The Law of Miracles

THE LAW OF MIRACLES The great novelist Leo Tolstoy wrote a delightful story, The Three Hermits. His friend, Nicholas Rurich, has summarized the tale as follows. On an island there lived three old hermits. They were so simple that the only prayer they used was, We are three. Thou art three. Have mercy on us. Great miracles were manifested during this naive prayer. The local bishop came to hear about the three hermits and their inadmissible prayer, and decided to visit them in order to teach them the canonical invocations.

He arrived on the island, told the hermits that their heavenly petition was undignified, and taught them many of the customary prayers. The bishop then left on abode. He saw, following the ship, a radiant light. As it approached, he discerned the three hermits, who were holding hands and running upon the waves in an effort to overtake the vessel. We have forgotten the prayers you taught us, they cried as they reached the bishop, and have hastened to ask you to repeat them. The awed bishop shook his head.

Dear ones, he replied humbly, continue to live with your old prayer. How did the three saints walk on the water? How did Christ resurrect his crucified body? How did Lahiri Mahasaya and Sri Yukteswar perform their miracles? Modern science has as yet no answer, though with the advent of the atomic bomb and the oneness of radar, the scope of the world-mind has been abruptly enlarged. The word impossible is becoming less prominent in the scientific vocabulary the ancient vedic scriptures declare under a false or unreal veil that cosmic illusion is maya every great scientific discovery of modern times has served as a confirmation of this simple pronouncement of the rishis newton's law of motion is the law of maya.

To every action there is always an equal and contrary reaction. The mutual action of any two bodies are always equal and oppositely directed, action and reaction thus exactly equal. To have a single force is impossible. There must be and always is a pair of forces equal and opposite. Fundamental natural activities all betray their maic origin. Electricity, for example, is a phenomenon of repulsion and attraction. Its electrons and protons are electrical opposites. Another example, the atom or final particle of matter is, like the earth itself, a magnet with positive and negative poles.

The entire phenomenal world is under the inexorable sway of polarity. No law of physics, chemistry, or any other science is ever found free from inherent opposite or contrasted principles. Physical science then cannot formulate laws outside of Maya, the very texture and structure of creation. Nature herself is Maya. Natural science must perforce deal with her ineluctable quiddity. In her own domain, she is eternal and inexhaustible. Future scientists can do no more than probe one aspect after another of her varied infinitude science thus remains in a perpetual flux unable to reach finality fit indeed to formulate the laws of an already existing and functioning cosmos but powerless to detect the law-framer and sole operator the majestic manifestations of gravitation and electricity have become known but what gravitation and electricity are no mortal knoweth to surmount maya.

Those who cling to the cosmic illusion must accept its essential law of polarity. Flow and ebb, rise and fall, day and night, pleasure and pain, good and evil, birth and death. This cyclic pattern assumes a certain anguishing monotony. After man has gone through a few thousand human births, he begins to cast a hopeful eye beyond the compulsions of Maya. To tear the veil of Maya is to pierce the secret of creation. The yogi who thus denudes the universe is the only true monotheist. All others are worshipping heathen images.

So long as man remains subject to the dualistic delusions of nature, the Janus-faced Maya is his goddess. He cannot know the one true God. The world illusion, Maya, is individually called avidya, literally not knowledge, ignorance, delusion. Maya, or avidya, can never be destroyed through intellectual conviction or analysis, but solely through attaining the interior state of nirvikalpa samadhi. The Old Testament prophets and seers of all lands and ages spoke from that state of consciousness. Ezekiel says, 43, 1-2, Afterwards he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east and behold the glory of the god of israel came from the way ofresence hearing the word or om divine sound of many waters or vibrations which is the sole reality of creation among the trillion mysteries of the cosmos the most phenomenal is light Unlike sound waves, whose transmission requires air or other material media, light waves pass freely through the vacuum of interstellar space.

