What exactly is spiritual healing? To find the answer we visited spiritual healer Rajendra Kumar Ratra's house in New Delhi, India. He gave a one-line definition: "It is only positive energy." Simple, but mystifying nonetheless.

Spiritual healing is a no-touch therapy. It comprises of eight techniques, including crystal healing, pillar of light, and sound therapy. "Even the spell of negative entities can be broken by it," says Ratra. "We keep on invoking sanjeevani shakti (positive life forces) and flood the body with it. Slowly the negative entity is overpowered and withdraws." In crystal healing, for example, you put the crystal on the crown chakra (energy center), move it to capture the negative forces before making it touch the earth. Once the negative energy is thrown out, you invoke sanjeevani shakti and fill the resulting vacuum with positive energy.

Ratra first initiates his students to Shaktipat (transmission of energy from teacher to disciple to awaken the kundalini, the spiritual energy latent at the base of the human spine). Once this happens, one can tap 32 types of sanjeevani shakti. "For each person and ailment, there is a particular sanjeevani shakti," says Ratra. And spiritual healing is not confined to people: even places with negative forces can be turned positive.

According to Ratra, spiritual healing helps resolve all kinds of problems—physical, emotional and financial. "I have found it extremely effective in cases of disturbed relationship". He cites the example of a woman who had problems adjusting with her in-laws: "She was on the verge of committing suicide when she came to me. Now she is teaching spiritual healing to her mother-in-law."

However strange spiritual healing may sound, there are testimonials aplenty regarding its efficacy. Enterpreneur Meenakshi Singh, for one, swears by it. Now a spiritual healer herself, Meenakshi first approached Ratra about some family problems. Today, she helps heal her family and other people. "It's not as if my circumstances have changed, but my attitude is different. I can handle things in a better manner," she says.

Ratra, however, does not claim to be the inventor of spiritual healing. "These are gifts from my ascended masters and Lord Shiva," he says. "I saw a lot of suffering when I was working for a pharmaceutical company, and wanted to minimize negativities."

Ratra's quest for the spiritual began early. He was first initiated at the age of eight. Later, around 1977, he learnt transcendental meditation (TM) at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram. "I would meditate and maintain complete silence for days," he says. "Still, I yearned for a proper guru. Then I started worshipping goddess Durga and performed Mata Dhoomwati Upasana (a Hindu religious rite), one of the 10 mahavidyas (spiritual powers)."

Life changed for Ratra after this, but his spiritual quest wasn't over. His quest for a guru took him to the Himalayas in the 1990's where he finally received shaktipat from Avadhoot Baba Nityananda. Recalls Ratra: "During a meditation session with Baba, there was a big spark and a sudden blast of light. I was intoxicated and then passed out. I did not realize then that Baba had passed the divine knowledge of spiritual healing to me."

After this dramatic initiation, Ratra discovered his healing acumen. "People would come to me with problems," he recalls. "I would pray to God and give them mantrit jal (water blessed with mantra). The problems would miraculously disappear."

Ratra's powers became more enhanced with intensive meditation. "While meditating, I would unconsciously start roaring like a lion and chant mantras of which I had absolutely no knowledge." In these sessions, he would see golden-violet sparks, symbols and a tunnel all around him. All these were "Baba's instructions to me". At times, the power bestowed was unbearable. "I would ask Baba to stop because of the excruciating pain," says Ratra. "Not for long, though, as these instructions were coming from Siddha Loka, a plane where the spiritual souls reside."