Part Four ended with the words: the results of prayer are often breathtaking in their creative manipulation of what we call \u201creality\u201d. Here are some examples.<\/p>\n
It was an early summer evening in 1979 when Lucille Ruda walked down the beach to the pier about half-a-mile (800 metres) from her new residence in Pacifica, California.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0waves lapped gently on the sand and the air was fragrant with salt. From the pier she watched the distant rocky coves and felt a sense of refuge from the strains of life. She thanked God for leading her to such a tranquil spot.<\/p>\n
As twilight darkened into night, and the pier light came on, Lucille slowly made her way back. She ambled down the sidewalk along Beach Boulevard. There was no one else in sight. The two houses at the end of the road were shrouded in darkness.<\/p>\n
A van was parked some distance away. As she moved towards it, she was startled to see four men carrying beer cans emerge from the far side of the van. They were young, burly and bearded. She heard one of them say, “Let\u2019s get her,” as they fanned out towards her. Lucille was faced with an open field to her left and a sandy bluff on her right which offered no protection. As the men advanced, she prayed silently for help.<\/p>\n
Suddenly she felt something press against her right leg. She looked down and saw a huge white German Shepherd at her side. The men stopped, then retreated. One of them cried, “Jesus!\u00a0 look at that.” Then they all scrambled back into the van.<\/p>\n
Lucille felt the soft warm fur of the animal and admired the dog\u2019s noble head. Its whiteness glowed in the dark. The dog followed her to her door, licked her hand and then bounded away. She watched it go until it was lost from sight. Lucille had never seen this dog before, nor did she ever see it again.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 12<\/strong><\/p>\n On another occasion, Carolyn Kurth went to visit a friend in Chicago. As she was leaving her friend, she happened to hear a report over the radio of a girl who had been beaten and sexually assaulted, in an area through which she would have to pass.<\/p>\n She walked out onto a dark street which appeared to be empty. As she continued down the street, however, she became aware of a figure lurking in a nearby doorway. This figure quickly vanished into the shadows.\u00a0As Carolyn crossed over and made her way down the other side of the deserted street, she heard slow, measured steps on the sidewalk behind her.<\/p>\n She immediately quickened her pace, only to hear the footsteps behind her become quicker too. Carolyn was assailed by a sudden feeling of fear and panic. “Oh dear God”, she prayed silently to herself, “please help me. I’m so afraid.”<\/p>\n Then, through her tear-blurred vision she was astonished to see a full-grown, white collie walking quietly beside her. The collie stayed just out of reach, but continued to escort her until she reached the railway station, where there were lights and other people.<\/p>\n As soon as she reached the security of the station, Carolyn looked back over her shoulder down the street, and was able to catch a glimpse of a figure slinking into the darkness. When she turned to look for her unexpected guardian, however, the dog was nowhere to be seen. The white collie had disappeared into the night.\u00a0 28<\/strong><\/p>\n In 1972, Kay Topar’s son Phil was participating in an NCAA swimming contest at Lee College in Lexington, Virginia. Although she had planned to be with friends that morning in Annapolis in the state of Maryland, Kay nevertheless arranged to meet her son at the event, which was scheduled to begin at three o\u2019clock that same afternoon.<\/p>\n After taking two flights from Annapolis, Kay arrived at the tiny airport at Staunton, Virginia, some fifty miles from Lee College. It was already one o’clock, and as there was no public transportation available, Kay rented a car to take her to the college.<\/p>\n For the first twelve miles she passed open fields, without seeing any other traffic on the road. Then, coming to a fork in the road, Kay found that there were no signposts to direct her. She looked around for some sign of habitation close by, but all she could see was open land.<\/p>\n Realising that she was lost and that she would never make it to the college in time, she dropped her head onto the steering wheel, weeping with frustration, and prayed to God for help.<\/p>\n Although she had heard no car approaching, she suddenly became aware of an ancient brown sedan covered with mud and grime a few feet ahead of her. Although she was unable to see clearly through its dirty windows, she was able to make out the silhouette of a well-built man hunched over the wheel.<\/p>\n Then a rough voice shouted at her through the car window: “If you are going to the college, follow me.” The dirty sedan pulled away, and Kay set off behind it. Although they travelled down a straight road, Kay found that no matter what speed she drove at, she could not come abreast of the sedan.