Part 48 (1/2)

{FN29-2} ”The soul having been often born, or, as the Hindus say, 'traveling the path of existence through thousands of births'

there is nothing of which she has not gained the knowledge; no wonder that she is able to recollectwhat for is reminiscence all”-EMERSON

{FN29-3} Rabindranath, too, in his sixties, engaged in a serious study of painting Exhibitions of his ”futuristic” ere given soo in European capitals and New York

{FN29-4} GITANJALI (New York: Machtful study of the poet will be found in THE PHILOSOPHY OF RABINDRANATH TAGORE, by the celebrated scholar, Sir S Radhakrishnan (Macmillan, 1918)

Another expository volume is B K Roy's RABINDRANATH TAGORE: THE MAN AND HIS POETRY (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1915) BUDDHA AND THE GOSPEL OF BUDDHISM (New York: Putnam's, 1916), by the eminent Oriental art authority, Ananda K Coomaraswamy, contains a number of illustrations in color by the poet's brother, Abanindra Nath Tagore

CHAPTER: 30

THE LAW OF MIRACLES

The great novelist Leo Tolstoy wrote a delightful story, THE THREE HERMITS His friend Nicholas Roerich {FN30-1} has summarized the tale, as follows:

”On an island there lived three old hermits They were so simple that the only prayer they used was: 'We are three; Thou art Three-havethis naive prayer

”The local bishop {FN30-2} came to hear about the three hermits and their inadmissible prayer, and decided to visit them in order to teach them the canonical invocations He arrived on the island, told the herht them many of the customary prayers The bishop then left on a boat He saw, following the shi+p, a radiant light As it approached, he discerned the three her upon the waves in an effort to overtake the vessel

”'We have forgotten the prayers you taught us,' they cried as they reached the bishop, 'and have hastened to ask you to repeat them'

The awed bishop shook his head

”'Dear ones,' he replied humbly, 'continue to live with your old prayer!'”

How did the three saints walk on the water?

How did Christ resurrect his crucified body?

How did Lahiri Mahasaya and Sri Yukteswar perform their h with the advent of the atomic bomb and the wonders of radar, the scope of the world-ed The word ”i less prominent in the scientific vocabulary

The ancient Vedic scriptures declare that the physical world operates under one fundamental law of MAYA, the principle of relativity and duality God, the Sole Life, is an Absolute Unity; He cannot appear as the separate and diverse manifestations of a creation except under a false or unreal veil That cosreat scientific discovery of modern times has served as a confirmation of this simple pronouncement of the rishi+s

Newton's Law of Motion is a law of MAYA: ”To every action there is always an equal and contrary reaction; the mutual actions of any two bodies are always equal and oppositely directed” Action and reaction are thus exactly equal ”To have a single force is impossible There must be, and always is, a pair of forces equal and opposite”

Fundain

Electricity, for example, is a phenomenon of repulsion and attraction; its electrons and protons are electrical opposites Another example: the atonet with positive and negative poles The entire phenomenal world is under the inexorable sway of polarity; no law of physics, chemistry, or any other science is ever found free from inherent opposite or contrasted principles

Physical science, then, cannot formulate laws outside of MAYA, the very texture and structure of creation Nature herself is MAYA; natural science must perforce deal with her ineluctable quiddity