Daily Notes and Reflections by Alokda

That takes us to another aspect of miracles. It relates to visible ones, the ones we appreciate and the invisible miracle, which we often fail to appreciate. Let us illustrate with an example. Men who survive major catastrophes often allude to God’s Grace and take it as a visible sign of His miracle. That is understandable. A more difficult thing to accept is the miracle of hope and faith, the miracle of dauntless courage springing up from some secret source within when challenged by adversity, the miracle of the best coming out of the worst in terms of our inner growth and resilience. Where do these things come from, but our own inner heights and depths concealed to everyday sight? It is as if adversity rents the veil that separates the surface from the silent spaces of our soul that lie hidden deep within us. In other words, it is undoubtedly a miracle when a man is cured of an intractable illness, but it is a still greater miracle that a man continues to smile and display faith and courage, even inspire hope and trust in others whilst facing death and imminent disaster. It is indeed a miracle that a man gets what he desires through prayer, but it is a still greater miracle if, when the desire is rejected, he gains a sense of freedom and inner victory. These greater miracles happen silently; they are neither visible to the outer eye nor appreciated by the common mind. But these are by far the greatest miracles of God.

There is a flipside to this matter of expectation. We often find men in religious garb making stupendous and fantastic claims. So often we even hear men of little apparent merit claiming that their practices, techniques and methods, or even mere presence, is sufficient to cure anyone of every ill, from problems of money to every physical and psychological malady. When some illnesses are cured or partially rectified, primarily due to the faith people place in the process, then the claimant opens shop. Those in whom it does not work simply succumb to their fate and do not raise a word of dissent, lest it be held a sacrilege.

Even God would not make such fantastic claims, though potentially He is fully capable of them — not because He is less powerful than these god-men, but because His power is commensurate with His wisdom. His compassion is not blinded by a passion to rush in and help, as if He dwelled in an alien world and the rest of humanity in another. The fact is that He is here too and knows perfectly well what is going on. If He does not always seem to respond to our prayers for help, it is simply because He has seen beyond the rush and rumour of the present moment of anguish and realises the daybreak and advent of Light that waits behind the storm and night. He also knows that the storm and night are often a preparation for the day, so we grow stronger in our energies and not sink into an abyss of inertia or tamas.

Another common misconception is to see events from a very personalised point of view. So, when things happen in our favour we regard it as a miracle and take it as synonymous with the will of God. A deeper study reveals that this may not be so. Life and Nature do not move with the sole objective of satisfying us. They have their own rhythm and purpose. And whilst our personal choices are taken into account, they are not the sole or perhaps even major determining factors. But our choices do make a difference. Because inherent in our choices are our attitudes towards life, which may or may not be aligned to the cosmic purpose. When it is aligned, we feel happy even if adversity appears. When not aligned, we eventually suffer even if the results seem favourable and happen according to our choice!

Another misconception is that a miracle can be made to order. This arises from an ignorance of the way a miracle works. Even when a miracle seems instantaneous, there is a process, however subtle or swift it may be. It overrides the known laws and conditions of working, but there are other hidden laws and conditions through which it works itself out. It is not a creation out of nothing. That would be an impossibility or a trick. Even the Divine does not totally disrespect the conditions of the field in which He works. The field and forces are also Him and have a great purpose in His grand plan. This grand plan and purpose is often far more important than the immediate impulse of the moment.

Recently a girl demonstrated her power of subtle vision to see and diagnose pathologies and illnesses. The scientists demanded proof. The little girl was placed under strict scrutiny and left alone with a group of disbelieving sceptics. The stress created in the child was evident. Yet she could accurately match four out of seven diagnoses and was almost correct with the fifth. But the sceptics were not satisfied! Under such strict criteria, even well-qualified and experienced doctors would fail to pass the test and medical science might be dubbed a superstition rather than a science! That may well be so, but the point is that miracles require certain inner conditions as science requires certain outer ones.

A miracle is also not necessarily an instantaneous event that dazzles the eye. There are many miracles that unfold over a period of time and which are no less miraculous on this account. So, for example, the seed of life grows over the years from a tiny cell to a mighty king or an illumined sage. Such a miracle evolves slowly; it not only creates a king, but also often equips him with the instruments to rule.

The most perfect acts that weave such intricate patterns of life need time and patience. These are God’s true miracles: the opening of a flower bud, the turning of an all-devouring caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly, the evolution of these many tiered universes and systems of galaxies and stars out of a single point of intense concentration. These are the greatest miracles that no human magic can imitate and yet these miracles take the longest.

They are not the miracles of things that are accomplished and known but the miracles of the still unknown and unborn. And yet man hardly recognises them as such; he passes by without even noticing them, since they extend beyond his arc of vision in terms of time and space.

Man needs miracles. This need when deeply observed, is the expression of a hunger for power, a need to break free from his countless limitations. But superficially, it expresses itself in the need to witness the dazzlingly fantastic and seemingly impossible.

