On December 7 2019, Sudhir and Niru Parikh will be given the Lokvani Inspire Award  at the Lokvani Community and Youth Awards Gala.  The couple has working tirelessly to bring alternative healing through Yoga, Pranic Healing and other techniques to people in New England. 

“After completing my degree in Mechanical Engineering, I came to the US in 1964. Niru joined me after. We got married in a Church in Maryland. “ says Sudhir Parikh. “I think ours was the first Hindu wedding in Maryland.”

What motivated them to get actively involved in community work? “It was Niru’s father. He was a leader in the community in India.  He took a special interest in me from a very young age. He put up a black board on our road and asked me to write one inspirational quote every day on it. I had to do a lot of reading to get the quote. All the reading I did ,motivated me towards community service.  Niru of course was inspired directly by her father” says Sudhir Parikh.

Why the focus on healing? “As a child I had learned Yoga and continued to do it for many years. When I was young I had this crazy aspiration that I should be able to heal people with my touch.  Of course that was a crazy thought. But later learning about the different alternate mechanisms of healing I have been able to use them to heal people”.

“A lot of our life has been guided by our Guru , Bramhananda Saraswathi” says  Niru. 

The couple retired when Sudhir was only 55. After that they have completed dedicated their life to community service.  “It started with organizing Bhajans and discourses. We once met Murai Bapu and organized his Pravachan. He inspired me to start an organization. The Satsang Center was born with the help of a core group of dedicated volunteers”.

“Initially I was learning and doing Yoga for personal benefit. My son told me once that I should share it and not selfishly hold on to this knowledge. That conversation pushed Niru and I  to learn to become a teachers of Yoga. While we have had much training, we really value the work of VYASA and have received significant teacher training experience from VYASA.  VYASA ties Yoga with specific healing. Thus there is Yoga for Diabetes, Yoga for Obesity etc I like the close tie between Yoga and Healing”.

They have taught Yoga at the VHP camps for years. They also go to India and teach Yoga to under privileged people in Muni Seva Ashram. 

Niru and Sudhir went on to learn other techniques like Pranic Healing and Sujog  They however constantly work to teach the techniques to others. “If I know a technique and use it for healing it will not scale. So we always work to share the knowledge so that the people can be empowered to heal themselves or others. We charge for our programs. All funds raised are used again for community service”.

Have they had significant healing successes? “Oh yes. That is what motivates us to do more. We have had such  wonderful success stories. We have helped remove shoulder pain that doctors recommended surgery for. Cases of infertility have been cured using Pranic healing”. 

What do you think of western medicine? “I believe in it very much.  I myself had a heart attack and I have had surgery and medication  that helps me. However I believe in using other mechanisms like Pranic healing and Yoga as well for I see significant impact of those methods”, says Sudhir Parikh. 

While they do everything together, cooking is a special passion that Niiru has. “Good food is key to good health. We are promoting Veganism now. It is a great thing for good health. I love to cook and feed people. It gives me great joy” says Niru. 

What has been the most fulfilling experience of their healing? “  We were really excited to the se the  impact of Yoga as taught at VYASA on Autistic women at the Muni Seva Ashram. We saw tremendous progress and that was very gratifying" says Sudhir Parikh.

What doe the future hold for them? “We hope we can continue to spread healing techniques so all the people of the world live healthy lives. “