Welcome to “Healing From Within”. I am your host Sheryl Glick author of
The Living Spirit Answers for Healing and Infinite Love which shares
stories of spiritual awakenings spiritual communication healing energies
miracles and a clear view to using intuition to understand your
spiritual and energetic life force and today welcome Feroze Dada author
of Children of the Revolution who shares the long and violent struggle
for freedom heroism and hope by the people of Burma. It is often in
viewing or experiencing the challenges of the world that we unravel the
layers of our true being and become what we have always been: free.
As listeners of “Healing From Within” are well aware Sheryl and her
guests share our intimate experiences and insights into the dual nature
of life as spiritual beings having a physical life and learning to use
the Universal Laws of energy to provide for personal growth and
development ultimately bringing about greater love compassion and a
clearer view of the human condition.
Feroze thinks back to his childhood and remembers people places or
events that may have shown them or others what path in life they might
travel and what passions values or lifestyle they might embrace as
adults. He tells us that his cousins were second cousins born in a
remote part of British India and members of a well-off family of traders
of grain. Feroze was the oldest of three brothers and my father was a
strict disciplinarian We all went to Catholic school not because of the
religion but because they wanted the best education for us. There were
no hugs no bonding. My father was very distant and my mother was my best
friend. In college I was in a rock band and captain of my college
cricket team. I was caught in a girls house and her parents reported me.
It was quite an ordeal and Feroze was sent to London to live with some
family friends. It wasn’t like Miami sunny with skyscrapers but I did
begin work at a small firm of accountants. Soon he was making good money
and joined Brondesbury Cricket Club. The club boasts an impressive roll
call of alumni. By 1982 he had become a tax specialist with a well known
London firm and was invited by a friend Imran Khan one of Pakistan’s
leading politician where I met my wife Mu Mu. She was born in Burma but
had lived in Pakistan most of her life. Mu Mu studied psychology and
joined the Japanese Embassy as cultural officer. She still had a large
family of cousins in Burma and that eventually took us there after
living in London for thirty years and raising two children. This was the
time of life where we could afford to met new interests and charitable
work and what lead to the writing of this book.
Feroze decided to write this book and donate all proceeds to the
monastery school and orphanage at Inle Phaya Taung. The idea for the
book started when Feroze met Major a Pa’O guerilla at a family gathering
in Myanmar Burma. Major relates the persecution of his people faced in
their struggle for equality and freedom. They are near beautiful inlet
Lake in Shan State and a storm drives Feroze and Major ashore and they
shelter at the Phaya Taung monastery where Feroze meets the Head Monk
Phongyi who is passionately caring for and teaching more than 600
orphaned and refugee children of the revolutionary wars. There are one
and a half million orphans in Myanmar a country scarred by the ravages
of internal strife and decades of repression.
We meet Phongyi who has endured a desperately hard childhood but was
accepted into the monastery at Lin Lam to further his education and how
he influenced you. Phongyi believes the path to enlightenment peace and
compassion is through education and he has two ambitions to generate an
income to feed and educate the ever-increasing number of children at the
monastery and to improve the health in the community around the
monastery.
The Dali Lama has given the Foreword to Children of the Revolution..tell
us something of his interest in the Burmese children and that part of
the world.
Buddha quote says “Every morning we are born again What we do today is
what matters most.”
Sheryl says: I believe the Dali Lama offers that same ideology to be in
the present moment to create and find joy, not in the past, nor worrying
about the future.
As an endorsement to this book The Dali Lama wrote, “Burma’s internal
conflict in the past several decades has had a drastic impact on the
lives of its people. Children of the Revolution is an encouraging
account of a Burmese monk’s effort to alleviate their plight especially
that of the children. The author Feroze Dada gives a moving account of
the monk’s work and talks about his own efforts to support a school and
care center for destitute Burmese children started by the monk in his
monastery. I offer my prayers for their success.” September 18, 2014
Feroze tells us about the plight of these destitute Burmese children.
Feroze arrived in Burma in 2009—twenty years after the military rulers
decided to change its name to Myanmar and end the country’s last
vestiges of its colonial past. Burma has a turbulent past and uncertain
future like most of the developing third world nations where tribalism
religion and separation provide a lack of acceptance of those different
from you and divide the people usually leading to war death and harm to
families most especially the children of these transitional societies.
Burma is struggling to come to terms with democracy. Though free
elections took place in 2010 after fifty years of military rule deep
cultural and religious divisions remain. President Thein Sein who had
been the prime minister in the previous military administration now
promised greater freedom for his people. The US and European Union
dropped all non military sanctions and promised developed aid. Despite
this Burma remains a fragile and volatile country with continued unrest
of economic migrants and religiously persecuted people attempting to
flee its boarders and shores.
