Malaysian guru has spiritual cure

Press, 1 December 1987, Page 18

Malaysian guru has spiritual cure

ROGER MAY

NZPA-Reuter Pantai, Malaysia , A guru using a mixture of herbs, massage and yoga says he is curing drug addicts and cripples at a secluded clinic in Malaysia’s jungle.

Athmanantha Guru Kulam said his 22-hectare centre in the state of Negri Sembilan, 65km south of Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, was* full of cosmic energy. "We can treat all types of chronic disease and drug addicts through traditional medicine and inner force,” said Kulam, who is also known as Swamiji. Wearing flowing blue and yellow robes, bearded Swamiji, aged 40, told Reuters he first got in touch with the spirits while working as an office boy in the state of Perak in northern Malaysia. • Swamiji, a Malaysian Indian with a wife and three children, quit his job at 15. He said he began curing people in his village before setting up a centre in the state capital, Ipoh.

In January, 1985, he moved to his present site, which a pamphlet he has published described as "similar to the unity of the planetary zone ... yith a hilly cool climate,

a high potential of cosmic energy and far away from air pollution together with untouched crystal clear waterfalls.” If the reality is somewhat different, with a shallow stream meandering through his land, patients say the treatment works. G. Subramaniam, aged 32, related how he was beaten up in his home town of Klang two years ago and could not walk or speak afterwards. “I came here two months ago and was given massages and herbal treatments. One month after arriving, I could speak and walk again,” he said. Like some of the other patients, he was brought to Pantai by his family after conventional hospital treatment failed. S. Selvaraj, aged 16, said he had not had an attack of epilepsy since entering the centre 10 days ago. “The treatment is working. I will stay one more week before going home,” he said after being given a massage with oil made from a mixture of herbs, then standing in the sun to let a glutinous herbal potion dry on his shaven head. More than 30

were staying in simple rooms in the centre. One of Swamiji’s assistants, Harwan Singh, aged 41, said he was cured of addiction to heroin after he came to the centre a year ago. He stayed on to work as a cook and look after patients. Drug addicts and sufferers from diseases regarded as incurable in the West are treated with local herbs and fed vegetarian food and cows’ milk, all produced at the centre. Pain and drug withdrawal symptoms are treated by massaging aching joints. Swamiji said much of his treatment was aimed at cooling the body. Shaving patients’ heads reduced internal body heat and allowed herbal plaster to be applied to their foreheads and scalps, helping them overcome nervous tension and giddiness. Addicts are also treated with hot limes squeezed over the head and body and with herbal steambaths. Yoga is used to relax the mind. Swamiji said he sometimes meditated at a holy spot on his land -- a place he describes as “something like a power station” - to acquire

spiritual knowledge to help his patients. The patients pay 30 ringgit ($l9) a day although the destitute can receive free treatment. Swamiji said he got a million ringgit ($644,000) to buy the centre through selling some of his family property and from an insurance claim. Malaysia has 120,000 known drug addicts out of a population of 16 million and has declared narcotics its number one enemy. Swamiji said the Government did not subsidise his loss-making centre and conceded it would be difficult to raise 12 million ringgit ($7.7 million) that he hoped for to develop it.