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)