But what exactly is a miracle? It is the occurrence of a phenomenon which defies the normal processes through which Nature seemingly operates. Magic is different. It is a tricking of the mind and senses, an illusion created by carefully applying the normal laws of Nature to create an illusion e.g. sleight of hand. It works even with the mind. The mind can so concentrate on one object as to become oblivious of others. Used differently, this faculty of concentration creates the magic of mind-games.

Miracle is not a trick or illusion. But neither is it supernatural. It is supernormal, in the sense that it does not work through the normally known operations of Nature. It does not displace normal operations. It really brings out into the normal world another play of forces and fields. To one who knows them, these forces are perfectly normal and natural. But to one who does not know how to handle them, they appear miraculous and supernatural.

Sadhana in its deepest sense is independent of all outer circumstances. It is our ideas of circumstances and attitude towards the daily events of life that make them more or less favourable. The medical profession is no exception. Take for instance the very first brush that a doctor has with the medical profession, in his study of the human body. Looked at in one way the young medico regards the body as a fantastic machine. Overawed by the workings of this wonderful machine, he is easily led to conclude that our finest thoughts, our deepest feelings, our sublimest experiences are nothing more than the body. However seen in another way the same body appears to be permeated with a conscious intelligence. One wonders whether such a marvellous creation can be simply explained by chance evolution and random mutation. One begins to feel that there is more to it than meets the eye. It is like a reaffirmation of faith that existence could not be without a vast and unified conscious intelligence standing behind the works of Nature as its unobserved observer. It is therefore our basic faith, shraddha, that determines our understanding of what we see and experience rather than the object of experience itself!

Moving through the mazes of the human body, we marvel at the intricate perfection of Mahasaraswati’s work. So too in the many circadian rhythms of the human physiology and biochemistry, we begin to see a pattern that reminds us of the great cosmic rhythms. One can see how the universe reproduces itself in the individual at all levels as if all were the workings of a single dance of creation; from the spinning of the nucleus to the movement of molecules through the minute pores of a cell.

So far the learning remains impersonal. But with the beginning of the personal side of medical education, the fresh medico has to confront many existential dilemmas. His rendezvous with death, the great annihilator, becomes frequent enough to raise uncomfortable questions about life itself. He also meets life wearing the mask of death or hiding its sting behind glamorous appearances. Or else he begins to learn that the only thing predictable about life is its unpredictability. The neat and perfect world of cellular physiology is challenged and ruptured by the sight of human pathology. The rub of human pain awakens compassion more readily but can also desensitize one to it. Some doctors instinctively begin to carry this pain in their own consciousness through sympathy and empathy. Others begin to regard pain as a routine transaction between life and death as if pain were an inevitable price that life must pay for its will to live. The philosophical side of the doctor has to reconcile with the existence of pain in God’s world, while the practical side has to discover the many possible solutions to it, — only to discover the impermanence of all such solutions. Thus we see that medical training itself can serve as a useful preparation for spiritual life.

The human body is a meeting-point for all the forces manifested so far. A study of human beings therefore can be an interesting gateway to the understanding of the cosmic forces. True, modern medical science, basing itself largely upon material and sensory evidence, often ignores the role of many insensible and supraphysical forces in health and illness. Still most doctors, unless they are totally blinded by reductionism, do begin to acknowledge the role of deeper forces in healing. This recognition may come early or late, it may come when confronted with the anomalous or the unpredictable but it does come to most. Even as a discipline, general medicine is beginning to recognize the role of thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and emotional states in the causation and cure of diseases. What else is this but a backdoor entry into domains higher than the mere physical? In addition, the need for compassion, patience, perseverance in the face of inevitable failure; faith, goodwill, generosity, kindness, courage in the face of death; can be born naturally in a doctor, since they are so much more needed in this profession than many others. What else is this but a preparation for a higher and deeper life? For only the touch of the inmost soul can create in us faith, courage, charity, compassion and the will to help the struggling race:

Through this she sends us her glory and her powers,
Pushes to wisdom’s heights, through misery’s gulfs;
She gives us strength to do our daily task
And sympathy that partakes of others’ grief
And the little strength we have to help our race,
We who must fill the role of the universe
Acting itself out in a slight human shape
And on our shoulders carry the struggling world.
[Savitri: 527]

Of course, any profession can become a means for entry into a deeper and a higher life if we pursue it with the right inner attitude. Done in a spirit of offering and selflessness, asniskama karma, it can prepare us for a powerful Yoga in the world if not actually become a means of Yoga itself. But the fact that the medical profession needs a combination of the heart, head and dynamic will makes it specially useful as a means of preparation for an integral Yoga. The physician needs to deliberately reconcile in himself reason and faith, practical sense and idealism, the attitude of a fighter and the approach of calm wisdom, in a harmonious synthesis for useful action. Above all, he is called upon to become not just an instrument of light, strength, peace and love but most importantly, an instrument of Grace. On the other hand, he is also called upon to supply the deficiency of faith in illness-bound people. For in the final analysis it is not the physician or his drugs but the action of Grace supported by the patient’s faith that can victoriously conquer disease, suffering and death.

