Experience The Unknown by TusharK

A man shouted from nearby the tree where a yogi was meditating. People rushed to see the miracle. They saw a man with closed eyes levitating a few inches above the ground.

A few moments later the body of the meditator descended on the ground and he opened his eyes.

A curious man suddenly approached and touched his feet.

Yogi Maharaj, We just witnessed the miracle. How could you defy the law of gravity?

Yogi looked around and said. Where is the miracle?

It’s just that you don’t know how it works.

Indeed, this is true. When we witness an unexpected event that can’t be explained with a known framework or laws, is tagged as a miracle. It’s a mysterious unknown beyond the comprehension of the mind. Modern science claims that the observable and known universe today is just only 5%. The rest 95% is still unknown, and is beyond the capabilities of current space probing equipments. It is called as Dark Energy and Dark Matter and are felt through their impact on motion of celestial objects. The unknown cause is known by its visible effect.

The presence of the unknown creates uncertainty, anxiety, and fear. To manage potential ill effects of unknown factors, cultures over time have developed unique rituals, strange practices, and bizarre responses. Even today, NASA has a ritual or tradition in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where the crew of scientists munches peanuts during the launch and landing of space vehicles.

The rituals help humans psychologically to gain a sense of control over situations.

People in the ancient era treated Solar Eclipse as the presence of a demon eating the Sun. They would beat the drums, blow trumpets and chant the mantras so that the demon runs away. Just imagine for a fun, What would happen if the same community witness aeroplane, smart phone or a tubelight?

As futurist and science fiction writer Arthur Clarke says

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

Here is an amusing fact discovered during the second world war.

After a group of indigenes saw the first air plane fly over Vanuatu, a remote island in the South Pacific of Australia, during the Second World War they created a religion based on the worship of aircraft.

The planes occasionally delivered food and supplies to the islanders so the group began to believe that cargo would be brought to them by a Messiah. As a result, whenever they saw a plane fly overhead, they would build a replica in the hope that they would receive “more blessings”.

The islanders did not know where the objects were coming from which led them to believe that the objects were being delivered by supernatural means. link

On the positive side, the element of faith can have unexpected and stunningly miraculous results beyond the logic of science. The “Placebo Effect” is a well-known phenomenon in medical sciences, where an inactive or dummy substance like a sugar pill or salt solution is consumed by the patient as part of prescribed treatment. The experiment produces the effects same as of actual treatment or procedure. Here is one published case study

Mr. Wright had cancer of the lymph glands. His body did not respond to the treatments, and he had huge tumors in his neck.

He was at death’s door when he heard about an experimental drug, Krebiozen. With nothing to lose, he begged his doctor to give him the experimental drug.

Three days after the injection, he was seen walking around, interacting with nurses, and acting like a reasonably healthy man.

In two weeks, he was released from the hospital. The tumors “had melted like snowballs on a hot stove.”

Mr. Wright has been healed. He happily lived his life, grateful for the miracle. The truth in the background is that Mr. Wright was injected with only distilled water!

There are very well-known stories in India about Saints doing miracles right amid the people. It could be lighting a lamp with water, controlling, and moving objects like wall , or healing people by touch. When inquired, all the great saints and yogic masters have a common answer that it is possible by superior control over body energies, deeper contemplations, and unwavering faith in their deity lord,

A bee was flying with her mother in the desert for quite some time

Tired and Hungry, she said

Mom, There can’t be any nectar and food in the desert.

We are going to die today. Why are we even flying?

Mother bee responded with calm, Baby, if nature has given us a stomach, it must give us food too.

Have faith and keep flying.

A while later, they were delighted to see the plant with flowers in the middle of the desert.

This could certainly be a miracle for the bees. As it happens, there are drought-tolerant plants found in deserts – adapted to grow without water.

In nutshell, miracles do happen even if we don’t know about the underlying mechanisms. Many of us must have experienced it at least once in life and we just moved on without making it significant. It’s worth investing in understanding this phenomenon and inquiring into the deeper reality. There are times when circumstances are difficult, all doors are closed and no ray of light is seen at the end of the tunnel. The best resort then remains to be a hope for a miracle not for just psychological comfort but the real possibility of a breakthrough. Let the source of the breakthrough be unknown and the way of accepting it be irrational as long as it helps.

It is more empowering and beneficial to accept the irrationality of life than to be critical. It’s more exciting to remain open for miracles than to ask for evidence for every other thing. There is a lot to be known and much more to be discovered yet. We don’t need to wait for discovery to have faith in a transcendental being and an attitude of surrender. What really matters, in the end, is a personal experience and impact even if the cause is enigmatic like the Dark Energy in the universe. The world may call this metaphysical unknown, the lord, hari, or brahman. In the midst of crises and difficulties, we may give up or try hard enough. However, it doesn’t take a lot to close our eyes, say a prayer, and seek blessings from a higher yet unknown source. Let me end this post with a beautiful quote by Mother Teresa :