WHAT IS A MIRACLE?

When I was younger, I was afraid of flying. And luckily, I flew very rarely. But once, I had to go to France on a business trip. I was not a drinker, only an occasion glass of wine, but on this trip I had five martinis and even took sleeping pills. It didn't help. I was afraid the whole trip, especially when the plane took off and landed or hit any kind of bump.

I don't know why I was afraid, but I was. I remember on another flight from Barbados to New York City with friends laughing at me because I was so nervous. I thought I was going to have a heart attack as the plane circled around New York. I didn't know what to do as my job required me to fly more often.

At the time, I was living in New Rochelle, New York and worked in New York City. Almost every day from Grand Central Station, I would pass the newspaper stand in front of  the New York City library at 42nd second and Fifth Avenue. At the stand, I would buy a magazine or newspaper from somewhere in the world. Well one day, I picked up the East Village Other and noticed a story about an India Monk who was chanting and dancing in the park on the lower east side of New York City. He had a pair of cymbals and danced and chanted to lots of the hippies.  They gathered around him and also got up to dance and chant with him.

I was very curious and went down to see for myself. I went to the lower east side and found him in a tiny store near the Bowery, where the homeless lived. He was conducting a wedding when I arrived. I watched and listened to them chant, "Hari Krishna, Hari Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hari Hari, Hari Rama, Hari Rama, Rama Rama, Hari, Hari."

I don't know why, but I started to chant with them and continued to chant to myself every day for the next month. I did this over and over again.  At the end of the month, believe or not, my fears disappeared; not only my fear of flying but also my fear of heights.

When in the US Army, I was at basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey.  Every soldier, including me, was required to go over the obstacle course.  All of the obstacles were climbing onto high objects, like telephone poles.  I knew I couldn't do it, but I didn't know what to do. Very quietly, I hid within the crowd of around 200 soldiers and carefully walked around the obstacles and miraculously, I wasn't detected by the sergeants or officers. If caught, I would have gone to jail.

Since then, I have flown close to four million miles and on each flight could easily just go to sleep without worry.

The story above is included in my book A Miraculous Life. You can go to YouTube to download and listen to a copy for free. The book is filled with 90 miracles that have occurred in my life.