A Reply to Bhagavat Das on Miracles
Regarding the article by Bhagavat Das, he thinks that Gaur Govinda Maharaj supposedly curing someone of typhoid is a miracle equal to Srila Prabhupada curing someone of terminal bone cancer. But we should note that typhoid has only a 1% mortality rate when treated, and untreated typhoid has a 20% to 30% mortality rate. This means that at least 70% to 80% of all people infected with typhoid will be cured even without any medical treatment, and for those receiving medical treatment 99% of the people will be cured. This person was a doctor and he had tried to treat himself with medicine, so he had a 99% chance that he would recover fully.
Srila Prabhupada curing a person of terminal bone cancer is without doubt a miracle. Someone else becoming cured of typhoid is not really much of a miracle. It is 99% more likely that the medicines along with his body's immune system cured him of the sickness.
On another point, we don't need to measure gurus according to how many miracle cures they have performed. This certainly wasn't Srila Prabhupada's measuring stick to identify a bonafide spiritual master. Sai Baba has been reported to have cured literally tens of thousands of people miraculously, and there are doctors' testimonies to prove it as well. Does it prove that he is a bonafide spiritual master? Pure devotees of the Lord can perform miracles, but so can demons and asuras. So this in no way helps in identifying the Lord's pure representative.
(Keywords: Hare Krishna, ISKCON)
Srila Prabhupada curing a person of terminal bone cancer is without doubt a miracle. Someone else becoming cured of typhoid is not really much of a miracle. It is 99% more likely that the medicines along with his body's immune system cured him of the sickness.
On another point, we don't need to measure gurus according to how many miracle cures they have performed. This certainly wasn't Srila Prabhupada's measuring stick to identify a bonafide spiritual master. Sai Baba has been reported to have cured literally tens of thousands of people miraculously, and there are doctors' testimonies to prove it as well. Does it prove that he is a bonafide spiritual master? Pure devotees of the Lord can perform miracles, but so can demons and asuras. So this in no way helps in identifying the Lord's pure representative.
(Keywords: Hare Krishna, ISKCON)
posted by Govinda Das at
11:31 AM
5 Comments:
All False story
By
Anonymous, at 10:47 AM
good work....keep it up
By
Anonymous, at 3:58 AM
Nicely written article. Interesting to read and very informative.
By
Anonymous, at 10:11 AM
Here is the article this post is referring - http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/editorials/12-06/editorials1006.htm
The doctor did try to treat himself with medicine and techniques that had worked on his patients successfully to cure himself of typhoid, but the article states that "After extensive testing the Doctor finally resigned himself to the fact that his case was hopeless and that the disease was going to kill him."
This means that he (being a doctor) knew that he fell in the 20-30% people (actually, the 1% people, since he tried treating himself) who die from typhoid, and that he was not going to recover. So the premise of this blog post is false since he was very certain that he was falling in that mortality rate from typhoid, as stated in the article - "Realizing that death was imminent he had his driver take him to see Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja. The Doctor explained his hopeless condition to Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja and begged him that since he was going to die he wanted the mercy of his guru."
Considering he was cured in one night after seeing Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja, and being in the irrecoverable condition that he was, the cure can be easily seen to be a true miracle.
By
jayaSP, at 7:50 AM
"The Doctor tried every remedy and method that he had developed and even used successfully on others but to no avail on himself. After extensive testing the Doctor finally resigned himself to the fact that his case was hopeless and that the disease was going to kill him." From the article - http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/editorials/12-06/editorials1006.htm . So the doctor did in fact know that the treatment was not working for him and that he was about to die from typhoid, thus falling in the mortality rate of people who die even after treatment from Typhoid. Also, he was cured in one night after seeing his guru, Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja.
By
Unknown, at 11:25 PM
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