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?
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.
