WHAT IS A MIRACLE?

 

Christ did not perform more miracles than other Masters. We feel that because we are more oriented to our background and what we have learned. But if we study other Scriptures and mythologies, we will find many more miracles being performed. But what is a miracle? I have said before that there are no miracles whatsoever. We regard things that we cannot understand to be a miracle.

When a person reaches a very high level of consciousness and can become one with subtle forces, he can direct these subtle forces into certain acts, which would seem to be a miracle to our eyes. The typical examples would be the aeroplane, the television, and the telephone, which a hundred years ago would have seemed a miracle, and today, it is such a reality that we hardly notice it. So, there are no miracles.

But what did Jesus do? I am sure that thousands and thousands of people were blind at the time of his ministry. Thousands and thousands of people were lame, and I am sure thousands and thousands of people had died during that time. Why did he not cure all of their blindness? Why did he not make all the boring walk and not raise all from the dead? That is the question to consider.

We know that he was a man of love. Why did he love one more than the other? Why should he give sight to one or legs to another and not to others? Therefore, Jesus always said one thing: “Thy faith has healed thee.” It is your faith that heals you. Jesus was the focal point for you to gather that faith within you into a togetherness, and when you were ready, these things just happened. When the child passes standard three, he goes to standard four, but if he has passed standard four, you cannot put him in Bachelor of Arts. So, that faith was there, that faith which defies all analysis. Science demands pro, of which religion defies proof.

A LITTLE STORY

I will tell you a little story. The Prime Minister of a particular country had passed away. The Prime Minister was a very, very wise, a very learned man. You can be learned and yet not wise. But here, there was a happy combination of being learned and wise. He passed away, and it was difficult to find his equal. So, they searched and searched and searched, and these three were the best choices that could be found. There was a scientist, one of the world’s most brilliant mathematicians, there was a philosopher, and there was a man of religion. These three were contenders to become the new Prime Minister. The King said, “I will have to put you through a test, and whoever passes the test will become the Prime Minister.”

They were all given a few days to rest, so the Scientist was worrying all the time about what kind of problem this was going to be that I would have to solve. He worried and thought and thought and thought, and he had sleepless nights, and by the time he reached the Palace, he was exhausted. The Philosopher, the second contender, tried to work all kinds of theories. He had studied Plato and Socrates and Shankaracharya and Aristotle and Ramanuja and Madhva and the whole lot put together, and he said, what possible problem could this King pose to me? He was worrying and worrying, and even before the problem was presented, he created problems in his mind. So, when they both went to the Palace for this test, they were still worried and exhausted.

But the man of religion did not care anything. He did nothing during those few days that they gave them to rest. He sang, and he ate, and he drank, and he was happy. So, while on the way to the Palace, the Scientist and the Philosopher asked this man, “Look, you have been doing nothing.” He said, “What is there to do? There is nothing to do.” So, these two felt so confident; he was a natural loser.

In the meantime, the King had built a room where all three would be locked in. The lock did not have a key, but it might have been one of the number combinations  or some such device whereby safe doors are opened.

The three got locked in the room and asked to find their way out. The Scientist immediately took pen and paper and started working out all possible solutions, all the permutations of the numbers, and he was so brilliant that if he existed today, he would have won every horse race with all his permutations. The Philosopher was busy with all his theories, so there must be a theory on how this door can be opened. There must be some theory because there is a solution behind every problem, which necessitates a theory to work upon. Meanwhile, the man of religion just sat back in a corner, and he was so happy within himself, meditating away and such a joy. A few hours passed, and the Scientist and Philosopher looked at him and said, “Oh, he is out; he is just sitting still doing nothing.”

Then suddenly, the man of religion thought: let me go to the door and try to open it. And he went to the door, and he opened the door because the door was never locked. So, the scientists and the philosophers were creating non-existent problems, but the man of faith just knew within himself without using analysis or logic. Because the Scientist experiments, the Philosopher uses logic, but the man of truth, the man of religion, he experiences. Experiment, logic, experience. While he was meditating, he just experienced “let me go.” Something pushed him, and he did not know, and he did not care either about what pushed him. He just had faith to get up and open the door. He was appointed Prime Minister.

THE REAL TEACHER KEEP ON SOWING, AND THE RECIPIENT WILL FIND THE BENEFIT OF IT

To come to the point, you see how great faith plays in our lives. So, during Jesus’ ministry, those who were cured had faith. The combination of the Lord’s grace and man’s faith created these miracles. One cannot work without the other. The man of great power and force can send you the Shakti, but if you are not receptive to the Shakti, you will not benefit from the Shakti, for there are no miracles. Put a stone in water; it will not absorb water but put a sponge in water, and it will absorb the water. So, in the miracle cures, there was a two-way action. There was a two-way action where there was, perhaps, not total faith but a certain amount of faith in the patient and the physician’s power. Many times, people ask me, you have so many problems; this one writes of that problem, and another one writes about another problem. Problems the whole day, from morning till night, you are going through issues and difficulties. Then I tell them that is good; that is my dharma. If problems were not presented to me, I would not be doing my work. The physician comes for the sick and not for the healthy.

So, it was not a miracle on the part of Christ. That man born as man, Son of man, had reached the stage of evolution where he could communicate and be in communion with subtle forces of a sattvic nature, which could be sent forth by conscious will. If the receptivity is there, then they will be received. Yet the Bible says, and this is the greatest miracle, a greater miracle than all the blind seeing, for the actual teacher as he was, he said, “Go on sowing. Some seeds will fall on barren ground, some on rocks, picked by the birds of the air and some on fertile ground.” So, when we want miracles in our lives, let our grounds be fertile; the seeds will always be sown. The sower passes along sowing, sowing, sowing, and he who is receptive will find the benefit of it. That is the whole theory behind it.

THE CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS IS A LIVING PRESENCE ALL THE TIME

This we find in our daily lives all the time. I experience this from morning till night. All these little beautiful miracles are happening. My car has a breakdown in the traffic, for example, and I get stuck, and from nowhere, a few people come along, and they do not know me. They just help me, and in five minutes, I am gone. Something is very much needed; something just happens, and the need is provided. You see how miraculous, to use that word, this Divine force is, how miraculous Grace or Gurushakti is, that it will fill every need if we allow it to be filled. This has nothing to do with wishful thinking. This has to do with genuine need, and if a person has faith that a genuine need will be fulfilled, it does not need an incarnation to come in front of you and wave his hand. It will be fulfilled because that force, Christ Consciousness, is always a living presence.

PAY ATTENTION TO THE POWER OF GRACE

Now and then, it embodies itself for a purpose and mission. It means that the living presence of Christ or that Christ’s Consciousness is eternal, but at times in the period of history, it crystallises itself in some form or another to help the Divine plan, to bring about a balance. So, when it comes to miracles, people attach so much importance to them. Most of our Scriptures are so, so misinterpreted. We should not attach importance to miracles at all. But we should attach importance to the power of grace and still give greater importance to “Am I worthy of that Grace?” Then, that becomes a practical life.

Miracles are so easy, so easy. In Denmark, a woman had been walking on crutches for four years. She could not move without crutches. I said, “You leave those crutches behind and come to me”, and she walked across the room. The first time in four years – and she walked back. I do not call that a miracle. It is no miracle at all. And like this, it goes on and on and on all the time. It is not a question of miracles. But this woman, when I spoke to her and commanded her, “Come to me,” she felt something; she felt a spark in her Heart that united with mine, and she could do it. So, you see miracles.

… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang UK 1979 – 03