Prof. Dr. Moiz Hussain (Ph.D) is internationally acknowledged in the field of mind sciences and sufism and has been sharing his knowledge and expertise in mind sciences and sufism to people of all ages, professions and nationals through his workshops, seminars, lectures and theosophical sittings all over Pakistan as well as in USA, UK, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, India and many other countries. He is a certified Psycho Orientologist and a Clinical Hypnotherapist from USA. Urooj Moiz, his daughter, has joined his team since the last 10 years and has become a very popular and trusted counsellor. Besides hosting many informative TV shows on mental health and psychological issues, the duo of father and daughter appear regularly on different morning shows, talk shows and other socio-educational programs on various leading channels enlightening people with knowledge, awareness and experience.
Dr. Moiz: Yes, I was fascinated to an extraordinary extent. My education was general and I started my practical life as a businessman, following the footsteps of my father. In 1980, I went to America in association with my business organisation, and during the years I spent there, I felt inclined towards doing something different and spiritual to shatter the monotony of materialistic world and mundane life. Then, I met Shri Yogendra of Bombay, a spiritual personality and Yogi of a high calibre, who changed my lifestyle and thinking process. He is my inspiration and mentor in this field. In 1986, when everybody was dreaming of going to America for a better living and promising economic career, I decided to penetrate further into this mystic and mysterious world of spiritualism and came back to Pakistan. It was an unbelievable move for my friends and family members.
So when did you lay the foundation of The Institute of Mind Science (TIMS) which is now attracting a number of people from different walks of life and far remote areas?
Dr. Moiz: After coming to Pakistan, I established Institute of Classic Yoga, with the help of some friends. That institution was a small one housed in a residential building. We went on working and making progress and now you can see a full-fledged Institute of Mind Sciences. Under its platform, people are being trained and educated in different fields of parapsychology and spiritual practices, and when they learn, they start serving humanity.
Previously mind sciences were not a popular or even a familiar field or subject of learning and healing of different diseases and psycho-emotional disorders. Have things changed in recent past in the context of people trusting such fields?
Dr. Moiz: Presently, the society is going through a crucial period on socio-economic levels. Price-hike, poor law and order situation, unemployment, tense relationships and declining socio-moral values have made people desperate. They are ready to go to any place and any person for the solution of their ever increasing issues and disorders
In our part of the world, due to illiteracy and obscurity, people think Reiki is Shirk as it calls for help the millennia-old symbols instead of calling Allah who gives both sufferings and Shifa (cure).
Dr. Moiz: Actually people here are not ready to seek knowledge or to conduct any research and start giving verdicts on the basis of their half-baked education and information. It is why they are easily exploited by the so-called spiritual and faith healers who further drag them towards the quagmire of evil practices. We must remember one thing very clearly that all the positive deeds that result in the benevolence and welfare of the humanity are Divine and all the practices that harm the humanity are Satanic. We call for help only the Almighty and nobody else. So far as process and symbols are concerned, they are just resources like medicines, food and physical exercises that people avail for recovery.
Dr. Moiz Hussain (L), Urooj Moiz (R)
Initially, it was thought that only the backward and illiterate people believe in unscientific methods of healing or spiritualism. Now, the Western world is adopting spiritual ways, meditation and parapsychology. Has this trend of modernisation popularized and developed mind sciences and parapsychology?
Arooj: First, there is a difference between westernisation and modernisation. With the passage of time, everything evolves and gets improved on the basis of new experiences and research. Even in old times, people used to go to several faith healers and spiritual practitioners while there were others who would not have any belief in spiritualism and prefer going to doctors, herbal experts and ayurvedic healers for logical methodology. Today, we have developed forms of all the fields. We have specialist surgeons and physicians in different diseases and medical fields. In the same way, we have modernised and improved institutions and centre for mind sciences, parapsychology, yoga, reiki healing and other spiritual practices. This is modernisation. Westernisation, on the other hand, is a trend of following Western culture and philosophy.
