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Supernatural Acts Of God-Sai Baba
Excerpts from a newsweek article
What Miracles Mean
(Newsweek, May 1, 2000
)
Go directly to:
excerpts: referring Sathya Sai Baba
Working Wonders: 'The Miraculous Draught of Fishes' by Raphael
Woven into the history of the world's religions, miracles are more about faith
than fact. In 'The Book of Miracles,' NEWSWEEK's Kenneth L. Woodward explains
why so many people believe the unbelievable.
Newsweek, May 1, 2000
What Miracles Mean
Working Wonders: 'The Miraculous Draught of Fishes' by Raphael (Victoria &
Albert Museum — Bridgeman Art Library)
Woven into the history of the world's religions, miracles are more about faith
than fact. In 'The Book of Miracles,' NEWSWEEK's Kenneth L. Woodward explains
why so many people believe the unbelievable.
Newsweek, May 1, 2000
A decade ago, at the age of 12, Bernadette McKenzie found that she could no
longer stand upright, even after three operations. She suffered from a tethered
spinal cord, a rare congenital condition causing constant pain. The nuns at her
school in suburban Philadelphia began a series of prayers, seeking the
intercession of their deceased founder, Mother Frances de Sales Aviat, whom they
regard as a saint. On the fourth day, Bernadette herself knelt by her bed,
telling God that if this was to be her life she would accept it. But she wanted
to know—a sign. If she were to walk again, she pleaded, let her favorite song,
"Forever Young," play next on the radio. It did. She immediately jumped up and
ran downstairs to tell her family. Bernadette didn't even notice that her
physical symptoms had disappeared, something her doctors say is medically
inexplicable. Her recovery is currently being evaluated by the Vatican as a
possible miracle.
Does God answer prayers? Do miracles—extraordinary events that are the result of
special acts of God—really happen?
excerpts: referring Sathya Sai Baba
Maharaj Krishna Rasgotra, a retired foreign secretary of India, remembers
the precise day almost 30 years ago when he became a devotee of Saty Sai Baba,
India's most celebrated living saint. Over the years, the government official
often witnessed Baba work his signature miracle—producing out of air mounds of
vibhuti, sacred ash that his devotees credit with healing properties. But it was
in 1986 that Rasgotra experienced Baba's power firsthand. After suffering a
heart attack, Rasgotra lay in a hospital recovery room. Among the hovering
doctors and nurses he saw Baba, though the saint was a thousand miles away. When
physicians told him he needed bypass surgery to avoid a fatal attack, Rasgotra
consulted Baba in person, who told him he didn't need it. Rasgotra skipped
surgery and today, at 75, he plays 18 holes of golf regularly. "I have total
faith in Baba," says Rasgotra. "Whatever he says comes about. Whenever you are
with him you feel you're shedding something and acquiring a new kind of life.
For more than three millenniums, India has been a land of living saints. It is
also a land of nearly countless local gods and goddesses—some 3 million of them,
by one recent estimate. All gods, however, are but different forms of a single
Absolute (Brahman) which is also the ground (Atman) of everyone who exists. Just
as Hindu gods can descend in human form, so the Hindu saint can achieve god-like
consciousness. Thus, through rigorous meditation and other yogic practices, the
practitioner can decant his bottled divinity. Given this view, the line between
human and divine is not as distinct as in the West.
Source
Copyrights acknowledged: © 2000 Newsweek, Inc.
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