Sheryl says…we see this playing out across The middle East most
especially Syria whose five year Civil War has caused the deaths of over
500 thousand people and destroyed much of the civilized towns and
country. And also in Venezuela we have watched the decline to poverty
fighting and large populations leaving the country. In South and Central
America it is no different. Where democracy and education have been slow
to replace or work alongside of tribal and uninformed leaders progress
and improved conditions are not possible.
We find out how Feroze became involved in his work to help bring change
to the children of a monastery inspired by Phongyis and Major’s refusal
to be passive in the face of struggle and peppered with Buddhist stories
of compassion taught to the orphans, Feroze suddenly steps out of his
role as story teller and helps to realize Phongy’s dream to provide a
future for the children. Critically he eventually manages to make Phaya
Taung financially independent by setting up a drinking water bottling
plant for both the monastery an community making use of the natural
springs on the monastery land. The practicalities of realizing this are
extremely difficult as Phaya Taung is in the middle of nowhere and there
is no electricity on the site. Despite these obstacle Feroze raises the
funds negotiates his way through the monumental complexities of the
permissions putting in place the resources for the design and delivery
of Ko Yin mineral water.
Feroze discovered a country of many contrasts with a beautiful landscape
of mountains jungles and rivers. Burma is at a crossroads. The country
is rich in natural resources including timber oil gas and rice as well a
a source of many precious stones such as rubies and sapphires but the
economy is one of the least developed in the world. Corruption is rife,
as is large scale trafficking in heroin. There are many reasons why
there are so many abandoned children in Burma Conflict yes but also
poverty disease particularly malaria and TB and natural disasters such
as the devastating cyclone in 2008 that took at least 140,00 lives.
This book is also the challenge for Feroze as a Muslim absorbing
Buddhist philosophy and building a bridge of peace which offers a
transformative view about how to live a meaningful life that will bring
education and hope to thousands of Burmese children.
Peace comes from within Do not seek it without Buddha
Feroze wrote, “You discover that both the freedom fighter and the
Buddhist monk are in different ways forces of nature or men of action
and while you learn about their lives, you also find the human goodness
that shines in the darkness of war and you witness the path of dharma in
the world. You cannot fail to be encouraged by Phongyi’s example to go
beyond one’s imagination because there is no limit.
Feroze tells us about MuMu his Burmese wife and how she has influenced
your views and desire to participate fully in helping the Burmese
people. My journey of self-discovery as we moved between my metropolitan
western life and Taunggyi in the northeast of Burma where Mu Mu’s family
lives has helped me find a new reality and purpose.
Feroze wrote, “I thought I had achieved much, but I was wrong. The whole
process of realizing what was missing and then inadvertently discovering
how to live a truly meaningful life, and was in itself a remarkable
spiritual journey. It might never have happened had I not fallen in love
with a woman from Burma and if she had not introduced me to a tribal
warrior and if he had not taken me to a remote monastery and if I had
not met a remarkable monk. And if he had not shown me the faces of
hundreds of children—many of them orphans. The world I entered could not
have been more different than my own. I had no map no compass and no
real idea where my adventure was to take me. My destination was clouded
by my own lack of purpose and fulfillment. I sensed that something was
missing from my world. But I had no idea what.”
Another key player in the book is Major who helped you see and
understand the regional conflict amplified by ideological differences
including the rise of communism in the east as well as the ethnic and
tribal rivalries and the turf wars to control the cash from the
lucrative opium trade. Tell us about this character. The Major who
learned his survival skills early in life smuggled cattle across to
Thailand in order to pay for his education. He went on to join the PNO
at one time the largest insurgent force in Burma and now the political
and welfare arm of the Pa”O courageously providing valuable assistance
in the movement of fighters supplies and information between the
training camps in Thailand and the conflict zones with the government
troops.
At the time the young Major was making his way in the world of the
revolutionary fighter, the Monk Pongyi was returning to the monastery in
his native Shan province after completing his formal Theravada Buddhist
training in Yangon.
Phonghyi believed that only education could help his people. By the time
he returned to Lin Lam the PNO fighting against the government forces in
the mountains had split into two warring factions—the Red Pa’O and the
White Pa’O. The Red Pa’O had aligned themselves with the Burmese
Communist Party or BCP and life in the towns and villages became even
more precarious and the refugee problems were soon to be overwhelming.
By 1986 a fragile peace allowed Phonhyi to start work on his
establishing his primary school and then the middle school followed by
1993. The doors were opened to 450 orphans of the wars. Life was very
difficult and in particular feed of the children a huge challenge.
Phongyi’s and Major’s stories bring us together with Feroze at the
monastery and one night during a severe storm Feroze Mu Mu and Major
begin their effort together to support this orphanage. We can begin to
learn from the Buddhist monk some of the wisdom that comes from a true
sense of compassion matched to a deep intellect and by seeing the
Perfections or Paramitas by seeing them in practice at the monastery
Feroze tells us how Buddhism offers a transformative vision about how to
live a meaningful life. Some of the quotes below from Budda express much
about the importance of finding wisdom within self-growth acceptance and
a willingness to release many of the ego based illusions of our societal
and parental training and to follow a path of rightful living thinking
and action according to the Four Noble Truths and The Eight Path Life
Style.
