- Before answering this question, first let us understand the word ‘miracle.’ The word miracle means “an extraordinary event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore attributed to a divine agency.” This means that when the existing natural laws that we know are not able to understand and explain a certain happening, then it is regarded as a miracle. Thus what is not understandable by natural laws becomes supernatural, that is, miraculous.
- Mankind is far away from knowing, understanding and deciphering all the laws of nature. We do not even properly understand our own body and its working. Miracles are happenings related either to the physical laws which are not yet discovered, or to laws which work beyond our dimension and scope of understanding.
- Zoroastrian religious tradition chronicles many happenings that can be termed miraculous. This includes several happenings related to the life of prophet Zarathushtra. Several miracles are recorded before Zarathushtra was even born, and also when he was an infant, a child, a youth and in later years. Part of the Seventh book of the Pahlavi Denkard is about the miracles of prophet Zarathushtra. The Pahlavi word for miracle is awd or abd.
- Recent Zoroastrian religious tradition has recorded many highly evolved people like Dasturji Kukadaru, Dasturji Meherjirana and Homaji who have done things which can be called a miracle.
- Religious aspects like prayers and rituals work at a level which is beyond the physical and hence cannot be quantifiable by known empirical laws. Their working and effects may be termed as miracles.
- However, one should not blindly accept every inexplicable happening as a miracle. Some people take recourse to sleight of hand, illusion and other forms of deception to show that they are working miracles. Such acts amount to fooling people and cheating the faith of people. They cannot be regarded as a miracle.
Ramiyar Karanjia 