Even the hypothetical ether, held as the interplanetary medium of light in the undulatory theory, can be discarded on the Einsteinian grounds that the geometrical properties of space render the theory of ether unnecessary. Under either hypothesis, light remains the most subtle, the freest from material dependence of any natural manifestation. In the gigantic conceptions of Einstein, the velocity of light, 186,000 miles per second, dominates the whole theory of relativity. He proves mathematically that the velocity of light is, so far as man's finite mind is concerned, the only constant in a universe of unstayable flux.

On the sole absolute of light velocity depend all human standards of time and space. Not abstractly external, as hitherto considered, time and space are relative and finite factors, deriving their measurement validity only in reference to the yardstick of light velocity. In joining space as dimensional relativity, time has surrendered age-old claims to a changeless value. Time is now stripped to its rightful nature a simple essence of ambiguity with a few equational strokes of his pen einstein has banished from the cosmos every fixed reality except that of light theory, the great physicist embodies in one mathematical formula the laws of gravitation and of electromagnetism.

Reducing the cosmical structure to variations on a single law, Einstein reaches across the ages to the rishis, who proclaimed a sole texture of creation, that of a protean Maya. On the epochal theory of relativity, have risen the mathematical possibilities of exploring the ultimate atom. Great scientists are now boldly asserting not only that the atom is energy rather than matter, but that atomic energy is essentially mind-stuff. The frank realization that physical science is concerned with the world of shadows is one of the most significant advances. Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington writes in The Nature of the Physical World, In the world of physics we watch a shadowgraph performance of the drama of familiar life.

The shadow of my elbow rests on the shadow table as the shadow ink flows over the shadow paper. It's all symbolic, and as a symbol the physicist leaves it. Then comes the alchemist mind who transmutes the symbols. To put the conclusion crudely, the stuff of the world is mind stuff. The realistic matter and fields of force of former physical theory are altogether irrelevant except insofar as the mind stuff has itself spun these imaginings. The external world has thus become a world of shadows. In removing our illusions, we have removed the substance, for indeed we have seen that substance is one of the greatest of our illusions.

With the recent discovery of the electron microscope came definite proof of the light essence of atoms and of the inescapable duality of nature. The New York Times gave the following report of a 1937 demonstration of the electron microscope before a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The crystalline structure of tungsten, hitherto known only indirectly by means of X-rays, stood outlined boldly on a fluorescent screen, showing nine atoms in the correct positions in the space lattice, a cube with one atom in each corner and one in the centre.

The atoms in the crystal lattice of the tungsten appeared on the fluorescent screen as points of light, arranged in geometric pattern. Against this crystal cube of light the bombarding molecules of air could be observed as dancing points of light, similar to points of sunlight shimmering on moving waters. The principle of the electron microscope was first discovered in 1927 by Drs. Clinton J. Davison and Lester G. Germer of the Bell Telephone Laboratories, New York City, who found that the electron had a dual personality, partaking of the characteristic of both a particle and a wave.

The wave quality gave the electron the characteristic of light, and a search was begun to devise means for focusing electrons in a manner similar to the focusing of light by means of a lens. For his discovery of the Jekyll-Hyde quality of the electron, which corroborated the predicament made in 1924 by de Broglie, French Nobel Prize-winning winning scientist and show that the entire realm of physical nature had a dual personality dr davison also received the nobel prize in physics the stream of knowledge sir james jeans twentieth-century science is thus sounding like a page from the hoary vedas from scienceatrous reliance his past transgression of the divine command thou shalt have no other gods before me equation outlining the equivalence of mass and energy, Einstein proved that energy in any particle of matter is equal to its mass or weight multiplied by the square of the velocity of light.

The release of the atomic energies is brought about through the annihilation of the material particles. The death of matter has been the birth of an atomic age light velocity is a mathematical standard or constant not because there is an absolute value in one hundred and eighty six thousand miles a second of light. Stated another way, only a material body whose mass is infinite could equal the velocity of light. This conception brings us to the law of miracles. The masters who are able to materialize and dematerialize their bodies or any other object, and to move with the velocity of light, and to utilize the creative light rays in bringing into instant visibility any physical manifestation, have fulfilled the necessary Einsteinian condition.

