Healing OCD Through Neuroscience and Spiritual Awakening — The Power of Memory and the Soul

Here we explores how the roots of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) lie deep within the memories of the soul, and how spirituality offers the path to true healing beyond the reach of psychology or medicine.

Understanding OCD Through the Lens of Mind and Memory

OCD, or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, is a psychological condition where a person experiences recurring thoughts (obsessions) that compel repetitive actions (compulsions) to relieve anxiety.
For example:

• Repeatedly washing hands due to the fear of infection.

• Checking if doors are locked or lights are off.\

• Excessive cleaning or organizing objects.

While neuroscience explains OCD as an imbalance of serotonin and malfunctioning neural loops, spirituality takes us deeper—toward understanding why these loops exist and how to free the soul from them.

The Root of the Disorder — Memories Across Lifetimes

Within every soul lie countless memories of past lives—of fear, pain, failure, and attachment. These impressions (sanskaras) influence behavior even today. When the mind is disturbed, it runs the same thought repeatedly, creating a cycle of suffering.This repetitive cycle forms neural “patterns” in the brain, just like a locked design on a phone screen. Every fear, emotion, or habit becomes a pattern lock in the mind. And so, every time we encounter a similar situation, the old memory awakens, and we repeat the same emotional reaction. The true root of OCD lies not merely in the brain—but in the memory field of the soul.

How Modern Life Fuels OCD

Our digital environment has magnified this problem. Each reel, post, or video we watch floods the mind with chemicals—dopamine, cortisol, serotonin—creating emotional confusion.

• A sad video makes us tear up

• The next funny clip releases dopamine

• Another clip shocks us with fear.

This constant switching prevents emotional digestion. Just like food needs to be digested by the body, emotions must be digested by the mind. When they aren’t, they pile up as restlessness, anxiety, and obsessive thoughts. Sleep becomes disturbed because the mind is still processing hundreds of thoughts. Over time, this overstimulation weakens mental peace and spiritual balance.

Spiritual Science: The Soul as the Powerhouse

The body runs on the power of the soul. The soul is the powerhouse; the mind is the operator. When the mind gets confused by fear, attachment, and emotion, it misuses the soul’s power, leading to overthinking and compulsive behavior. Spiritual awakening begins when one realizes: “I am not the mind, not the thoughts, not the body. I am the pure, divine, eternal soul.” This understanding alone breaks the cycle of obsessive thoughts.

Healing Through Soul Consciousness

The cure begins with purifying the memory and reprogramming the mind. The soul’s light must once again become the guide.

Simple Daily Practices:

Morning Self-Reflection (5 minutes):

• Repeat: “I am a divine soul. I am the embodiment of peace. I am eternal.

• Feel the presence of light at the center of your forehead.

  Pranayama and Meditation (15 minutes):

• Breathe deeply and stabilize your thoughts.

• Visualize yourself as a radiant point of light.

  Positive Affirmations:

• “No thought can bind me.”

• “I am free from all old memories.”

• “I am the soul of supreme peace.”

  Service and Engagement:

• Keep yourself creatively busy.

• An empty mind becomes a workshop for repetitive thoughts.

  Night Cleansing Ritual:

• Before sleeping, clear the day’s thoughts like watching a movie fade away.

• Repeat: “I am a soul of supreme peace. All is well. I am free.”

Visualization Practice for Purification

Close your eyes for 40–50 seconds and visualize: A beam of pure white light descending from the infinite realms—passing through galaxies and universes—entering your home, your aura, and your soul. This supreme light from the abode of infinite peace cleanses every sanskar, removes all disease, sorrow, and heaviness of the mind. Your mind becomes light, pure, and completely free. Practice this anytime during the day—whenever negative thoughts or OCD patterns arise.

Reprogramming the Mind: Remember Who You Are

Every time fear or compulsion arises, remind yourself: “I am not this thought. I am not this emotion. I am the soul.” This single remembrance—Who am I?—has the power to dissolve lifetimes of bondage. Bapuji Dashrathbhai Patel beautifully says: “When you remember your original form, all sorrow ends.” When we replace old memories with divine remembrance, the brain’s pattern changes. The soul begins radiating supreme light instead of reacting to shadows.

Does the Soul Have Infinite Memory?

The answer is both yes and no. In its pure form, the soul is eternal, pure consciousness — an infinite point of divine light. Within it lies the infinite potential of knowledge, remembrance, and awareness. However, when the soul incarnates into the physical body within the material dimension (Mrityulok), its memory becomes limited. Each lifetime, the soul carries subtle impressions — karmic residues, desires, emotions, and experiences — as sanskars within the subtle and causal bodies. These sanskars become seeds that influence one’s tendencies, personality, and destiny in future births. This is why sometimes a person naturally plays a musical instrument without training, recognizes someone upon first meeting, or feels a déjà vu — that mysterious moment of familiarity without logical reason. These flashes are glimpses from past-life memory fragments surfacing through the layers of time.

