TAMIL
A matter of faith
SRINGERI JAGADGURUKKALUM ARBHUTAMKALUM: Ganga Ramamurthi and Bharati Kaavalar K. Ramamurthi; Jayam Pusthakalayam, G-2, No.1, Seshadri Road, Alwarpet, Chennai-600018. Rs. 30.
IT IS fashionable to spurn miracles as anathema. They are frowned upon as anti-rational superstitions. This, however, is myopic. Miracles do have a legitimate slot in the world-view of a genuine seeker of truth.
A miracle is defined as a remarkable, welcome event that seems impossible of explanation in terms of the laws of nature and so have to be attributed to a supernatural agency. Transcending formal logic, miracles shine as flow of divine grace.
In the pursuit of truth we have two effective instruments — reason and faith. Reason, strictly followed, takes us to marvellous heights, but only up to a certain stage. It meets a Lakshmana Rekha. Where reason stops, faith takes over. Faith moves mountains. Sri Ramakrishna points out that denying the operation of faith is like denying the existence of stars because they are not visible in the sky during daytime.
Miracles are significant to the extent they deepen over faith in the Divine. It is from this angle that we must study the 28 miracles lucidly presented in this book by the Ramamurthi couple as inspiring examples of God's grace flowing through the revered Acharyas of Sringeri Math down the ages.
Soaked for long in the ambience of Sringeri, which has an unbroken parampara or spiritual heritage from the time of Sankara himself, Ramamurthi can speak not as a mere scribe but as one with authority. He has taken great pains to ascertain the exact time, place and context in which the miracles happened during the reign of 10 of the pontiffs.
We find in Delhi a king Cobra glided into the Puja room, causing panic among the assembled devotees, but the Acharya calmly offered the reptile a cup of milk to slake its thirst. The snake watched the "Arati" for a few minutes, did "pranam" with its hood and crept away. Is not the serpent Siva's ornament?
In a dense forest near Pune, on a dark night, another Acharya was confronted by a gang of dacoits who demanded to be given the costly jewels with which the Chandramouliswara image was decorated.
He unloaded the jewels on a shawl spread on the ground, but the thugs were unable to lift the shawl. He told them with a smile that the Siva he worshipped is called in the Vedas "Thaskaranam Pathi" (the Lord of robbers). Miracles like these serve to cleanse the doors of perception.
C. S. RAMAKRISHNAN
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