MIRACLES DO HAPPEN

Faith and renunciation work wonders in the life of man! But faith has to be strong and genuine.The Individual has to rely on the Providence entirely to reap the benefit of his faith! It is not an easy thing to cultivate and retain such faith and renunciation. But once we succeed in that venture, results are astounding and miraculous! For the common man it is incredible but for the man with imperturbable faith it is called the Grace of the Supreme Being! Our Puranas and Itihasas are full of incidents where the faithful had attained the Grace of the Lord by their sincere prayer and total surrender! The story of Gajendra in the Bhagavata Purana is a classical example! Caught  in the foot by the crocodile, he fought with it for a number of years. His ego or ahankara did not help him. With faith and total surrender he called for the intervention of the Lord! It was only after the elimination of his ego Lord Vishnu came down and saved Gajendra by killing the crocodile! In modern days people don't believe in miracles but still they do happen in the lives of the sincere and faithful devotees

A father had a son who was terminally ill. All had give up hope of his recovery. Preparations were being made for his funeral when suddenly a sadhu entered the scene! Looking at the man on the death bed, he said that there is a last hope and if that is properly done the son shall surely recover and escape death! The father of the boy was surprised but pleased. He wanted to know how the boy could be saved.The remedy narrated by the Sadhu depressed and disappointed all the people present! The Sadhu said that a skull has to be procured with the venom of a cobra! It should be mixed with a few drops of rain water! Rainwater has to be collected under the constellation of Swati! If that combination of water is given, the dying son shall surely live again! The father was desperate. He wanted his son to live but the remedy suggested appeared a herculean task and impossible! Where will he go for a skull and the venom of a cobra? When will the constellation Swati appear? How can rain pour at his will? But he was not unnerved at these impossibilities!

With supreme faith and sincere prayer he set out for his search for the materials suggested by the Sadhu. Looking into the almanac, he was surprised to know that Swati star would be in the ascendant on the next day. He felt happy and fervently prayed to God to make his search a great success and save the life of his only son! He earnestly began his search in the evening for the skull at a deserted spot. His diligence was rewarded and he saw an empty skull under a tree! The first condition was satisfied. He held the skull in his hand and prayed again for rain so that he could  collect a few drops!  Lo, Behold! There was a sudden shower and he collected a few drops of rain water! Now the second condition was satisfied.The third condition was the most difficult and highly improbable in normal circumstances!

He once again prayed to God to help him procure cobra venom and started looking for the cobra. After a while, he saw, not far from him, a toad lying on the ground! Behind the toad, a cobra was ready to spring on it! Before he knew what had happened, the toad jumped over the skull in his hand followed by the cobra whose venom fell into the skull! Can we believe in such things happen? But it is a fact! The father could not believe his own eyes. Whatever the Sadhu had asked him to procure to save the life of the son has been achieved, not by his personal skill but by the causeless compassion of God moved by the unshakable faith of the father and his pure and sincere prayer! With overwhelming gratitude the father exclaimed that with His Grace impossible things are made possible! He was overjoyed to know that his son’s life could be saved! Remember, this is not a cock and bull story. It is an illustration of how God’s Grace works under the influence of deep faith and sincere prayer!

“ More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of,” said Tennyson the Victorian poet! It is not just a poetic statement.This can be realized only by those faithful souls who are ever humble and prayerful with all their sincerity and honesty! Miracles do happen in their lives because they have thrown all their burden on God and resigned themselves to His Will! That is what  Jagadguru Lord Krishna declares in his Bhagavad-Gita, “ Sarva Dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja aham twa sarva papebhyo rakshaishyami masucha” Through this simple parable Sri Ramakrishna establishes the preeminence of faith and sincere prayer that can fetch the Grace of the Supreme Lord! Let us try to be sincere in our prayer which is rather difficult at present!