The Nature of Memory and Forgetfulness

Our consciousness constantly records everything — like a continuous film. But, only emotionally charged or unusual moments leave strong impressions. For example, if during a 12-hour train journey you see a pink-colored buffalo among ordinary scenes, your mind will retain that one peculiar image while forgetting everything else. Similarly, in the long journey of countless lives, only the emotionally intense experiences — pain, joy, attachment, or trauma — remain as deep-rooted karmic imprints, while the rest fade into oblivion. If the soul remembered all lives vividly, life would become unbearable. Hence, forgetfulness (vismriti) is a divine gift. It allows renewal, creativity, and new karmas. If memory remained intact, the soul could never act freely again — it would drown in its past burdens.

This is why the scriptures say: “Smriti, Gyaan, aur Vismriti — sab mere dwara hai.”
– Bhagavad Gita 15.15 (Memory, knowledge, and forgetfulness all arise through Me.)

Scriptural Insights on Soul Memory

• Vedas: Declare that the soul is eternal (Ajar-Amar), ever-existing, and goes from body to body according to karma. Yet, the Vedas emphasize action, sacrifice, and purification rather than exploring past lives.

• Upanishads: Deeply describe how the soul carries impressions.

“Yatha karma yatha shruti cha smriti” — As the karma and impressions are, so is the soul’s remembrance and next birth. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad adds that true liberation comes only when one transcends both remembrance and forgetfulness, merging into the eternal Supreme Consciousness.

• Puranas and Mahabharata:
  The Bhagavat Purana and Garuda Purana affirm that every soul carries karmic memory within the subtle body after death.
  Bhishma Pitamah says in the Shanti Parva:

“Smriti hi bandhan hai, aur vismriti hi moksha.” (Remembrance is bondage, and forgetfulness is liberation.)

Thus, when leaving this world, one must let go of every attachment, worry, or identity — only then does the soul ascend freely. If memory lingers — of wealth, family, possessions — the soul remains bound to the earthly plane.

The Role of Maya and the Veil of Forgetfulness

Maya (cosmic illusion) veils the eternal knowledge within us. Just as clouds hide the sun, so layers of ego, attachment, and ignorance cover the soul’s brilliance. Only through purification — Yajna (sacrifice), Tapas (discipline), Daan (charity), Swadhyaya (self-study), and Dhyana (meditation) — does the mind become pure (chitta shuddhi). A purified mind allows the light of the true Self to shine, burning away karmic memory and ignorance. The Upanishads summarize this beautifully: “Avidya se bandhan, Vidya se moksha.” (Ignorance binds, knowledge liberates.)

The Fire of Knowledge and the End of Karma

Bhagavad Gita reveals the essence: “Jnanagni sarva karmani bhasmasaat kurute.” (The fire of Self-knowledge burns all karmas to ashes.) When true self-awareness awakens — when one realizes, “I am not the doer, nor the experiencer — I am the pure witness, the Shuddh Atma.” then every karmic impression dissolves naturally. This is real remembrance — the remembrance of the Self, not of lives or events. The ordinary memories (of people, pain, possessions) must dissolve so the original Smriti of Truth — the remembrance of Paramshanti, the Supreme Peace — can awaken.

Bapuji’s Cosmic Perspective

According to Bapuji Dashrathbhai Patel’s supreme knowledge, the soul is a living super-cosmic hard disk. Every birth, every experience, every thought — recorded eternally within. When through deep meditation and connection with the Supreme Abode (Paramdham), the soul rises into its higher dimensions, it can access these records. But liberation lies not in remembering the past — rather, in transcending it completely.
As Bapuji says: “Mukti is attained when the soul becomes free from the bondage of all memories and remains in its eternal, luminous form of peace and power.”

Practical Wisdom for Liberation

·       Do not seek to remember the past; seek to awaken the eternal.

·       Focus only on the useful remembrance — the remembrance of Paramatma, the Supreme Light.

·       Release attachment to material memories — they are temporary scripts of the grand play.

·       Strengthen self-awareness and live in Paramshanti (supreme peace) consciousness.

·       True freedom is when the soul resides beyond both smriti (memory) and vismriti (forgetfulness) — in pure, eternal silence.

Conclusion: Freedom Through Supreme Peace

The essence of healing OCD—or any mental imbalance—is in realizing one’s original identity. You are not bound by memories. You are not trapped by thoughts. You are the eternal, conscious, supreme soul filled with Paramshanti (Supreme Peace).Whenever the mind feels restless, gently affirm: “I am the soul of supreme peace.  I am divine light.  I am eternal. I am free.” When the soul abides in its original light form, established in Brahm-Gyaan and Sakshi-Bhav (witness consciousness), all layers of memory dissolve. The self shines as the pure Paramatma-consciousness — peaceful, formless, infinite.