<\/p>\n In some uncanny way it seemed to match her speed so that an even distance always separated the two cars. As Kay proceeded to follow the brown sedan, it abruptly turned sharp left, and made its way along a one-way track leading through swampy ground.<\/p>\n As she followed the sedan down this remote path, Kay felt a rising sense of panic, realizing that she had been foolish enough to fall into a trap from which there would be no escape. However, the sedan continued to lead her through the desolate swamp until at last a major highway loomed ahead.<\/p>\n As soon as she reached this highway, Kay stepped on the accelerator, and found that she was able to pass the grimy sedan. As she looked back into her rear view mirror, however, she was astounded to discover that the road behind her was empty. There was no other vehicle on the road.<\/p>\n After continuing down the highway for a short distance, Kay saw the outline of Lee College, where she was able to make a successful rendezvous with her son at the appointed time.\u00a0 29<\/strong><\/p>\n Like many women who have found themselves unexpectedly divorced, with small children to support, Rita Martin had never previously worked outside the home. She recognized that her household skills would not be sufficient to enable her to feed and take care of her three children.<\/p>\n The year was 1954. Although Rita had approached numerous employment offices, guidance counsellors and welfare agencies, none were able to assist her in finding suitable employment. Finally there came a day when there was no more food in the house.<\/p>\n As Rita sat at her kitchen table, pondering over her desperate predicament, she prayed to God to help her feed her family. As she formed the words silently in her mind, there was a knock at the back door. Rita answered it and found a young man standing there.<\/p>\n “Lady”, he said, “we are starting a milk route through this area. Would you like to take milk from our company?” Knowing that she was unable to pay for the milk, Rita declined. But despite her explanation that she had no job and no means of paying for the produce, the young man insisted on leaving her with a full range of the company’s products, including milk, eggs, bread, ice cream and cottage cheese.<\/p>\n This unexpected bonanza allowed Rita to feed her children for the next few days. Then shortly after this incident she was successful in obtaining a part-time night shift position at a nearby factory, which allowed her to spend the day caring for her young family. When the first invoice arrived for the produce which had been loaned to her under such providential circumstances, Rita had the money to pay for it.\u00a0 30<\/strong><\/p>\n Lydia Obermeyer was an avid gardener, living in the American state of New Jersey, who lavished all her spare time on weeding, feeding and trimming her plants. During a summer day in July, 1977, Lydia was startled to find that her rose hedge, tea roses and shrubs had all been denuded. Not only were their flowers missing, but many of their leaves had disappeared as well.<\/p>\n On examining the plants closely, she discovered that the foliage was being destroyed by thousands of Japanese beetles. Although she had been successful in warding off these creatures in the past by spraying her plants with a solution of soapy water, this spray had not protected them on this occasion.<\/p>\n Lydia was filled with dismay, as she had never used any toxic chemicals in her garden, in case they harmed other insects and birds. In desperation, she walked over to her rock garden where there stood a statue of the Virgin Mary. “Please, Mother Mary”, Lydia prayed silently, \u201cdo something to save my plants.\u201d<\/p>\n At that moment a large flock of birds appeared out of the blue sky. They formed a column in the air and then descended on the plants. The shrubs shook violently as the birds feasted silently upon the beetles. After about fifteen minutes, the plants stopped shaking.<\/p>\n Lydia waited for the birds, which were solid gold in colour, and larger than the wild canary which was the state bird of New Jersey, to fly away. But not a single bird was seen to emerge from the bushes. When Lydia walked over to investigate, there wasn’t a single beetle to be seen, and every bird had simply disappeared.\u00a0 31<\/strong><\/p>\n Mani Sahukar had to travel from Bombay up to Poona, in the state of Maharashtra, India, on one occasion, to undertake some personal business. As her husband was unable to accompany her, she reserved a cubicle for herself on the Deccan Queen express train.<\/p>\n As Mani sat in her seat next to the window waiting for the train to leave Victoria Terminus in Bombay, she noticed a well-dressed, middle-aged man pacing up and down the platform. Each time he passed the window of her cubicle, he looked at her with interest.