BYBS : Faith

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There is an interesting piece of conversation between the Archbishop and La Tremouille in George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan :

LA TRÉMOUILLE: Well, come! what is a miracle?

THE ARCHBISHOP: A miracle, my friend, is an event which creates faith. That is the purpose and nature of miracles. They may seem very wonderful to the people who witness them, and very simple to those who perform them. That does not matter: if they confirm or create faith they are true miracles.

LA TRÉMOUILLE: Even when they are frauds, do you mean?

THE ARCHBISHOP: Frauds deceive. An event which creates faith does not deceive: therefore it is not a fraud, but a miracle.

Everyday around us - especially in a country like India - we see a lot of things happening that defy logic and, sometimes, all scientific sense, yet people believe them. Most of these things are related to religion, and for some reason, when it comes to religion, people are very willing to forget what they have learnt over the years. A veil seems to fall before the eyes and people believe anything and everything they see, or are told about.

For a non-believer, it is easy to criticise all these believers and sometimes even laugh at their gullibility. At times, I have been guilty of doing that. But recently I realised a simple thing: what people are believing in is not the simple incident that they are witnessing, but it is a belief in the existence of a power greater than any other - a belief in the power that we call God.

In India, the issue of Ram Setu has brewed a huge storm in the recent days. The eye of this storm is a bridge that, scriptures say, was built by Lord Rama. The bridge is made of stones that float on water. Scientific studies have proved the existence of this bridge, but whether it is man made or natural is being hotly debated with agencies like NASA participating in the debate.

To create awareness about the bridge, "Ram Shila," a stone from the bridge, is being carried around all over the country. Last week, by chance, I happened to be at the place where the Ram Shila was being shown to people. In a bucket full of water, a white coloured stone was floating. My initial reaction was one of disbelief. After all, years of studying at school and college had taught me that stones don't float in water.

So, I wanted to get near it, maybe touch it, and find a possible scientific explanation for the floating stone.

But, as soon as I was among the people, I sensed a strange faith in the crowd. Everyone around me seemed to believe that the stone was sacred, and that it was blessed with divine grace that was the reason for it not sinking.

Somehow my desire to touch that stone vanished. Neither did I want to worry about any explanation for the floating stone. It was a miracle that the stone was floating, for it made me, among others, believe in the existence of powers far beyond what the human mind can imagine.

Have a great week ahead!

P.S. : Sometime this week, or the next, I am planning to add a page with BYBS banners on the blog. Many BYB banners that I have made in the past, and some that I might make in the future will be put on the page, and anyone is free to use them. If you have made a banner and want to share it, just leave a comment. This idea of having a BYBS banners page was first proposed by Stev some time back.