As per the Merriam Webster dictionary, a miracle is
“An extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs”
As per Dictionary.com, a miracle is
“An effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause, often considered as a work of God”.
So, is there any such thing as miracle in this world (or out of this world for that matter)? An extraordinary phenomenon that is not comprehendible by common sense? An event which even modern science fails to explain?
When we hear of a miracle from some source, we all get excited. The newspapers and media cover it in great length, sometimes adding a twist of their own. We wish that such things should happen to us or at least before us so that we can witness it first hand. We all admire it for sometime, talk about it with our neighbors, think about it and then, as usual, believing that we are not fortunate enough to witness a miracle, forget about it and get on with our lives.
Having been brought up in India, I grew up listening to many such stories of miracles.
One such incident which is still vivid in my memory dates back to September 21, 1995. It was first noticed in New Delhi. It was reported that a when a Hindu worshipper offered milk to the idol of Lord Ganesha, the milk was seen to disappear, apparently taken in by the deity. Soon the news spread like wildfire all over the world. People then started observing this phenomenon in other parts of India as well as some other countries like England, Canada, Dubai, Nepal.
Another incident happened in Mumbai, India, which is more recent than the milk incident. On August 18, 2006, it was reported that the sea water at the Mahim Creek (one of the most polluted creeks) in Mumbai turned sweet. Within hours of this news, residents of Gujarat (A different state in India) claimed that seawater at ‘Teethal’ beach had turned sweet as well. Even after knowing that the sea water at Mahim Creek receives thousands of tonnes of raw sewage and industrial waste every day, amidst strong protests by the authority, people started drinking the water and collected it in bottles. The fear of epidemic was galore. The common people attributed the phenomenon to divine intervention. Luckily, there were no outbreak of water-borne diseases reported in Mumbai after this incident.
Ofcourse, the modern scientist gave a scientific explanation in both the cases. That is a subject of another discussion.
After doing some research on the internet, I found out that it is not only the third world countries where such “Miracles” have been reported. Such unexplained phenomenon have also been reported in many developed countries like America, Canada, France, Germany etc.
The most common and widely observed one is the cross of light. People from many parts of various countries like USA, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, Phillipines have reported seeing shining cross of lights over different period in time. For them, it symbolises the return of Christ to this world to help people who are really in need.
Like an article, "Cross of light sign of Christ", in the New Zealand Sunday News reports “A cross of light appearing in the window of a Devonport house has been hailed as another sign Christ has returned to the world. Sign writer Paul Larkin told Sunday News the cross of light he noticed in his bathroom window was a sign of "something big" about to happen. It was spotted by Larkin three weeks ago, shortly after he moved into the house. He recognized it, having seen other crosses in Auckland and having learned about them at his Transmission Meditation group. "I'd been in the bath, hopped out and got changed. I came back and turned off the light and it was there." Larkin said the previous tenants in the house had not seen the cross. He said the cross "appeared when I was down quite a lot, sorting through a lot of problems. It has really helped me through it." (Source: New Zealand Sunday News).
So these are one type of miracle…’Spiritual Miracles’. There are other types of miracles in this world.
For example the everyday miracles which we experience all the time but we do not think about them as they have become a part of our life… like, say, gravity or cycle of life and death etc. etc. You must be thinking these are not miracles. These are natural phenomenon and a lot of it have been scientifically proven. Well, they might have been able to scientifically prove a fraction of these natural wonders, but has the science created any of it? Just imagine, the earth rotates on it’s axis at more than 1000 miles an hour and around the sun at about 67,000 miles an hour…gossshh…such a high speed but it does not throw us offbalance even by a fraction of an inch. Isn’t it a miracle?
There are yet another type of miracle which very few of us are fortunate enough to witness. In subsequent articles I will talk about a few of them that I either have heard from people (first hand report) or have read in books.
