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THE JAINA GAZETTE the miraculous effects of such places all over the Globe now or in the past is as clear as it is logical and convincing. There have been these Atishaya Kshetras or Miracle Places in Greece, in Rome, in France, in Germany, in Mexico, in America, and indeed, in all countries of the world. The annual pilgrimage to Lourdes in France and the many votive offerings to the golden Image of the Holy Virgin, in her famous Church at Marseilles, the many Wishing Wells in England, including one in a field in Trouts Inn in Oxford itself, the innumerable heartfelt thanks published by gratified devotees to Lord Jesus and Holy Mary in the Times of India almost every day, e.g., the Times of India, dated March 5th, 1927, contains the following:
"OUR HEARTFELT AND GRATEFUL THANKS
to the sacred, Heart of Jesus, the Heart that never fails, Blessed Virgin, Saint Joseph, Saint Anthony,
Saint Theresa for granting us what we prayed for. 4824." The countless vows and votive offerings made to Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer and the Miran Datar of Unjha, Ahmadabad, are modern examples of a wide-spread belief in miracles being worked in the names of Saints. There can be only four possible explanations of these Sacred and Miracle-working Places : -
(1) All this may be a mere chance. That is thousands of wishes are made by men and women in the name of their respective religions or Sainls. If by chance some of these wishes are fulfilled, the Faithful may ascribe them to the intervention of their Saints, but really they are due to ordinary course of things and mere chance. This explanation is really no explanation. It only repeats the facts which are to be explained. It gives no explanation. It tries to explain the facts by saying : "these facts are so, because they are so."
(2) Another explanation may be that these successes are merely the results of Faith. That is, the nervous. psychic, supernalural, spiritual, latent powers are excited and liberated and made active by this Faith ; hence the result. According to this view the
Biblical " Thou of little Faith" is a just censure and a statement Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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