Alok Pandey

In its pursuit of Truth humanity has followed several routes. Each of these routes took lead from something within him, some faculty or capacity with which mankind has been endowed. Philosophies, cults, sects, religions sprang up based on these routes and paths that humanity took to find the Truth of who he is, what is this universe around him and what is his relation with the world. Thus humanity began to group itself not only geographically but also ideologically and psychologically.

This intra-species differentiation and the subsequent conflicts over it are part of our collective history. It is, in a way, an extension of our animal past wherein sub-species of the same type fight for spatial domination. With the coming of man this became a fight not only domination of outer physical space but also of subjective inner space. It is true that the resultant clash and conflict have been far more severe than within any other species and threaten our very survival as a race. At another level, Nature has used even this clash and conflict for the coming together of different groupings and an eventual understanding and assimilation of each other.

The question is could there be another way, a different process that may lead to a mutual understanding and a growing harmony between what now stands at different poles? Tolerance is clearly not enough. Something else, something more is needed! Perhaps a re-kindling of the ancient fire that burns within man’s heart and compels him to seek further and further. Perhaps a stepping out of the boundaries and comfort zones of our beliefs and non-beliefs and stare with the wonder of a child into the far avenues of the Beyond! And for that we the first thing we need is humility, the acceptance of our present limitations of knowledge, the acceptance that what we call as Truth is but a shadow of what yet awaits us in the distant horizons. Our present accomplishments are mere playthings before what is yet to be discovered and accomplished. Our present faculties and capacities are but nothing compared to what is yet to emerge from within man through the process of evolving Time.

Our seeking for Truth is not yet over. The nomad within us still wanders in search of the Light that can give us the ultimate security in the wisdom that sets the spirit free. The hunter within us still hunts for the ever-elusive Peace and Bliss. Our hearts still wait expectantly for the transforming power of that alchemist energy called Love.

Alok Pandey

We are too busy counting and documenting the little waves upon the surfaces of life and are therefore unable to perceive the immense forces that drive creation from behind. We read its syllables in isolation but miss the words and the sentences thereby missing the secret sense and purpose behind all the motions and movements of nature from the shift within the atoms to the gigantic galactic drifts of the constellations. We look for immediate causes for our ills and their remedies, at best for intermediate causes but there is a larger plan, a larger drift that influences us as well. Our smallness before the immensity of the universe is but one fact.

The other equally important fact is our interconnectedness with this immensity, an interconnectedness of Knowledge and awareness, an interconnectedness of Power. What is even more important but seldom explored by modern sciences is not only how this interconnectedness influences us but also how we can actually plug into this totality and immensity and become conscious of this tremendous and enormous Energy that drives the wheels of Time and determines the stir of the stars.

We can become this Knowledge and this Power says the ancient Science of yoga and becoming discover that we are not just this momentary, temporary and fragmented formation of personality, a transient and unsatisfactory product of the sperm and gene and gas but the repository and reservoir of the very Energy and Force I Creation. We are the secret Source of creation. It is we who burn yonder in distant stars; it is we who extend into various names and forms and qualities that determine the diversity of creation; we are the Breath of the Spirit that bloweth where it listeth. It is just that caught in the turns and twists of the wheel we are not aware of the hub and the center. Yet we are That, the core as well as the surface movement, the hub and the spokes, masters of Destiny, determinants of our Fate.

After we have answered all other questions, the question of questions awaits us. For based on our answer to this one question will depend the validity of all our other answers. It is the first and the last question that confronts man. It is the first question when he comes to birth. It is also the last question when he prepares to exit through the gates of death. But also, from time to time this question repeats itself perennially, especially in moments of crisis when all our planks of support including our own strength is taken away. Therefore it is the question of questions: ‘Who am I?’

Simplest of all yet the profoundest of all is this question. We take our existence for granted and hardly ever question it. We are born in a certain family and country and we adopt that as our identity. We are born in a certain religion and culture and we assume that identity. We strive and succeed or fail; we go to work and assume a title; we study and attach a degree to our names; we get married and have children and we attach ourselves to all these identities. We even make an identity of our dress and the home we live, the name we have and the surname we carry. But we hardly even question who is this ‘I’ behind all these changing appearances? Who is this ‘I’ that was once a child, then an adult and next an old man? Who is this ‘I’ who works and then retires, wakes up and sleeps, is born and dies?

Are we merely mud and clay as we are told by material scientists or a bundle of nerves and genes and chemicals as the biologists or simply the thought and cognition as the psychologists tell us? If so what is the validity of our answers from the simplest and personal questions to the most complex and cosmic ones?
As we grow into a greater and greater awareness, our understanding and our answers change. They do not necessarily invalidate our other answers but add a new dimension to our understanding and that changes the way we relate and connect to the answer, which depends upon where we stand on the scale of self-awareness. As we change and grow, our answer also changes.