A Disciple: The Spiritual Path to Infinite Happiness

By Feroze Dada

A Disciple describes a singular journey with a universal appeal, on the path of Perennial Wisdom. There are lessons for us all as we recognise the call from our inner spirit, our yearning for 'something other' in a materialistic world that so often leaves u

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mensch Publishing
• Release date: Dec 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781912914388

Feroze Dada

Feroze Dada is a successful philanthropist and entrepreneur whose journey begins when he meets his spiritual master- Ustad. On his path he discovers that that the practical experience of helping a Buddhist monastery in Myanmar, which is supporting over 1200 orphaned refugees from the war, commits him to an unfolding path towards self-discovery and understanding and one that will increasingly fulfil his spiritual needs. He lives in London and Tuscany.

Book preview

A Disciple

To my beloved Ustād, my teacher, my soul brother,

who walked with me on this path of roses.

No words can ever express my eternal gratitude.

All author income from this book is donated to The Sylvan Charitable Trust,

Charity registered in England No 286004

Contents

Foreword by Duncan Baird

Book Reviews

About The Author

Preface

1OPENNESS

In Ephesus with beloved Mother Mary

2ACCEPTANCE

In reflection with the monk in Myanmar

3ACTION

In Discovering Humanity

4SELF-DISCIPLINE

In Our One World at Damanhur

5UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

In Jerusalem with the prophets and saints

6TRUST

In spiritual healing at the sanctuary

7FAITH

In Closed Circle at the sanctuary

8UNITY

In La Verna and Assisi with St Francis

9HEALING

In trance with Joan Fountain

10 DIVINE ECSTASY

In Egypt at the Giza Pyramids

11 HARMONY

In sacred conversation with the body and soul

12 SERVICE

In seclusion from Covid 19

13 THE TRUTH

In infinite happiness

14 GRATITUDE

In meditation

Acknowledgements

Foreword

A Disciple is both an inspiration and a teaching. It will reach out to everyone who is a seeker after a deeper meaning to life and it will appeal to the many readers of stories about transforming experiences.

So many people are interested in secular Buddhism, the mystic traditions such as Sufism and the life changing benefit of meditation. In particular, in these unsettling and changing times there is a rapidly increasing hunger for wisdom about the unity of all things and how to live the best life possible.

A Disciple combines teaching with wisdom, and the story offers personal insights along with practical advice on meditation practice and the development of a heightened sense of awareness about what it means to really live.

It aims to capture the cause and effect of being open to the world of the spirit, and the true joy of discovering that everything is possible if you allow it to be.

A Disciple is the heartening story of one person’s setting out on the spiritual path, written for an audience confronted today with a precarious world and a challenging future. In these times we need to be nourished by the possibilities of growing in inner and outer health, and having the tools for living a balanced life. We all learn by example and A Disciple is an inspired guide.

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A Disciple describes a singular journey with a universal appeal, on the path of Perennial Wisdom. There are lessons for us all as we recognise the call from our inner spirit, our yearning for ‘something other’ in a materialistic world that so often leaves us dissatisfied.

There is another way for us to live, and A Disciple asks important questions about faith and spirituality and connects us with the power of meditation. The author believes passionately that it is meditation that provides the foundation for a caring and compassionate future.

It begins when the author Feroze Dada discovers that the practical experience of helping a Buddhist monastery in Myanmar, supporting over 1200 orphaned refugees from the war, commits him to an unfolding path towards self-discovery and understanding and one that will increasingly fulfil his spiritual needs.

In this he is guided by a remarkable Sufi teacher, who tells him ‘I’ll guide and help you. But look into yourself and find the divine, the wisdom and knowledge that’s already in you. That way you’ll discover your path through your own experience."

It was on a visit to Jerusalem - in meditation at the shrine of Rabi’ah al-Basri, the first female Sufi saint, and at the tomb of Moses - that his teacher made it clear that the spiritual path was not a path of religion. It was a journey open to all who wished to find the Divine within themselves.

