Sunday, June 10, 2007

The Milk Miracle

Presented below [from here] is the story that shocked the world on September 21, 1995 - the day when the Murtis of Ganesh Ji around the world started to accept milk that was offered.
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The Supernatural Event of This Century Is Experienced Simultaneously Worldwide

It all began on September 21st 1995 when an otherwise ordinary man in New Delhi dreamed that Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed God of Wisdom, craved a little milk. Upon awakening, he rushed in the dark before dawn to the nearest temple, where a skeptical priest allowed him to offer a spoonful of milk to the small stone image. Both watched in astonishment as it disappeared, magically consumed by the God. What followed is unprecedented in modern Hindu history. Within hours news had spread like a brush fire across India that Ganesha was accepting milk offerings. Tens of millions of people of all ages flocked to the nation's temples. The unworldly happening brought worldly New Delhi to a standstill, and its vast stocks of milk-more than a million liters-sold out within hours. Just as suddenly as it started in India, it stopped in just 24 hours.

But it was just beginning elsewhere as Hindus in India called their relatives in other parts of the world. Soon our Hinduism Today offices were flooded with reports from around the world. Everywhere the story was the same. A teaspoonful of milk offered by touching it to Ganesha's trunk, tusk or mouth would disappear in a few seconds to a few minutes, not always, but with unprecedented frequency. Reuters news service quoted Anila Premji, "I held the spoon out level, and it just disappeared. To me it was just a miracle. It gave me a sense of feeling that there is a God, a sense of Spirit on this Earth." Not only Ganesha, but Siva, Parvati, Nandi and the Naga, Siva's snake, took milk.


Here it is on wiki:


The Hindu milk miracle was a phenomenon reported to have occurred on September 21, 1995. Before dawn, a Hindu worshipper at a temple in south New Delhi made an offering of milk to a statue of Lord Ganesha. When a spoonful of milk from the bowl was held up to the trunk of the statue, the liquid was seen to disappear, apparently taken in by the idol. Word of the event spread quickly, and by mid-morning it was found that statues of the entire Hindu pantheon in temples all over North India were taking in milk, with the family of Shiva (Parvati, Ganesha, and Kartikeya) apparently the "thirstiest". By noon the news had spread beyond India, and Hindu temples in Britain, Canada, Dubai, and Nepal among other countries had successfully replicated the phenomenon, and the World Hindu Council (an Indian Hindu organisation) had announced that a miracle was occurring.

The apparent miracle had a significant effect on the areas around major temples; vehicle and pedestrian traffic in New Delhi was dense enough to create a gridlock lasting until late in the evening. Many stores in areas with significant Hindu communities saw a massive jump in sales of milk, with one Gateway store in England selling over 25,000 pints of milk,and overall milk sales in New Delhi jumped over 30%. Many minor temples struggled to deal with the vast increase in numbers, and queues spilled out into the streets.


And here's a video.


So, can millions of eye witnesses in India and all over the world be wrong? Or are you going to convert to Hinduism now?

Curiously, though, Deut. 4:28 has this to say, "There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell."

Nothing about drinking there.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

does it not say in the Torah that God will test our faith by having miracles done by false prophets?

Anonymous said...

Ortho,

do you find the scientific explanations sufficiently explain the phenomena?

Anonymous said...

From the FAQ on the website mentioned on the video (www.milkmiracle.com):

Q: Why can you see the milk running down the statue and all around the base like a sindk full of milk if the statue drank it?

A: When thousands of people feed ten thousands of litres milk with nervous and excited hands, it is statistically inevitable that some litres.

Orthoprax said...

EvD,

What false prophets were involved? And anyway, do you really believe a miracle took place?



Spinoza,

Yeah, I do.

Anonymous said...

wasnt this on nova? they kind of proved that some charlatan hindu guru who was trying to avoid corruption charges called up local hindu temples and told them the trick on how to feed milk to the statue (its some sort of condensation technique that is easily reproduced) and those temples spread the word etc.

DAG said...

That would be Millions witnesing Thousands of events, not millions witnessing the SAME event

Orthoprax said...

Dag,

And? Does that mean that millions of people can't be fooled at one event? If the temples were big enough, I'm confident that millions could have been convinced at the same time.

Orthoprax said...

Further, I would offer the concept that generally something that you can try on your own is more convincing than something that you just saw from afar.

Baal Habos said...

All, I've heard it said that skeptical Hindu's are pointing to the Exodus as an example of how millions can be fooled

Anonymous said...

The big question is how these purported miracles are supposed to cause the viewers to take on more responsibilities in their lives. (analagous to mitzvot.)

Anonymous said...

lol!

Did anyone watch the video!? You can see the milk dripping right off of the statue's chin! lol

Here is the full q and a from the website:
Q: Why can you see the milk running down the statue and all around the base like a sink full of milk if the statue drank it?

A: When thousands of people feed ten thousands of litres milk with nervous and excited hands, it is statistically inevitable that some litres are spilled.