Incarnations are not miracle makers
In the human form that they have assumed, these living incarnations are subject to the same physical laws of existence as all of us human beings are; after all they too are in human form. It is easy to visualize and accept the divinity of a Krishna who none of us has seen. However, when you live around a living incarnation, whose physical functions are no different from yours or mine, questions arise on the acceptance of their divinity by many.
It is easy for the average human to be impressed by what may be called super natural feats of spiritual beings; very often these feats seem unbelievable, irrational and contradictory to all known laws of nature. Because we do not understand the laws of such feats such as teleportation or materialization of objects, we tend to classify them as miracles and consider those who perform such feats as divine beings. There are no miracles in nature; such miracles operate through natural laws that our scientists are yet to understand.
Even a primary school student today is taught that there is intelligence residing in each cell of our body. Mind is not a vague entity that is to be found somewhere in the brain, but is a life force that is spread all over the body. Every part of or body is mind as well. Mind and body are not two separate terms, as Osho remarked, it should be mind body. Viewed in this perspective all illnesses are psychosomatic; there are caused by disturbances to the mind body; not to mind and body separately. Therefore healing the mind can cure the illness of the mind body. Mind unlike body, as we understand body, is not matter; it is energy. Body and mind too, like matter and energy, are interchangeable and they are the same. Healing a sick person through energy healing of the mind is unscientific only to the ignorant. It is very scientific if one understands recent advances in science.
Dr. Bruce Lipton, an eminent Cellular Biologist, describes his experiments at the single cell level in lay man's terms in his mile stone book Biology of Beliefs. In this book he explains the mind body behavior through the functionality of cells. Through a simple experiment with a single cell he shows how the cell is attracted by nutrients so that it establishes itself in a growth mode and how it is repelled by toxins, when it sets itself up in a protection mode. He then goes on to show how the cell can not at the same time be in a growth mode and a protective mode; it has to be in one or the other. Using this basic behavior he logically shows how stresses in today's world, repetitive and illogical, affect the mind body causing depression leading to serious illnesses.
A spiritual healer who cures chronic and fatal diseases uses his energy at the cellular level to redress damage caused to the mind body. His performance is miraculous only to the gullible; it is laughable only to the uneducated; when we understand the working of the cell at the molecular level as explained by scientists like Bruce Lipton, it is extremely scientific and rational.
True incarnations go beyond the display of such extraordinary powers termed by us as miraculous because of our lack of understanding; their mission is to help mankind, not to work miracles to impress other humans. Having experienced the divinity of their own beings, incarnations are focused on assisting the rest of mankind experience the same divinity within them. Just the same way as a Scientist develops formulae and techniques to reproduce phenomena of the outer world, mystics develop formulae and techniques to reproduce their experiences of the inner world. A master is able to apply these formulae so that others can experience what they have experienced. A true incarnation is able to transfer such experience directly without the need for techniques or formulae. An incarnation liberates through his grace alone.
Over time in the Hindu tradition great Masters have laid down the path and techniques to achieve liberation from the illusion that we are not divine. Patanjali, greatest of them all, in his Yoga Sutras specified a path of eight practices that lead to Yoga or Union, the union of the individual with the divine. These eight practices yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and Samadhi are valid today as techniques for spiritual evolution even after thousands of years. Techniques of Yoga Asanas and Pranayama, which are now practiced worldwide have their origin from Patanjali, an enlightened Master, whose mission in life was to share his wisdom in a practical manner with his fellow men.
Other great Masters communicated and communed differently. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa initiated his disciples into enlightenment by touching them. Ramana Maharishi liberated his disciples through silent communion. The concepts of deeksha, the Master's grace by sight, touch, and words are well documented in Hindu scriptures.
The greatest blessing that Existence can bestow upon a person is the opportunity to live with and around an incarnation as his disciple. The master, divine incarnate, just by his sheer presence can and will elevate one to enlightenment; nothing else is needed but the surrender to the master. The mission of an incarnation is to lead other human beings to enlightenment. All one needs is to get ones ego out of the way; easier said, however, than done.
Early one chilly morning, during Fall 2005, a group of us sat at the feet of our master THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM at the newly opened ashram at Duarte, near LA. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM spoke to us on the background to his birth.