Increasingly he finds that both his work and his world become fused into a spiritual quest. He continues to produce TV films for Discovering Humanity and later on Our One World - and here these provide the reader with profound insights as he interviews people who have made a difference in the world.

Through his work at the Healing Sanctuary, we discover that, as his awareness of the world of the spirit grows, so too does his recognition of the power of Healing. He experiences a life-changing prophesy of severe illness by a spirit medium at the Healing Sanctuary.

The story is told with engaging candour, with tales from mythology, quotations from Rumi, and references to Sufi texts all adding colour to the Wisdom Teachings he is receiving. The wise ones spoke in parables and metaphor because that is the form that penetrates and transcends our defences. We go to some deeper part of ourselves; non-linear and non-cerebral, which is what meditation is.

A Disciple is a fascinating exploration about how meditation can not only awaken our latent potential to live the best lives we can, but also transform the world.

Duncan Baird

Book Reviews …. what people are saying about the book:

The Disciple

A Spiritual Path to Infinite Happiness

To Seek. To Follow. To Find

The Disciple by Feroze Dada is an exceptional and beautiful book which traces one man’s spiritual journey on a quest for enlightenment. It is the perfect book for the seeker of truth with an enquiring and open mind.

I am adding a chapter to my morning mediation every day so I can really appreciate it.

This will inspire so many people. I am one of them.

Chris Day

Managing Director

Filament Publishing

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We are all unique, we are luminous souls that make up this great world, but when we meet, we do not always recognise ourselves as part of the One.

I recognised Feroze as a brother at the first smile and in the wonderful diversity, where shadows and light alternate, I recognised myself in him. His thoughts, our thoughts, the thoughts of others, although so different, take us back to the same source and unite us in the same mission.

Feroze’s book A Disciple is a beacon of light that humbly and joyfully weaves the cloth for the awakening of the human being.

With love

Rinoceronte Giuggiolo Acqua Marina

President Stiching Damanhur Foundation

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Such an amazing book with such awesome insights and for the courage you took to do this journey… ……hugely inspiring.

Kate Delamere

Author & Editor

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You may have found yourself reading these words out of curiosity or fascination but perhaps there’s a wish, like Feroze, to know. His book is a bridge to you from a world that is unseen by most except those that are seekers.

These pages are filled with personal anecdotal experiences that may seem straight from a fairy tale. However, they’re the experiences of a seeker who has spent many years looking for his truth. His faith and acceptance of his experiences have allowed these pages to emerge from the mists into reality.

It’s more than a good story, it’s the path of one who’s been willing to plant his seeds of experience to build a bridge to us so you can go on to plant your own seeds as seekers, allow them to germinate and build your own bridges to the unknown.

These words will never be a substitute for your own experiences but they can act as a guide for you from another’s journey.

Craig Rebuck

Sylvan Healing Sanctuary.

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When Feroze asked me to review his book, I replied that it would be a privilege and an honour to do so; it has not disappointed, this is a book which tells a wonderful story.

I practise as a doctor and surgeon, so professionally have much interest in the sections of the book devoted to healing; these are impressive and riveting. However, I also read the book from the position of a Seeker; this book is full of wonderful insights, into seeking the Kingdom of God within. It incorporates practical advice as to the different types of meditative exercises Feroze has mastered and his desire to share these things with fellow seekers to our potential betterment.

This is a timely and brave book as the world adjusts to the Covid 19 pandemic and across the globe there is an enhanced desire to care for our planet and ourselves, not just in mind and body but also in our souls.

This book shows us routes to spiritual well-being, via caring for others, meditation and prayer. I have always described Feroze as my Sufi Moslem, Buddhist, Franciscan Christian friend; this book confirms me in that view.

Feroze has much to share and he does it beautifully.

Dr. J Richard Smith

Gynaecological surgeon & Writer

About The Author

Feroze Dada was born in Karachi, and has lived and worked for most of his life in London. He worked in the finance sector and was entrepreneurial in helping several media start-up companies. A decade ago, his life changed when he went to Myanmar to visit his wife’s family. He became deeply involved in working with a Buddhist monastery in Shan Province, helping it over a number of years to become self-sufficient, supporting as it does some 1200 orphan children.

