Stories of miracles have always captivated me. We see the presence of something larger, call it god, angels, or gurus, in our midst performing these miracles. We see their presence when all hope is lost though we still carry on the battle. When Lord Murugan came on Thaipusam day he told me to give my best shot in all the things I do. He said in the event, I cannot manage Agathiyar will come to my aid. By this statement, I understood that he did not mean that upon giving up the tasks at hand Agathiyar will come. Neither did he mean deserting the job. He meant to see through it though the odds could be against us, then he does a miracle. The drowning man is saved by a stick. The falling man is saved by a net. So did her boat Ella's Pink Lady save Jessica Watson when her boat capsized in the rough seas in 2010. Watching the biographic movie of Jessica Watson "True Spirit" moments ago, when the family, newsmen, and the world are watching eagerly for her to complete her solo journey sailing around the world her boat capsizes in a storm. She decided to battle the storm rather than accept failure as she was so close to home. When they are prepared to accept the bad news miraculously her boat Pink Lady resurfaces. She calls her family saying Pink saved her. She makes it alive after 210 days at sea.
I guess similarly Agathiyar wants us to battle the storm that comes our way knowing that he shall be there to receive us. There are many tales of miracles that have taken place in the lives of people all around the world. Reading them we too pray for a miracle to take place in our lives. It is generally believed that only upon surrender shall god intervene. But on the contrary, he comes when we lose our last grip on the rope. Then that is considered a miracle. The miracles come when we have tried our best and keep going in the face of the storm. Here we have tried what were tasks to us and find ourselves losing grip or hold or on the verge of the vine snapping.
On the other hand surrender to him has to come in the very beginning itself where we leave it to him to manage our lives. It is only total surrender when we go with the flow and do not interfere.
We all do ask for a miracle when someone dear is about to leave us or ask for them to survive their ordeal or surgery. The doctors who attend to us would have these last words for the next of kin, that they have given their best with whatever tools on hand and knowledge and experience they had and ask that we turn to God and pray for their fast recovery. They never ask us to pray at the onset. We too believe that they can do something about our loved one's condition. A miracle is thus a work of god or the hand of god manipulating the odds in our favor. Miracles are done in the lives of many to pull their attention from the mundane towards the spiritual too. Henceforth they gather faith and belief and venture on into new territories. Saints and godmen with certain powers bestowed on them are known to perform miracles. Shamans and medicine men are known to rope in the spirits to perform them. Thus a miracle is something beyond the norm or what is fated.