Gendraj Khemraz, aka Joy, believes one should pray willingly, not forcefully.Khemraz, 39, the spiritual head of the Shankarnath Ramayan Satsangh group, is a man of God.Photographer Zail Singh and I recently visited his home in Varsity Drive, Reservoir Hills, and discovered the Mauritian-born, of Port Louis, who arrived in South Africa in 1991, qualified as a reiki healer from a Japanese grand reiki master in under a month.Spirituality has always been in his blood as he hails from a family of priests and scientists. Khemraz believes in all religions "because in the eyes of God there is only one religion, mankind."Rising at 4am, he bathes, then cleans his prayer place, before lighting the lamp at the foot of Mother Durga. He then offers Surya Jal (an offering of water to the sun) and prepares mentally for the day ahead before the sun rises.

The practice of Surya Jal is interesting.

"According to our scriptures, we must give charity daily, and an offering of water is a form of charity." Afterward, his children, Shivan, 13, Karishma, 12, and Rahul, nine, and wife, Samantha, 36, awake and do the same.Thereafter, he drops his kids at school and heads for the Westville Hindu Society temple at the University of KwaZulu Natal Westville campus, where he undertakes various chores, before meeting his patients - he makes house calls because most of his patients are terminally ill.Khemraz became a healer after a Japanese reiki master told him 10 years ago that he had "very strong" healing energies."My late mother Binta also believed I could heal using my hands." Many of his patients apparently stopped their medication because of Khemraz's healing touch (reiki), which he combined with Hindu mantras and faith.

Although Khemraz does not worry about monetary gain when providing his services as a priest, he charges a fee as a reiki master "as you have to put a fee to the service". He believes when one does God's work one should not do so with the intention of gaining popularity."What you give with your right hand your left hand must not know about."And, for the former electronic salesman-vegetable hawker-Hindi-language teacher, now a full-time practising reiki healer and priest, who is a vegetarian, the most important meal of the day is supper."Having supper with the family is a must. This short time together makes a family."After dinner, he reads religious literature. He also undertakes internet research and will in a few months release two volumes on Hinduism and its prayers, to assist the youth to understand why certain prayers are performed. After listening to "calming" religious mantras, Khemraz falls asleep at midnight.