Their mass is infinite. The consciousness of a perfected yogi is effortlessly identified, not with a narrow body, but with the universal structure. Gravitation, whether the force of Newton or the Einsteinian manifestation of inertia inertia is powerless to compel a master to exhibit the property of weight which is the distinguishing gravitational condition of all material objects he who knows himself as the omnipresent spirit is subject no longer to the rigidities of a body in time and space their imprisoning rings, rings past not, have yielded to the solvent, I am He.

Fiat lux, and there was light. God's first command to His ordered creation, Genesis 1.3, brought into being the only atomic reality, light. On the beams of this immaterial medium occur all divine manifestations. Devotees of every age testify to the appearance of God as Flame and Light, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto. A yogi who, through through perfect meditation has merged his consciousness with the creator perceives the cosmical essence as light.

To him there is no difference between the light rays composing water and the light rays composing land. Free from matter consciousness, free from the three dimensions of space and the fourth dimension of time a master transfers his body of light with equal ease over the light rays of earth water fire and air long concentration on the liberating spiritual eye has enabled the yogi to destroy all delusions concerning matter and its gravitational weight thenceforth he sees the universe as an essentially undifferentiated mass of light. Optical images, Dr.

L.T. Trolland of Harvard tells us, are built up on the same principle as the ordinary halftone engravings. That is, they are made up of minute dottings or striplings far too small to be detected by the eye. The sensitiveness of the retina is so great that a visual sensation can be produced by relatively few quanta of the right kind of light. Through a master's divine knowledge of light phenomena, he can instantly project into perceptible manifestation the ubiquitous light atoms. The actual form of the projection, whether it be a tree, a medicine, a human body, is in conformance with a yogi's power of will and visualization.

In man's dream consciousness, where he is loosened in sleep, is clarked on the egoic limitations that daily hem him round, the omnipotence of his mind has a nightly demonstration. Lo, there in the dream stands the long-dead friends the remotest continents the resurrected scenes of his childhood with that free and unconditioned consciousness known to all men in the phenomena of dreams link. Innocent of all personal motives and employing the creative will bestowed on him by the Creator, a yogi rearranges the light atoms of the universe to satisfy any sincere prayer of devotee.

For this purpose were man and creation made, that he should rise up as a master of Maya, knowing his dominion over the cosmos. And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. In 1915, shortly after I had entered the Swami order, I witnessed a vision of violent contrasts in it the relativity of human consciousness was vividly established i clearly perceived the unity of the eternal light behind the painful dualities of maya father's Gurpa road home.

For months World War I had been raging in Europe. I reflected sadly on the vast toll of death. As I closed my eyes in meditation, my consciousness was suddenly transferred to the body of a captain in command of a battleship. The thunder of guns split the air as shots were exchanged between shore batteries and the ship's cannons. A huge shell hit the powder magazine and tore my ship asunder. I jumped into the water together with the few sailors who had survived the explosion. Heart-pounding, I reached the shore safely.

But alas! A stray bullet ended its furious flight in my chest. I fell groaning to the ground. My whole body was paralysed, yet I was aware of possessing it as one is conscious of a leg gone to sleep at last the mysterious footstep of death has caught up with me i thought posture, in my Gurpa road home, hysterical tears poured forth as I joyfully stroked and pinched my regained possession, a body free from any bullet hole in the breast. I rocked to and fro, inhaling and exhaling, to assure myself that I was alive.

Amidst these self-congratulations, again, I found my consciousness transferred to the captain's dead body by the gory shore. Utter confusion of mind came upon me. Lord, I prayed, am I dead or alive? A dazzling display of light filled the whole horizon. A soft, rumbling vibration formed itself into words. What has life or death to do with light? In the image of my light I have made you. The relativities of life and death to do with light in the image of my light. Many modern discoveries help man to apprehend the cosmos as a varied expression of one power, light, guided by divine intelligence.

