Healing Sanctuary and what is your role within?
One of the reasons why I was so attracted to the Sylvan Healing Sanctuary and found it to be my home (as was the monastery in Myanmar) is that people have only one purpose – only to appreciate the gift they have been given, and NOT to make money. My colleagues’ sole purpose is to support and heal others and to encourage people to learn to do the same for themselves. It is not just giving healing, but teaching others how to heal themselves.
My own role is to bring meditation to the Sanctuary, to create a place where people can come to meditate and to learn meditation, and to then teach and share with others. If we can succeed in doing this, then we have achieved our purpose.
Want to find out more about The Sylvan Healing Sanctuary, visit https://sylvanhealing.org/
or follow on https://www.facebook.com/SylvanHealing/
More information about Feroze’s book A Disciple….The Spiritual Path to Infinite Happiness is on www.menschpublishing.com/books/a-disciple/