All these branches of knowledge and enlightenment are purely Eastern, but why were they ignored by Eastern people and developed and researched on modern lines by the Western experts?
Arooj: The Western people were more educated and liberal and their minds were open to accept and experiment with the new changes. On the other hand, we hardly welcome any change or new practice. So, the developed nations have modernised and promoted these Eastern treasures of knowledge on modernised and scientific lines by conducting research on these fields. That is why the present world is more inclined to reiki, meditation, spiritualism and mind sciences, unlike the previous generations.
These days, medical treatment is very expensive and the treatment by a psychiatrist is even more expensive. People can hardly afford that. How can we advise people to go for proper treatment in these circumstances?
Arooj: People must understand the value of health and life. There are certain things in life that cannot be cheaper or easily affordable. Some medicines and equipments of curing procedures are highly costly and their maintenance is also very expensive. So, the financial crunch will always be there. Believe me; Pakistan is still very economical for medical health services and treatment charges in comparison with the Western countries. Psychological treatment is very expensive everywhere on the globe, but it is still affordable in our part of the world.
In the East, fields of mind sciences, para-psychology and spiritualism remained confined to handful individuals who gifted and shared their knowledge and experiences only with their informal devotees and family members. Only West established proper institutions for certain fields and expanded them to the general public and learners. Had Professor Usui not faced that difficult question about Reiki while teaching at an American university, the Reiki would not have been revived. What do you say?
Dr. Moiz: Actually the systematic knowledge and organized study of different fields was available in Western world. That is how they attracted the learners. In East, the possessiveness for and withholding knowledge has always been prevalent. The great scholars and experts in these Eastern fields of yoga, meditation, mysticism, etc confined conferred upon their knowledge and blessings only on those disciples who served them for years.
Arooj: Whatever is introduced or promoted by the Western world, even if it has its origin in the East, it becomes a value-added phenomenon. Even the artists and singers who have sung even a single song or played a minor role in the Western showbiz world, are deified when they come back to their native Eastern countries. In East, the spiritual education and knowledge was regarded as a privilege of the learners or people who had strong socio-moral character and altruistic nature. But in West, knowledge and education is imparted to every interested and enrolled candidate without any thought of their moral norms and the justified use of these powers.
Do supernatural creatures and Jins really exist and also affect our lives and everyday affairs as people complain?
Dr. Moiz: Being Muslims and the believers of the holy Quran, we believe in the existence of Jins as the creatures of the Almighty. They have certain extraordinary powers like passing through the walls and changing forms. They do not come across or in contact with human world very often as it is misconceived. Psychological interpretation of these syndromes is very different but it is known as a disorder in the nervous system. In certain diseases and conditions people assume and even demonstrate extraordinary physical power and energy. Their facial expressions and sound gets totally changed and they start behaving in a violent and aggressive way. People who believe in supernatural creatures’ influence consider these psych-emotional disorders an outcome of Jins and spirits and claim that the patient is possessed by them. In both the cases, it is the central nervous system that is targeted.
How do you deal with the people who come to you for treatment but cherish firm belief that they are possessed?
Dr. Moiz: It is a matter of strong belief and conviction. So when people who believe they are possessed, come to us for treatment, we do not negate their notions and assure them that we liberate and rescue them from that evil creature. The patients of hysteria and schizophrenia need both counselling as well as medicines for normalising their central nervous system.
Arooj: Your beliefs regarding supernatural forces are mostly based upon the stories narrated by your elders and the people around you. If you are told in your childhood that supernatural creatures or Jins sprinkle blood on floors and walls, you will see that at any suspicious place. If you are told that Jins pelt stones and throw crockery, you will experience that. It is all about your preconceived thoughts and imaginations. If the cases of supernatural creatures exist, they are very rare and not too pervasive as people in our society report or talk about.
Muttahir Ahmed Khan is a Pakistan-based educationist, writer, journalist, analyst and a psychotherapist.
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