“Hello everyone, my name is Harsh Gupta. I have a story to share, which is not less than a miracle. I had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) which comprised of getting lost in thoughts, washing utensils again and again, for a longer time than usual. I consulted the psychiatrist regarding it, and he told me that I need to take medicines for curing this disorder, as it is very difficult to control these repetitive thoughts and actions without medicines. I was given psychiatric medicines including antidepressants and antipsychotics.

These medicines did not cure me, but they made my mind numb, which is known as emotional numbing. I could not think clearly the way I used to think before taking these medicines. I could not feel any emotions. I could not laugh, nor smile, nor cry. I was alive from outside, but dead from inside. My academics were also severely affected. Suddenly I had become a below average student from a very intelligent student. I left those medicines. Two years passed by and still no relief. Emotional numbing still remained.

I decided to go to the Sivananda Ashram in Trivandrum, India. Here I met the person who is my Goddess, Vinny. The first day when we met in the Ashram, she saw a flower lying down on the ground, and said that the flower wanted to go to the feet of the idol of Lord Ganesha. She picked up the flower and kept it at the feet of the Lord Ganesha. So, I understood that she is the healer I had been all along waiting for.

I told her my story and she affirmed that I am completely fine. She affirmed me that I don't require any medicines for healing, and that my body has self-healing energies. From the next day she was always there to help me. She motivated me in moving ahead in life. I started doing yoga asana classes, attended sessions of group chanting of mantras, did meditation and attended lecture classes.

The most special thing there was the Devi Temple, which is a highly energized place. Whenever I entered there, my thoughts would disappear, and my mind would enter into a meditative state. After just 10 days of coming to the Ashram, emotional numbness started to disappear and also my mind started coming out of the thoughts, which it used to remain lost into. I could now feel the emotions, I felt the happiness in life. I could concentrate very well on all the work I did. I felt alive again. This was like a rebirth for me.

So, yoga, meditation and spirituality actually work. And the most important thing above these is the one person who makes us believe in ourselves, who in my case is my angel Vinny. Vinny told me that it’s her mother's soul which is guiding her. It must have been her mother's soul, who brought her to me. Thank you, Vinny for making me believe in myself.

Miracles do happen,"