The wonders of the motion picture, of radio, of television, of radar, of the photoelectric cell, the all-seeing electric eye, of atomic energies, are all based on the electromagnetic phenomenon of light. The motion picture art can portray any miracle. From the impressive visual standpoint, no marvel is barred to trick photography. A man's transparent astral body can be seen rising from his gross physical form. He can walk on the water, resurrect the dead, reverse the natural sequence of developments, and play havoc with time and space, assembling the light images as he pleases.

The photographer achieves optical wonders which a true master produces with actual light rays. The lifelike images of the motion picture illustrate many truths concerning creation. The cosmic director has written his own plays and assembled the tremendous casts before the pageant of the centuries. From the dark booth of eternity he pours his created beams through the films of successive ages, and the pictures are thrown on the screen of space. Just as the motion picture images appear to be real but are only combinations of light and shade, so is the universal variety a delusive seeming.

The planetary spheres, with their countless forms of life, are naught but figures in a cosmic motion picture, temporarily true to five sense perceptions, as the scenes are cast on the screen of man's consciousness by the infinite creative beam. A cinema audience can look up and see all screen images are appearing through the instrumentality of one imageless beam of light. The colourful universal drama is similarly issuing from the single white light of a cosmic source. With inconceivable ingenuity God is staging an entertainment for his human children, making them actors as well as audience in his planetary theatre.

One day I entered a motion picture house to review a newsreel of the European battlefields. World War I was still being waged in the West. The newsreel recorded the carnage with such realism that I left the theatre with a troubled heart. i prayed why dost thou permit such suffering to my intense surprise an instant answer came in the form of a vision of the actual european battlefields the horror of the struggle filledel. Look intently. A gentle voice spoke to my inner consciousness. You will see that these scenes now being enacted in France are nothing but a play of chiaroscuro.

They are the cosmic motion picture, as real and as unreal as the theatre newsreel you have seen, just a play within a play. My heart was still not comforted. The divine voice went on. Creation is light and shadow both, else no picture is possible. The good and evil of Maya must ever alternate in supremacy. If joy were ceaseless here in this world, would man ever seek another? Without suffering, he scarcely cares to recall that he has forgotten his eternal home. Pain is a prod to remembrance.

The way of escape is through wisdom. The tragedy of death is unreal. Those who shudder at it are like an ignorant actor who dies of fright on the stage, when nothing more is fired at him than a blank cartridge. My sons are the children of light. They will not sleep forever in delusion. Although I had read scriptural accounts of maya they had not given me the deep insight that came with the personal visions and their accompanying words of consolation one's values are profoundly changed when he is finally convinced that creation is only a vast motion picture and that not not in it, but beyond it, lies his own reality.

As I finished writing this chapter, I sat on my bed in the lotus posture. My room was dimly lit by two shaded lamps. Lifting my gaze, I noticed that the ceiling was dotted with small mustard coloured lights, scintillating and quivering with a radium-like lustre. Myriads of penciled rays like sheets of rain gathered into a transparent shaft and poured silently upon me. At once my physical body lost its grossness and became metamorphosed into astral texture. I felt a floating sensation as, barely touching the bed, the weightless body shifted slightly and alternately to left and right i looked around the room the furniture and walls were as usual but the little mass of light had so beam on the white screen of your bedsheets it is producing the picture of your body behold your form is nothing but light i gazed at my arms and moved them back and forth yet could not feel their weight an ecstatic joy overwhelmed me blossoming as my body, seemed a divine replica of the light beams streaming out of the projection booth in a cinema house, and manifesting as pictures on the screen.

For a long time I experienced this motion picture of my body in the dimly lighted theatre of my own bedroom. Despite the many visions I have had, none was ever more singular. As my illusion of a solid body was completely dissipated, and my realisation deepened that the essence of all objects is light i looked upon the throbbing stream of light-trons and spoke entreatingly divine light please withdraw this my humble bodily picture into thyself up to heaven by a flame. This prayer was evidently startling. The beam disappeared.

My body resumed its normal weight and sank on the bed. The swarm of dazzling ceiling lights flickered and vanished. My time to leave this earth had apparently not arrived. Besides, I thought philosophically, the Prophet Elijah might well be displeased at my presumption.