Part VII

Question: What is your definition of a miracle?⁹

Sri Chinmoy: For me, if millions and millions of people cannot do something and then one individual does it, it is a miracle. It can be on any plane. Our mind thinks that a miracle has to be like this or like that. Its conception of a miracle is so narrow. When the patient is on the brink of death and the doctor saves him, the mind says it is a miracle. But a miracle can be on any plane. Why say that one miracle is more important than another?

Today I have lifted 170 pounds with each arm. I am sure that nobody of my age will come forward to say that they can also do it. Again, my achievement is on the physical plane. Perhaps somebody else will do something on another plane which I will not be able to do. So your miracle I cannot do, and my miracle you cannot do. God is infinite, so He is showing different miracles in and through various individuals.

There are so many miracles performed on earth that we do not take into account; we do not value them. But if we do value them, we are wonderstruck that one individual has been able to accomplish what millions and millions of human beings could not do.

Let us take Schubert. His immortal song Ave Maria comes from another world. Now millions and millions of people around the world sing that song. For me, it is a true miracle.

Again, on the political plane, what President Gorbachev and President Mandela have done is nothing other than a miracle. And in the sporting world, look at Carl Lewis. He became the fastest human being on earth, the best jumper and so on.

When millions of people cannot do something, we are apt to say that it is not humanly possible. Then, when someone eventually does it, we can definitely claim it as a miracle. God is manifesting His Light and Power in and through that individual in a most special way.