The Life of Dr. Ghulam Mohammad Kumar
A Journey from Medicine to Mysticism
Early Life & Background
Born in 1957 in Ganderbal, Kashmir, Dr. Ghulam Mohammad Kumar came from a well-respected family with a lineage of scholars, healers, and seekers. From an early age, he displayed a deep sensitivity to the natural world and an unusual curiosity about spiritual matters. His contemplative nature and compassion for people and animals were early signs of the path he would later walk.
His formal education led him to medicine, where he excelled as a physician. After completing his MBBS in 1981 at the age of 24, he joined the government medical service, providing healthcare to remote villages across Kashmir. Known for his generosity, he treated patients regardless of their ability to pay, earning a reputation for both skill and kindness.
Yet even while serving as a doctor, Dr. Kumar felt an inner pull toward questions that medicine alone could not answer the deeper roots of suffering, healing, and the mystery of existence. This inner tension quietly prepared him for a profound transformation.
The Spiritual Awakening
In 1975, at the age of 18, Dr. Kumar underwent what he later described as a “shattering of the self.” While visiting a remote mountain village, he encountered an elderly mystic who spoke of the limitations of physical medicine and the deeper dimensions of human suffering.
This meeting marked a turning point. In the months that followed, he experienced intense dreams, inner visions, and altered states of consciousness that defied his medical understanding. What began as a private unease soon unfolded into a spiritual crisis a call that would eventually lead him away from conventional practice and into the path of mysticism.
Key Life Events
- 1957Born in Ganderbal, Kashmir, India
- 1975Spiritual awakening and crisis
- 1981Completed medical education (MBBS)
- 1983Abandoned medical practice
- 1983-9714 years in silence in Ganderbal
- 1998Return as a Qalandar
- 1999-25Started teaching and healing
- 2022Established Sufi Science Center (USA)
- 2024Established Sufi Pulse
- 2025Established Dr. Kumar Foundation (USA)
In Devotion and Continuity
“This work is not history, but a living bridge. As his disciple, I have tried to carry Dr. Kumar’s light into the language of our times, so new seekers may walk the same path of silence and awakening.”
Disciple Dr Zarf-e-Noori
The Saint's Journey
Birth and Early Light
Born in 1957 into a Kashmiri family of scholars and healers, Dr. Kumar grew up in an environment where learning and spirituality were part of daily life. From his earliest years, he displayed a rare sensitivity to nature, animals, and the unseen mysteries of existence. Elders noticed his contemplative nature and his tendency toward silence and reflection, unusual traits in a child. His compassion for others stood out, as he often cared for both people and creatures around him. The cultural richness of Kashmir provided a fertile ground for nurturing his inner depth. His family’s wisdom traditions gave him a foundation rooted in both knowledge and faith. These early qualities became the seeds of his journey as physician, mystic, and spiritual teacher.
14 Years in Silence
In 1983, Dr. Kumar made the radical decision to abandon his medical practice and all material possessions. He retreated into the dense forests of Ganderbal, where he would spend the next 14 years in almost complete silence and solitude.
During this period, he lived with the barest essentials, often exposed to the elements, with little food or shelter. Villagers who occasionally encountered him described a man who seemed to exist between worlds sometimes unaware of his surroundings, yet radiating an unusual peace and light.
This phase represented the Fana stage of his spiritual journey the annihilation of the ego and dissolution of the separate self. In Sufi tradition, Fana is the necessary precursor to Baqa, or subsistence in the Divine. Those who knew him before and after this retreat often remarked that it was as if the physician had died in the forest, and a mystic had emerged.
Return as a Qalandar
In 1998, Dr. Kumar emerged from the forest utterly transformed. He no longer identified himself as a doctor or by his former name. Instead, he lived as a Qalandar a mystic who transcends religious formalities and social conventions, dwelling in a state of perpetual presence with the Divine.
He returned to society but lived with no possessions, no fixed abode, and spoke only when necessary. Yet people were drawn to him. Those who spent time in his presence reported experiences of profound peace, spontaneous healing, and answers to their deepest questions often without him saying a word.
This marked the beginning of his wider influence, as seekers from every walk of life and faith tradition began to approach him for guidance and healing.
Global Influence
By the late 1990s, Dr. Kumar’s reputation had spread beyond Kashmir. Invited by devotees, he began traveling internationally, carrying his teachings to Europe, North America, and Australia. His message was simple yet transformative: true healing arises not from doing but from being, not from acquisition but from surrender, not from knowledge but from the dissolution of the knower.
In 2005, the Sufi Science Center was established in Berkeley, California, as a bridge between spiritual wisdom and scientific research. It became a hub for exploring consciousness, healing practices, and environmental sustainability through the lens of his insights.
Until his passing in 2012, Dr. Kumar embodied the paradox at the heart of his path a healer without medicine, a teacher without words, a mystic who lived both in silence and in light.
Living Legacy
Today, his influence continues to expand through the work of his students, the initiatives of the Dr. Kumar Foundation, and the countless lives touched by his presence. His journey from medicine to mysticism endures as a reminder that the deepest transformations come not through power or possession, but through surrender to the Infinite.