Miracles

The time was 11am . I  was drafting a letter . My PS pressed the buzzer and  mentioned that some one from Brittania industry wanted to meet me. The gentleman , hailed from Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.  He was planning a trip to Tirupati and sought help for an emergency quota by a train.

During our conversation , I mentioned that  in the year 2005 ,  I had worked on Guntakal Division of South Central Railway. Guntakal is  essentially  a railway town , which was once  with Central Railway, then Southern Railway and now is a strategic division( business unit ) of South Central Railway .  A large number of freight and passenger trains crisscross the jurisdiction of this division . It is an important freight loading point and a money spinner for the Railways.

The town has not much to offer , but the division houses several important pilgrim, religious,spiritual  and historical spots. Tirupati, Pannipakam, SriKalahasti, Mantralayam  are very important spots which attract the faithful in large numbers .

Renowned  philosopher  Jiddu Krishnamurthi hailed from Madanappale ( also on Guntakal Division) . The famous Rishi Valley school  of Jiddu Krishnamurthi foundation  is  located at Madanapalle . It is beautifully ensconced in the valley and at the foothills of Horsely Hills.  Additionally , the  prehistoric Belum caves at Tadipatri attracts those interested in history and  to see the formation of stalactites and stalagmites. Tadipatri is also known for the Penna Cements.

There are cluster of cement plants , limestone units and  iron ore loading points( now non -functional following orders of the Apex Court ).

Adjoining , Guntakal Division is the Bangalore Division of South Western Railway . Prashanti Nilayam of Shri Satya Sai Baba is located in Bangalore Division of South Western Railway . And  at Bangalore , Sri Sri Ravi Shankar  has established , the Art of Living International Centre . Thus there are a large number of places of spiritual importance which  are located in the vicinity of Guntakal.

We were broadly recalling the importance  of these significant places .  And  then this person mentioned about  a famous Hanuman Temple at Guntakal , which I forgot to recall. Every railway officer who joins Guntakal Division  first  offers obeisance at the Hanuman Temple before joining duty . The same is true of Guwahati . Anyone posted on North East Frontier Railway  visits the famous Kamakhya temple at Guwahati. These are strange traditions built between railways and certain religious spots. Thereafter our conversation veered to Mantralayam .

Mantralayam is the place where Shri Raghavendra Swami entered Tejaroopa( spirit) in 1671 AD . That is  where he was interned in a tomb on attaining Samadhi . The faithful believe that Raghavendra Swami would be in the  state of Tejaroopa  for a period of 700 years . Raghavendra Swami succeeded his Guru Sudheendra Teertha as the head of the Mutt and served the Mutt from 1621 to 1671 propounding the Dwaita philosophy. He is also believed to be an incarnation of Bhakta Prahalad.

See any photograph and one is struck  with the pictures of Hanuma- Bhima- Madhva and Raghavendra . Born Venkana Bhatta  in 1595to Gopikaamba and Thimanna Bhatta , he was married to Sraswati Bai.

Following this discussion over a cup of tea and some Brittania biscuits , the gentleman left . No sooner he left , within a matter of a few minutes , someone came to my room , with the Prasadam of Raghavendra Swami. This was inexplicable.

Miracle is an extraordinary and a  welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore attributed  to a divine legacy.

Osho says," Be realistic. Plan for a miracle." Can we plan for a miracle . This happens through " Positive Thinking", " Law of Attraction"  , " Law of Gratitude " , " Law of Spiraling Effect" and what Darren Hardy calls the Compound Effect.

For things to materialise , we need to develop  a highly positive intent . This positive intent sends signals to the universe and in return universe conspires to provide us with what we really need . But for the cycle to continue humans need to be extremely grateful. This is no rocket science . It is not so distant from our inner self . This is an intuitive ability which we need to develop and harness . Our ancient Rishis  realised this potential through yoga, meditation, pranayama and a  proper diet.

Yoga is not just performing  merely  Asanas . It has eight limbs to it, namely, Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and then reaching a state of  Samadhi . Samadhi is the state of complete bliss.  It is in that state , miracles just keep occurring without seamlessly .

Several years back , when  I was  posted at Guntakal , I was   addicted to Bacchus and a confirmed alcoholic . Along with my maternal aunts I went to Raghavendra Swami Mutt at Mantralayam . I smuggled a bottle of liquor in that state of arrogance . My mind was just fixated on the bottle  and was configuring as to how after circumnavigating the  " Brindavan"  I  would consume the spirit . This is the character of a monkey mind . Brindavan is the place where Raghavendra Swami is in Samadhi and in his Tejaroopa( spirit)

There was an unbearable stench in my room . To my amazement the bottle had cracked  and the liquor had leaked from the bottle . The seal was not broken . Everything was drenched with liquor except my Puja material and the notes of Art of Living Part 1 course. Thus Satan cannot affect what is pure and Divine . This too was a miracle.  " It is our faith that activates the power of God" said Joel Osteen.

However the human mind ignores and rubbishes such claims. Years later while traveling by a special train  ,  Sri Sri Ravi Shankar  smiled in his inimitable manner and gave me Mantralayam Prasadam as we crossed  Kurnool district . This is the area where Mantralayam is located . Yet another miracle occurred, I recalled.

Faith is an integral part of any miracle. Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. It is a strong belief in the doctrines of a religion based on spiritual conviction than proof.  " Faithless is he that says farewell when road darkens" says JRR Talkien.

When the tunnel is really dark and our mind is plagued by fear we deeply pray for a miracle to happen so that we do not get subsumed by the vortex of negative power and thinking .   While thinking negatively , we send only transmit negative signals to the universe and thus in return we get shrouded by unfortunate events. Thus prayer , faith and miracles are all intertwined .

But for all these to happen , the intent of the human needs to be extraordinary .

" There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle", wrote Albert Einstein.

Happy Sankranti  and Positive Thinking  to all our  readers. Jai Guru Dev( that is victory of the big mind).