Why I believe in miracles

The most honest answer to that question would be - right from my early days of childhood, instances of personally experiencing most mind-boggling of miracles have been so numerous, that I cannot help but accept their validity in all humbleness. The number of times I have personally seen all the laws of Physics given a total toss out of the windows, to deny “miracles” would mean that either I have to doubt my own sanity or concede that I have been most cleverly manipulated and be-fooled on all those numerous occasions and had for some deep sense of inadequacy given into impossible credulity.The little self-respect I unfortunately have for myself, I have little choice but to reject both of these options. The only conclusion I am left with is that the known laws of science though works overwhelmingly on most  occasions, there do exist laws higher than these, which operates under special conditions, which are as real as perhaps the law of gravitation, but which with our present level of mental development is clearly beyond our comprehension. Or may be they will forever be beyond the machinations of the mind!

Now the question arises, what are those “miracles” that I have experienced that endows me with so much certainty about them?

I will perhaps answer that question on another occasion, but let us try to understand what exactly do we mean by "miracles"? To believe in them, does it inevitably mean that we possess a hopelessly weak and impressionable mind, that we are incredibly credulous and superstitious? Does it mean that we have completely given up all sense of judgment and reasoning? Does belief in miracles stem from a deep psychological inadequacy? Does it stunt our spiritual growth and deviate us from our actual goal of spiritual realization?

Let us try to explore these issues, which I think are quite important for all seekers of truth.

There is a temptation to think of miracles as something which cannot be explained by laws of science. Questions as varied as- how life gets implanted in a fetus, how and what makes us self-aware, how do our eyes and brain perfectly map the outer world inside our mind, what caused the big bang- are only a few to which today’s science offers no answer. Though in a broad sense such events can be thought of as miracles, in our common parlance these by itself do not constitute of what we mean by the term "miracle". Incredible as they are, we do not see them as miracles, because they have either worn out their sheen of evoking a wondrous response in us by their ubiquitous occurrence that we have taken them for granted, or they are so self-evident we hardly notice anything incongruous or exceptional in them. At any rate, though instances of most wondrous events still beyond the purview of science abounds,  we have for myriad reasons gotten inured to them.

So that leaves us with a narrower understanding of "miracles". Miracles are those fantastic events which basically defy the known laws of science. An incurable disease getting cured without any medication, experiencing a Divine revelation or having a profound epiphany, materialization of honey or may be blood from pictures of Divine personalities, multiplying food from only a couple of loaves, suddenly filling a room with a divine fragrance- these are only a few from the multitudes of miracles that have been experienced and recorded by the believers from four corners of the world, from almost all belief systems, throughout the history of mankind.

One can very well reject them outright, as products of flights of fantasy of people living in fool’s paradise. But what gives us this moral arrogance, authority and conviction to reject so many people’s deep personal experience, which many of them claim to have fundamentally altered their entire perception of life? Have we gained so much knowledge and understanding that we have acquired the authority to grant what is possible and what is not possible to fall under the purview of human consciousness?

We might ask for proof. A scientific proof. By definition a scientific proof of a particular phenomenon requires repeat-ability. It should be reproducible as predicted and without exception, if the required conditions are satisfied. But are not miracles, by definition those that lie outside the domain of our scientific paradigm? How can we employ tools of science to understand and comprehend something which lies completely out of it? Can we measure the depth of a lake by a weighing machine? Doesn’t it need a completely different approach?

What is then needed to understand and experience a miracle?

The first thing needed to experience a miracle is humility. Living in the age of reason and logic, we have become completely conditioned to reposing our total faith in our cognitive abilities, almost as superstitiously as the medieval man who was steeped in his religious dogmas. It is time we recognize the inherent inadequacy in accepting reason and logic as the only guiding instruments in our pursuit of truth. Without doubt, they are important, but we have faculties far more powerful than them. These are faculties of intuition, instinctive feeling, and an awakened conscience. But in the way we have ordered our lives and set our priorities, we give little importance to them. It is time we again open up to their true possibilities. At least we can start by acknowledging that even as we are on the zenith of knowledge and information, we know precious little of the most fundamental issues concerning ourselves and the universe we live in. Accepting this little fact will be enough to fill our minds with the required humility and deflate the balloon of arrogance and ego we have blown around us.  

