To the Editor:

It started a few weeks ago when one of my colleagues asked me — “Did you hear about this miracle of milk drinking gods in India?” “No”— I was curious but not surprised. After all, India is a place where these things frequently happen….and being an Indian, I am quite familiar with them.

Later, he explained that when people placed milk in a spoon near a marble statue of God Ganesha the milk disappeared. Religious people of India were mesmerized with the miracle of milk drinking gods. After a few days I read the complete story in various magazines and newspapers. Normal, routine life was disrupted as masses of common people gathered around temples and other holy places to witness the miracle and offer prayers to gods.

As bizarre as the news of this miracle was, I did try to spoon-feed milk to a small statue of the god Ganesha. The most auspicious one was not very happy with me for he refused to drink milk. The scientist in me was relaxed for having showed that miracles don’t mean much in today’s hi-tech world.

Everything was alright until I heard a discussion about this miracle on National Public Radio (NPR) a few days back. This discussion mainly focused on the tremendous challenge Rationalist Society of India — a group of rationalists, and many other scientists face to explain the phenomenon on a scientific ground. So far so good. But, the conversation went on to give a feeling to the listeners that common masses in India are religious to a point to be entirely superstitious. And it is the job of scientists and rationalists to bring them out of “darkness” to “light.”

Know that India is a country of paradoxes. On one hand we boast the fastest growing computer software industry in the world, on the other hand, we have miracles of milk drinking gods.

But this NPR discussion pushed my thoughts in an altogether different direction. Why is it that if such a phenomenon occurs in the western world it is termed as a “spiritual experience,” but if it happens in a country like India it is considered a big superstition… something to laugh about. And all the intelligentsia of the world feels a pressing need to bring these ignorant people out of “darkness.”

Why these double standards? The same product…but different labels. Is this the objectivity Western media is supposed to be famous for? Mind you, this is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to media’s deliberate attempt to twist things around to sensationalize the issues.

To extend the topic a little further….the phenomenon of miracles is not limited to a certain geographic region and certainly not limited to a particular religion. It is prevalent and growing in almost all the world cultures or religions.

A poll conducted by Time magazine in April 1995 showed that about 70 percent of people in America believe in miracles; and the fastest growing churches in America are the charismatic and Pentecostal congregations whose worship revolves around “signs and wonders.”

Should anybody be allowed then to label the entire country as superstitious. Certainly not. By the same argument Western media can not assume the liberty of labeling a certain population as superstitious just because the people are highly religious. If we look back farther in the past we find that the phenomenon of miracles has always been an essential part of world religions. Taoism, a native Chinese religion, founded by Lao Tzu, was based on mystical and impersonal spirit, stressing it as the inscrutable nature of things.

In Buddhism, one of the great religions of Asia, the idea of miraculous has crept in despite the denials. Practice of inviting yidam, one’s tutelary god, has been documented by several scholars.

Buddhism maintains that thoughts have reality and a thought form may have the substance. This thought form can be touched and experienced like real matter — known as tulpa in Tibetan. Hinduism believes that the world we see and experience is only a realm of appearances, and even, in a sense, a realm of illusion. The deeper nature of things is veiled in an unmanifested beyond.

That is where the true causation lies, not in the causes known to science or common-sense. Judo-Christianity has numerous legends and miracles as well, ranging from parting the Red Sea by Moses to the resurrection of Christ.

Even though Christ himself acknowledged that miracles, if produced on demand, could sabotage the faith they were meant to strengthen, Christendom is a faith built around a core of miracles. Islam, in theory, takes a biblical view of miracles. Islamic belief is that Allah works them. However, Islam does not give much weight to miracles and they have no place in the Koran comparable to their place in the Gospels or the religious scriptures of other religions.

As scientists and rationalists passionately denounce the phenomenon of miracles, faithfuls argue, with even more passion, that it is a matter of faith. It is a classic debate between the science and spiritual faith.

I am not going to argue here in favor of the one or the other for many of you might have already seen the tons of articles or books on this topic. This debate will continue as human curiosity strives for answers.

Although the phenomenon of miracles have been prevalent in the history of human civilization, the need of miracles in the modern world is more than ever. This reflects men’s growing spiritual hunger in today’s scientific world of reductionism. Where everything that matters is simply reduced to physical, chemical and biological reactions. Be it a milk drinking god in India or appearance of Virgin Mary in Georgia, they share a common ground — spiritual hunger. While faithfuls all over the world embrace the possibility of miracles in everyday life and scientists and rationalists quickly jump to disapprove them, Western Media plays yet another trick.

They view the different parts of the world through the glasses of different colors. No wonder they can perform the miracle of putting different labels on the same product.

Piyush Singh

Post-doctoral Research Associate