A spiritual journey

The secular, the religious, and the spiritual in this fast-paced, chaotic world.

TODAY, we take a break and digress from the secular world of nutritional therapy and integrative medicine to explore religion and spirituality.

Some readers have complained that when I write too much about health, my articles become “too dry”, and they look forward to reading about my other exploits – exploring unusual or poorly-known healing methods and healers; exploring the world; and exploring the religious, interfaith and spiritual realms.

I have actually been busy with interfaith and spiritual activities, but I have to delay writing on these as the priority for this column is on “alternative” health and healing (ie alternative to mainstream conventional medicine).

Apart from being involved with many meetings and programmes of the Islamic NGOs, and the interfaith movements and committees, I also have to travel overseas for interfaith conferences.

In March, I was requested to go for interfaith programmes in Brisbane (Australia) twice, but could not oblige both times.

In May, I attended the World Buddhist Assembly and interfaith conference in Bangkok.

Next week is the Swami Satyananda Memorial Seminar in KL (please read more about this below, as all of you are invited). Then the following weekend, I have been invited to speak at the 5th World Conference on Siddha Principles in Johor Bahru.

In August, I have been invited to attend an interfaith peace conference in Jerusalem, followed by a Law & Religion conference in the US sometime in October.

Lastly, I will be in Cambodia for an interfaith regional meeting in November.

So you can see that I am indeed busy doing religious and spiritual work in between teaching qigong, treating my patients, reading and research to keep abreast of health and medical advances, and many other activities – secular, religious, and spiritual.

Swami Satyananda Memorial Seminar

In 1950, His Holiness Swami Satyananda founded The Pure Life Society (PLS), which is where my interfaith movement (Interfaith Spiritual Fellowship/INSAF) is based.

Swamiji established the first interfaith movement (with international links) in this country in 1956. For more details on his life, please read A Life of Service and Spirituality (thestar.com.my/health/story.asp?file=/2009/7/12/health/4297967&sec=health).

This year, in commemoration of the 103rd anniversary of his birth, PLS and INSAF are again jointly organising the annual Swami Satyananda Memorial Seminar with the theme: “The Secular, The Religious and The Spiritual – Responses to the Challenges Facing Humanity”.

The seminar promises to be a very interesting one, with three prominent, versatile and fascinating speakers.

Kee Thuan Chye is an actor, playwright, stage director, writer, journalist, trainer and political commentator. He has written several books, including the best-seller No More Bullshit Please, We’re All Malaysians. He is also a frequent contributor to Malaysian Digest, Free Malaysia Today and Malaysiakini.

His acting credits include speaking roles in the international films Entrapment and Anna and The King. He also acted in the TV documentaries Marco Polo (BBC) and Secrets of The Forbidden City (The History Channel). He will talk on the secular response. You can expect no-holds-barred input from him.

Prof Mohammad Hashim Kamali (First Class Honours in Law and Political Science, LLM and PhD in Law) is an internationally respected Islamic scholar, and is recognised as one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world.

He is currently the founding chairman/CEO of The International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia (IAIS). He has served as an assistant professor at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University, Canada, Professor of Islamic Law and Jurisprudence at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIU), and Dean of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC). He serves as an adviser, consultant and board member of many international institutions, and even governments.

He has written many books, some of which have become the reference text in universities worldwide. He will address the religious response.

Father Sebastian Painadath (Masters in Theology; Masters and PhD in Philosophy) is a Jesuit priest, and an accomplished scholar of both the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita. He established the Sameeksa Ashram in Kalady, India (birthplace of the great saint Sankaracharya), and now serves as the director of its Centre for Indian Spirituality.

He travels extensively, conducting seminars, interfaith dialogues and meditation courses in India, Europe and the Far East. He has been conducting the “Spirituality of the Bhagavad Gita” retreats here for several years.

He has also written many books, including three in German. He is a unique expert on the scriptures and spirituality of several religions, and will enlighten us on the spiritual response to problems facing humanity.

The seminar will be held at the Tun Hussein Onn Eye Hospital auditorium, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, on Saturday, July 14, 2012, from 9am to 1pm. It is open to everyone and is free (with vegetarian lunch provided), but prior registration is required (please call 03-77829391/8303, or fax [phone], or email [e-mail]).

I will be co-hosting the seminar, and I hope to see many of you there.