The second thing we need is to re-invoke our lost sense of wonder. As a child, we looked at everything with fascination- everything was a source of joy and amusement. But as we grew up, we got used to the world around us. We gave up that sense of wonder. No longer was the shining rainbow or the fluttering butterfly to be reveled and marveled at, but to be analyzed and interpreted. Yes, we still do have moments of exhilaration and awe, but generally the world appears mundane and indifferent. That sense of wonder springs from an unsullied innocence, a spotless mind, a guileless heart - qualities for which we not only have little time in our race to conquer and acquire, but think of as naive, imbecile and impediments in the way of achieving our goals and aspirations. No wonder we feel more comfortable in being cynical and sneering. 

The third and the most important thing needed to witness a miracle is faith. Though it might sound like putting the cart before the horse- but it indeed is that to experience a miracle one has to invest in faith. Faith in a power that is beyond our ability of rational comprehension. Faith in a power that responds to our innermost prayers. Faith in a power that cannot be explained but experienced.  It is when we have this faith, that we would be open to the wondrous ways of miracles. It is because miracle is the language of this Power, it is the medium of Its expression. As rhythm and rhyme renders beauty to the ideas and words in poetry, it is miracles, acts of wonder which endows grace and glory to the power that animates and sustains all creation.

But, why do we need miracles? Isn’t the whole purpose and order of creation defeated when we have a set of laws governing it, only to be broken in most inexplicable of ways, for most incomprehensible reasons, and apparently almost randomly? 

This is a profound question-one that confounds even those who might otherwise be ready to concede a possibility to miracles.

Just as the purpose of a Presidential pardoning to someone given a death sentence by the highest court of law is not to undermine the entire judicial system, but to show that there are considerations beyond the realm of law and justice, similarly a miracle is not a denunciation of all laws that govern this universe, but a poignant revelation that there are laws that supersedes the gamut of laws that we have comprehended so far. Miracles are a pointer that there is more to the reality than meets the eye. 

Doesn't our preoccupation with miracles stunt our spiritual growth?

Yes it does, and it is here that we should be extremely cautious. Just as on a train journey, we might come across many a delightful sight, but we do not get so enamored by them as to give up the journey itself, miracles do happen as glimpses of higher realities on our pilgrimage to Truth. Miracles should be experienced, enjoyed, appreciated, but not to be followed. The purpose of miracles is to delight our hearts, to give us strength, to reassure us. In other words, they happen to nudge us on the journey that we have started. Or if we haven’t, then to awaken us from our slumber! But if we get caught up in it for itself, it will be like waking up for the alarm-clock, perhaps only to play with it, and not because of the alarm-clock, to be up and going  .

Another thing we need to be extremely careful and cautious of is to be able to discriminate between hysteria and a genuine miracle. A miracle transports one into a state of bliss, fills one with a sense of higher purpose, clears the darkness of confusion and doubts. But hysteria is one which excites, which does little to make one feel satisfied and content, which hardly imparts a deeper understanding or flashes a light of intuitive knowledge. Unfortunately,the general predilection among many believers to give in to the temptations of hysteria, ends up subjecting genuine miracles to much scorn and derision. And worse, it prejudices many an open minded person and deprives them of a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them!

It is important to cover our feet with shoes and sandals while treading in the world, but when we go to a temple, we go in bare footed, leaving the foot-wear outside the sacred premises. It is time we regain our right to enter the realm of a higher reality, a reality which though remains obfuscated by the constant clutter of our minds, flashes the light of an intuitive understanding now and then to remind us of its undying presence. Miracles happens when that reality screams to get our attention. Let us not be so unfortunate as to refuse ourselves with its glorious possibilities.