He became a meditation practitioner and continued to work with his Sufi teacher, learning how to live a fulfilled and meaningful life, and by helping others.

He is the interviewer and producer of the online TV series Discovering Humanity and Our One World, and author of Children of the Revolution; A Spiritual Journey to Burma and Buddhism.

As well as his work as founder of The Inle Trust Charity, set up to help the children at the Phaya Taung monastery in Myanmar, he teaches and promotes meditation at The Sylvan Healing Sanctuary in London. This is a community of healers, teachers and practitioners that offer energy healing, meditation and mindfulness.

His wife MuMu (Farida) is from Taunggyi, Myanmar. They have two children; Nadir and Sumaya, and grandchild Layla. They divide their time between their homes in London and Italy.

Preface

‘A Seeker is like a rose 🌹 growing in the desert,’

Ustād

As the well-known adage goes, when the student’s ready, the teacher appears. When I was ready, a spiritual master appeared who showed me the true reflection of my soul - Ustād. From that day everything changed in my world just as night turns to day. My journey as a disciple had begun.

This book is about that journey, to find the truth of my soul and of my very existence. A life-changing voyage that led me to the shrine of the Virgin Mary at the top of the Bulbull mountain near Ephesus in Turkey, to a monk in a remote monastery near the Shan Hills of Myanmar, and to the tomb of the first female Sufi Saint Rabi’ah in Jerusalem. Then on into the depths of one of the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the King’s Chamber in the Great Pyramid of Giza in Cairo, to cross paths with fellow seekers from blind Italian opera tenor Andrea Bocelli in Tuscany, to Pakistani philanthropist and humanitarian Sattar Edhi in Karachi.

Each encounter brought me closer to the voice of my soul as I walked a path that took me far from the life I’d been living to a place where I could feel the essence of my being itself, and to live from my heart, connected to spirit.

Slowly, deep within, I started to see the truth. My heart and my mind were clear for the first time in my life and I could see and experience things as they truly were, not as they appeared to be. Guided by the voice of my soul, I began to live a life of joy and wisdom on a journey to infinite happiness.

Feroze Dada

1

OPENNESS

In Ephesus with beloved Mother Mary

‘Choose a master, for without him this journey is full of tribulations, fears, and dangers. With no escort, you’d be lost on a road you would have already taken. Do not travel alone on the path.’

Rumi

Sitting in front of the Catholic shrine in the house of the Virgin Mary on Mount Koressos near Ephesus, in Turkey, in March 2018, I felt my sense of self fall away. Invisible hands pulled me into a warm embrace and a pervading serenity flooded my body.

‘Mother Mary,’ I whispered in awe. My body and mind were on fire, and I knew I’d never felt more alive or connected to everything and everyone around me. I didn’t doubt that I was in the presence of the mother of Jesus. In this simple stone house, where she lived and died nearly 2000 years ago, Mother Mary was here, by my side, helping me to listen to, and begin to understand the voice of my soul. Softly, my awakened awareness touched on the true nature of things and I knew then and there the purpose that had brought me to the shrine.

Birth from a hand’s loving touch. Birth from a song,

from a dance, breathing life into this world.

The body is like Mary, and each of us, each of us has

a Christ within.

Rumi

Rumi’s words swam around my head. I’d felt an instant calm when I walked into the room and sat down opposite the bronze shrine on a semicircular altar set back in a small recess. Mary’s face was etched with the sacrifice and pain of her story. To my right was a smaller room where she had slept and outside a drinking fountain with water believed to have miraculous healing powers. I wasn’t the first pilgrim and wouldn’t be the last. Both Muslims, who know her as Mariam in the Quran, and Christians who revere her as a saint, make up the tens of thousands of devotees making the pilgrimage to her home since it was discovered in the 19th century, a place she was brought to by Saint John.

I brought my attention to my breath to prepare for the Dhikr ritual prayer practised by the Sufis, Muslim mystics. To silence my mind and open my heart, I focused on the sacred present moment. ‘Allah… Allah…Allah…’ The words bubbled up inside