<\/p>\n Having a poor memory for faces, Mani assumed that this was some person she had met in the past, but whom she no longer remembered. She therefore smiled at the man, and asked him how he was. He immediately enquired where she was going, and asked if he might join her in the compartment. Mani agreed, and the man climbed aboard just as the train began pulling out of the station.<\/p>\n The train was no sooner on its way when the stranger got up, bolted the door of the compartment, and began to force his attentions on her. Mani realised that she had unwittingly placed herself in a dangerous situation. She therefore prayed silently to her spiritual Guru<\/em>, Sai Baba, to rescue her from her distress.<\/p>\n She had hardly uttered this prayer in her mind when the door of the compartment opened and a railway porter stood before her, looking at her quizzically. Seeing the porter, Mani leaped to her feet and told him to remove her luggage and to escort her to another compartment.<\/p>\n The porter did so, leaving the intruder looking thoroughly chastened by his sudden and unexpected appearance. The porter then ensured that Mani was safely settled into another compartment. As the train neared Poona, Mani looked for the porter to express her heartfelt thanks. Although the train had not stopped en route, making it impossible for anyone to board the carriage or depart, there was no sign of her rescuer. The porter had vanished from the carriage.\u00a0 32<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n On Christmas Eve, 1984, Winnifred Wilson passed away in Anchorage, Alaska. For her daughter, Shirley Jonas, her mother’s death was a bitter blow, as they had shared a particularly close relationship together. Shirley was especially distressed because her mother had lived so far away, and that she had been unable to be with her at the end.<\/p>\n That evening, in the dining room of her home in Alberta, Canada, Shirley sat long into the night, thinking of her mother and staring out of the windows. Finally, just before dawn, she retired to bed, asking in her prayers that her mother would come to her to say goodbye.<\/p>\n The following morning when Shirley sat down for breakfast, she saw that the dining room windows were covered with winter frost. But on this Christmas morning, the windows were not decorated with \u00adtheir usual frosty flakes. Instead, the casement panes were covered with the clear outline of her mother\u2019s favourite flowers. There were petunias, roses, tulips and lilies of the valley. And framing the borders of the glass was a fringe of morning glory.\u00a0 33<\/strong><\/p>\n In each of the cases quoted, the women involved resorted to prayer to resolve a particular case of need. In each case these needs were met in immediate and dramatic fashion, in ways which seemed to be miraculous.<\/p>\n The incidents which occurred to these women were not figments of their imagination, but were real physical events which actually happened to these women within their realm of \u201creality\u201d. What occurred in each case was as real as the person to whom it occurred.<\/p>\n To skeptical critics, schooled in the strict rationality of scientific thinking, these anecdotal stories would probably be attributed to “coincidence” – random circumstances considered to be the product of the laws of chance.<\/p>\n While they would concede that these stories might be of interest to a psychiatrist, they would hardly be likely to have anything new to offer to the physical scientist. In fact, had any of these cases been subjected to full scientific scrutiny, it is very likely that the results would have been inconclusive.<\/p>\n Had a search been conducted for the two mysterious dogs within the neighbourhoods in which they appeared, it might well have been that no dogs of that precise type and colour would have been found.<\/p>\n The golden birds witnessed by Lydia Obermeyer might well have turned out to be a species that was quite unknown to ornithologists of that region. If the registration plate carried by the brown sedan seen by Kay Topar had been traced, it may well have been that no such vehicle had ever been registered.<\/p>\n But would this lack of substantiating evidence then prove that these incidents were mere illusions, imagined by the people concerned? While some scientists might be quick to dismiss them as such, the truth revealed by the mystics indicates that the various creatures and objects experienced by the ladies were creations of their minds<\/em>.<\/p>\n These were not hallucinatory illusions brought about by emotional stress, they were real physical artifacts and living creatures<\/em> specifically created in answer to their prayers<\/em>.<\/p>\n Drawing upon the unlimited power of the Atman <\/em>within, the normal reality of each one of these ladies was mysteriously rearranged in ways which miraculously solved their particular problems. Their “real” world was in fact remade into a new configuration, in answer to their desires.