TAXI: 'I was a chicken without the head before I start Scientology'

NEW YORK, May 29, 2009 — Cornered by a sour economy and quick-to-ticket cops, one cabbie is taking control.

Hyder Jeffri is no stranger to stress. Each day he deals with impatient passengers and irritated drivers. But in the midst of the turmoil he turns to scientology for peace during troubling financial times.

“Most cab drivers, they count the money – decide the money, what they make – at the end of the day,” Jeffri said. “And I decide before I start my work that this is how much money I am going to make today, and end of the day, I have that money, nine out of 10 times, guaranteed. Because I control my environment. My environment does not control me.”

Jeffri turned his sights toward scientology three years ago and hasn’t looked back.

“I was a chicken without the head before I start scientology,” he said. “Any area in my life I had a difficulty, I did courses. One of them was stress. I took the course to handle (stress). So when I finished, my control in any area I educate myself through scientology…on a scale of nine to 10, nine-plus.”

That control was put to the test recently when he was slapped with a $115 parking ticket.

“I got the ticket. I’m going to pay for it,” Jeffri said. “But, on the other hand, that ticket will not financially hurt me because (the) teaching of scientology makes you more able how to control your environment.”

“Scientology in my own definition is science of miracles – how to make miracles,” he added. “$1,500, $200, $1,000, even $10,000 if I pay for a ticket, believe or not, that’s going to create (the miracle). Because the spirit is Allah will create.”

Jeffri isn’t immune to the problems cabbies face each day. He’s simple decided to rise above them.

“All this negative energy can keep on hitting me, but it will not knock me down,” he said. “Because I am the one who creates energy.”