5th World Conference On Siddha Principles 2012

Ever since my first introduction to the Siddhas through the nadi readings (see Akashic Energy at www.superqigong.com/articlesmore.asp?id=131), I have been getting more deeply involved with them. If you read my previous articles about my nadi readings, then you will understand why.

I last wrote about the nadi predictions and advice for me about three years ago. Since then, many more strange things have happened.

In April 2010, Guru Arul Selvar Abnaa Nagappen (also known as “Sri Vaalaysithar”, the president of Sri Agastiar Nyaana Peedam Malaysia) invited me to his office and informed me that Lord Agastiar (the chief of the 18 southern Siddhas) had directed him to invite me and to honour me at the 3rd World Conference on Siddha Principles, which was to be held in Kuala Lumpur in June 2010.

Unfortunately, I could not oblige because I had to attend an interfaith programme in Jordan during the duration of the Congress.

When I went to his office, I was surprised to see a big picture of Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani, the Sultan of all Sufi saints, who had lived in the 12th century (1077-1166 CE). All this convinced me that the Sufis and Siddhas are spiritual brothers on the path of enlightenment.

I read about the Siddhas and discovered that indeed the Sufis and Siddhas have an interesting history of influencing each other.

Of course, the Sufi story is relatively new since Islam is a young religion when compared to Sanatana Dharma (The Pure Eternal Way of Life, erroneously termed Hinduism by the British colonisers), and the Sufis, who came much later in the history of the Siddhas, have found the Siddhas to be true companions in the journey towards God.

I went for my third reading recently (February) and what Lord Agastiar said this time is that I am a Siddha, yet I am to be an exemplary Muslim, and continue to preach the Truth of the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

At the same time, I am to continue to love and respect people of all races and all religions. There are many other things he said that I dare not reveal in case those people who do not understand the close relationship between lovers of God, whatever religion they belong to, will become confused.

I had been a Sufi for 10 years before meeting His Holiness Jegathguru Paramjothiar Mahan (a spiritual master from Thirumurthi Hills, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India) in 1998, when he proclaimed that I am to continue his work. I told him that in the preceding 10 years, God had sent three Sufi Shaykhs to guide me about my spiritual work. They were from Cyprus (Europe), KL (Malaysia) and New York (USA), and they were Muslims.

Guruji said this to me: “Same God, told your Sufi Masters, telling me now!”

Indeed, if there is God, then there can only be one God. Otherwise our gods will quarrel.

If you believe in God, then your God and my God must be the same God. We may know and understand Him differently (or even wrongly – which is what most will say about believers of other religions), but we are all trying to love and serve him to our best ability.

There are many similarities between the Siddhas and the Sufis, who are both people on the spiritual path of love, wisdom and enlightenment. Because of their antics, both are steeped in mysticism, are often misunderstood, and sometimes said to be mad!

Now I have five Sufi Shaykhs guiding me, and I know a lot of fascinating Sufi stories.

I also have many Siddha sages guiding me too. The Siddhas preceded the Sufis by several thousand years. Certainly, they have many more interesting stories to tell.

The 5th World Conference on Siddha Principles (conf2012.agastiarpeedam.org/english/emhome.html) will be held at the Persada International Convention Centre, Johor Bahru, from July 20-22.

The main objective of the conference is to enlighten participants on spiritual knowledge through Siddha philosophy and way of life, stressing the importance of discipline to the younger generation, and awakening us to holistic living. This will lead towards uniting us with God, and bring calmness within us in this fast-moving chaotic world.

While most of the presentations are in Tamil, I, and several other speakers, will present in English.

Topics to be covered in the conference include astro-science, philosophy on life, sciences based on Siddha principles, Siddha Medicine, the art of yoga, and the supreme knowledge on soul (Anma). I will be speaking on “The Sufis and The Siddhas – Our Common Mission”.

This will be a grand conference, as more than 2,500 participants from across the world are expected to attend.

This may be the last World Siddha Conference to be held in Malaysia, so those of you who are interested in the subject should not miss it.

For further details and registration, please call 017-7622970, 017-7622970 or 016-7201085.

The fasting month (Ramadhan) begins during the Siddha conference. So indeed, July is a very spiritual month for me!

Dr Amir Farid Isahak is a medical specialist who practises holistic, aesthetic and anti-ageing medicine. He is a qigong master and founder of SuperQigong. For further information, e-mail [e-mail]. The views expressed are those of the writer and readers are advised to always consult expert advice before undertaking any changes to their lifestyles. The Star does not give any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to the content appearing in this column. The Star disclaims all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.