<\/p>\n Does such a conclusion seem preposterous? While this may contradict our “common sense” view of reality and our accepted laws of science, the mystics point out that this is precisely what does occur in life. The problem, they explain, lies not in the apparent contradictions of “reality”, but in the fixed ideas with which people have built up their surrounding universe.<\/p>\n For, as the Sages persistently reveal, the universe which we believe to be a fixed, predictable and real entity that exists “out there”, is nothing more than a series of images, reflected in consciousness, and recorded in memory. What we call our “real” world is actually the moment by moment expression of a living principle which is not only unlimited in its power, but is eternally free.<\/p>\n Our world is not only infinitely plastic, but it can be remade from moment to moment, in answer to a need.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The physicist rejects this conclusion as contrary to long centuries of empirical evidence that is indicative of predictability and law. Yet science continues to be faced with evidence that stubbornly refuses to be stereotyped into rigid categories of law.<\/p>\n When Albert Einstein bemoaned the fact that nature could not be confined within the limits of quantum theory, he complained to Niels Bohr, “Alas, our theory is too poor for experience.”<\/em> Bohr, however, was quick to retort, “No, No! Experience is too rich for our theory.”<\/em>\u00a0 34<\/strong><\/p>\n The fact remains that our experiences in life will always be too rich for scientific theory. It is the central aim of science to reduce all experience to fundamental principles and laws, which can then be used to predict and explain everything that occurs within the universe.<\/p>\n But our experiences continue to fly in the face of this endeavour. Scientists remain convinced that the universe is founded upon fundamental laws that are both consistent and coherent. The mystics, by contrast, insist that this scientific goal remains a chimera.<\/p>\n Not only, they claim, is this universe not<\/em> founded upon any fundamental laws, but it is quite impossible to constrict the illimitable phenomenon of life into any <\/em>fixed rules of behaviour. Life they say, can no more be reduced to fixed laws than the sea can be captured in a test-tube.<\/p>\n As Nisargadatta Maharaj has emphasized, “The universe is not bound by its content because its potentialities are infinite; besides it is a manifestation or expression of a principle fundamentally and totally free.” \u00a0<\/em>35<\/strong><\/p>\n We are reminded too of the words of Jesus, “All things are possible to him that believeth,” \u00a0<\/em>(Mark 9:23) \u00a0and, “Nothing shall be impossible unto you.”<\/em> \u00a0<\/strong>(Matthew17: 20)\u00a0 11\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Clearly, all things would not be possible if there were established limits laid down within the universe as to what could and could not be done.<\/p>\n The efficacy of prayer is undeniable to those who have experienced it. But while the results of prayer are beyond question, we may well ask ourselves what the precise nature of the agency is that lies behind it. If the results of prayer demonstrate the manifestation of power, then where does that power reside?<\/p>\n Does the efficacy of prayer, in fact, prove the existence of a supreme God?<\/p>\n Continued in Part Six<\/strong><\/p>\n References:<\/strong><\/p>\n 11\u00a0 <\/strong>King James version of the Bible. (KJ21)<\/p>\n 12\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Lucille Ruda, “At my time of need”, Fate magazine, October, 1985, p. 50.<\/p>\n 28<\/strong>\u00a0 Carolyn Kurth, “The White Collie”, Fate magazine, November, 1981, pp. 61-62.<\/p>\n 29<\/strong>\u00a0 Katherine Loomis, “Follow the brown sedan”, Fate magazine, November, 1981, pp. 56-57.<\/p>\n 30<\/strong>\u00a0 Rita Martin, “When prayer is answered”, Fate magazine, February, 1981, p. 77.<\/p>\n 31<\/strong>\u00a0 A.M. Obermeyer, “Golden Birds”, Fate magazine, February, 1981, pp. 75-76.<\/p>\n 32<\/strong>\u00a0 Mani Sahukar, “Sai Baba, The Saint of Shirdi”, op. cit., pp. 48-49.<\/p>\n 33<\/strong>\u00a0 Shirley Jonas, “Gift of flowers”, Fate magazine, September, 1985, p. 56.<\/p>\n 34<\/strong>\u00a0 Gary Zukav, “The Dancing Wu Li Masters”, Foreword by David Finkelstein, New York, July 1978.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Part Four ended with the words: the results of prayer are often breathtaking in their creative manipulation of what we call \u201creality\u201d. Here are some examples. It was an early summer evening in 1979 when Lucille Ruda walked down the beach to the pier about half-a-mile (800 metres) from her new residence in Pacifica, California. 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