As Buddha said, “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon
and the truth.”
Then Buddha said, “ There are only two mistakes one can make along the
road to the truth: not going all the way and not starting.”
Listening is a key tenant of all spiritual practices and Buddhism.
Buddha said “ We are what we think All that we are arises with our
thoughts, With our thoughts we make the world.”
Feroze was awakened to a new way of observing himself and others and new
feelings when he met Ahwin Kaw Kaw the eldest member of his wife’s clan
who was about eighty years old with a heavily lined face and very
healthy for a man that age he noticed that when he spoke he was not just
calm and softly spoken but there was a look of total contentment in hise
eyes and across his face.
Feroze asked him his secret and he responded, “I have very little but I
need even less.” But Feroze was interested in what he meant in the
spiritual context. He gave a smile and said, I do mean spiritually. I am
content to be alive and I thank God for every day that he gives me….the
tree can only be as strong as the love and nourishment it gets.
He sent Feroze to the lake and told him that it would change his life
forever.
Mu Mu told him that Ahwin was a remarkable man, a palmist and
clairvoyant but he stopped using his special gift because he believed
foretelling the future whether good of bad interferes with the natural
balance of life so by telling him to go to the lake he was giving him a
special message or insight into what was possible for Feroze to discover
about himself and his future.
Intel Lake is home to about seventy thousand people called Inthas. Most
of them make their living from fishing and from farming. The sacred
imagery of the area, the energy of adventure the tranquility of the lake
were helping me find an unaccustomed inner peace. It was in this
environment that I was to meet a man who would play a significant part
in changing the course of my life. Feroze was introduced to me as Major
the manager of a hotel He was well known and had a distinct bold and
confident look. He had spent years as a rebel fighter, fighting the
military government. His actions led to Burma being granted independence
in 1948. Burma had been under British rule until it was invaded by the
Japanese during the second World War.
Feroze would love readers to take away with them after reading Children
of the Revolution that in 2013 the Government of Burma spent less than 4
percent of its budget on health care compared to twenty percent on the
military Sanitation and access to clean drinking water remains a prime
concern. Much of the underlying blame comes from a lack of education.
Against shocking statistics a small monastery was able to throw a
lifeline to so many children who would otherwise have become casualties
of this country’s fragile environment. A monk with a handful of helpers
performed nothing short of a miracle. Buddhism has held a remarkable
place in Burma and conquering the problems of the outer world as we seek
peace within and our divine love of life and the eternal nature of
Spirit.
I want to thank Feroze Dada author of Children of the Revolution for
sharing your journey of inspiration for living with authenticity and
purpose, and for sharing the story of all who are connected with the
monastery in Burma now known as Myanmar, and continuing support of
orphaned children in a land with much beauty and culture but still with
a history of much unrest war poverty and corruption as many try to
bridge the divide between the past and future and help the country to
evolve into a democratic way of life.
In summarizing today’s episode of Healing From Within Feroze Dada shows
us how over time and circumstances one may open their hearts to the
greatest challenges of life, overcome the physical or ego based reality
and to once again remember that healing and living with purpose is
within each person’s reach. We must allow ourselves to move past self
absorption and to care for others and the world of nature and people
with a passion that opens the heart to really knowing that a life well
lived is about cooperation community family friends and sharing ALL that
you have- mind body and soul as you pour your resources into the world
and begin to make changes within your own thinking as you provide health
awareness, education and love to those in need.
This is not just the story of success at an orphanage in the Phaya Taung
monastery, but a call to recognize places all over this planet where
people, most especially women and children suffer at the hands of those
who chose greed and corruption, military might over healing, and who
work against the natural intuitive needs of all humans which is to be
provided with their natural birth right: safety security and a sense of
hope and well being.
As Feroze wrote, “Globally there are nearly 800 million people without
access to drinking water and three times as many without adequate
sanitation. Every minute of every hour of every day, a child dies from
water related illnesses. All this is a sobering thought, and I am
acutely aware that what we have been attempting at Phaya Taung is only a
drop in the ocean. But I ho0pe that where we lead others will follow. It
has been an incredible experience frustrating and bewildering certainly,
and at times physically draining, but extraordinarily rewarding. We were
getting back far more than we were giving…..”
Feroze Mu Mu and the people of Burma would have you know that all our
lives are the better for seeing the beauty of an ancient culture the
smiles of the children and the beauty of the lake and landscape.
Wherever there is love there is a way forward to improve conditions and
to advance life so we may move past any suffering to joy and happiness.
It begins with one person perhaps…
Today’s Guest