We human beings are fascinated by miracles - something extraordinary that can only be done by God.
I learnt that miracles keep happening in our day-to-day lives, yet we hardly ever notice them.
Let me share my own experience from 23 Nov 1995 - the birthday of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. I remember reaching there on 18th.
I was posted in DSSC, Wellington, TN. I decided to go to Puttaparthi, a small village in Andhra Pradesh. The village was filled with a large number of people who had come from all over India and abroad. It is estimated that over a million people had descended on the little town. There were buses plying from Bangalore every 30 mts, and from every other town in the vicinity. People were poring into the village.
Sathya Sai Baba on 70th Brithday
Image Courtesy: Google Images
I found a place to sleep. The day was spent in the various activities associated with Baba's birthday. Meals, breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea in the morning and evening were all being served free to everyone for one week of the Baba's 70th birthday celebrations. This mammoth task was being undertaken by volunteers, as also an equally demanding task of washing the utensils. No one had to miss a meal due non availability.
I had gone for Baba's darshan in the evening; one had to go inside bare feet and so there was an ocean of footwear outside the temple premises. I too deposited mine in that huge pile of footwear and proceeded to the temple.
The darshan went well and now this huge mass of humanity is returning from the temple; the space is limited; yet, no pushing or shoving. Two people clise to me are discussing that Baba does miracles, while inching forward in the crowd, which is overwhelming, but disciplined. They continued on the miracle theme for long, as it was taking ages to reach the exit. One of them said that Baba did not perform any miracle that he could see. A foreigner who was listening, suddenly piped in, "what miracle are you looking for?" He himself then answered the question.
He said that there were 1,000,000 people in that enclosed space, yet there was no pushing or shoving, everyone is polite and kind, everyone is getting all their meals on time, free of charge, there are no thefts, stuff/footwear is lying all over, there is no police around. Isn't this the greatest miracle?
I thought about it and realised the enormity of the miracle - 1 million people in enclosed space, being fed, and simultaneously utensils being cleaned, all this by volunteers, no fights, theft or other negative human acts. What a miracle - transformation of normal humans into something that is normally not seen in our day-to-day lives.
Another thought went through my mind. In staff college, we had just finished a talk on strike corps operations; a strike corps has about 100,000 people with assorted transports, supplies, weapons, rations, etc. It takes a long time to equip this fighting outfit, and it is all done by professionals; it takes months to plan and execute.
Imagine how long it must have taken to do the same for 10 times the number of people, just in terms of ration, which had to be transported from the nearby city, for atleast one week stay of people, and all this by volunteers, not professionals. I was absolutely floored by this miracle.
As I recovered, I found my footwear amongst the huge pile lying close to the spot where I had left it, greatest miracle of all.
I realised that the greatest miracle is actually the transformation of regular human beings to behave in a manner that we associate with the Divine.
What do you think?
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