RECENTLY devotees of the Radha Krishna Mandir in Georgetown received, perhaps, one of the biggest surprises in their lives.

Upon entering the place of worship, they had discovered that the several representations of their Goddesses – Mother Durga, Mother Sarswattie and Mother Lakshmi  bringing forth sindoor.

The powdery substance was noticed on the statue’s forehead and cheeks. Since then, the statue has been attracting hundreds from all across Guyana, who have anxiously travelled to Georgetown to witness the ‘miracle’ first-hand.

Later that week, reports began emanating out of Blairmont on the West Bank of Berbice and the Corentyne, that similar happenings had taken place. In addition, the statues at the Shiv Shakti Temple at Blairmont reportedly cried as did the statues at Sand Reef Albion and other Corentyne mandirs.

Being in a technologically savvy age and all, word quickly spread on the internet. At least one of the dailies (Guyana Chronicle) carried the report. In addition, videos of the ‘miracle’ quickly spread on the internets’ video sharing website, YouTube.

This is not the first time that these strange occurrences have amazed Hindus. The milk- drinking statues have made news on numerous times in the past. In the 90’s and even as recent as September of this year, devotees of Lord Ganesh claimed that he drank milk which they fed him from a spoon.

On September 21, 1995, mass hysteria broke out in India after word had spread that liquid milk began to disappear after being fed to the statue Ganesh. India’s milk supply dwindled as most of the milk it had produced were taken in large buckets to be offered to the statue.

Scientists viewed the entire episode as a scientific occurrence. They blamed capillary action, after they had added colouring to some milk, fed the statue and noticed that the substance coated the statue beneath where the spoon was placed. This, however, did not deter devotees from continuing to give milk to the statues all across India.

We live in a world today where — whether we like it or not — science commingles with religion. Science can offer us answers and explanations for occurrences that happen within the ambit of our faith that religion cannot offer.

Christianity has had its fair share of unnatural occurrences as well. From holy men who encountered the wounds of Jesus on their bodies (the stigmata) to communion wafers that bled profusely. Christendom has experienced it all; medical experts tested the liquid and found that it was fresh, human blood.

However, we also live in a time of deception and where persons have been known to plan elaborate schemes just to gain publicity and have their 15 minutes of fame.

The Roman Catholic Church did not accept these miracles until lengthy investigations, inquiries, testimonies, and sometimes, even physical evidence had been collected and probed a thousand times.

These investigations were carried out so meticulously by persons who were called the best of the devil’s advocates, the best men and women who doubted and had as much negative things to say about the strange happenings.

In the end, after many cases and years of investigations, it is only then that Rome accepts and deems the named occurrences miracles and divine occurrences.

Some of which have been deemed miracles of the church include Catholic priest, Padre Pio’s stigmata. He received wounds all over his body, the same wounds Jesus received while on the cross.

The statues that are bringing forth this substance have brought over 20 media operatives from Trinidad. It is hoped that these journalists would do what they do best and clear up the occurrences over the past couple days, especially for the doubting Thomases.

But when others have been attracted by this story, where is our very own local media in all of this?

It is not known the procedure used by the Hindu fraternity in Guyana for deeming an occurrence a miracle. However, up to this point, there has been no forthcoming scientific examination of the evidence — the sindoor  that has been protruding from the body of the statue.

Has it been widely accepted, without question, that the substance is a true and 100% representation of sindoor? Have the tears that have been reportedly shedding throughout mandirs in Berbice been collected and analyzed?

Yes, there is a point where scientific explanations cannot go any further and thus, faith ultimately takes over, but, there have been numerous hoaxes that have taken place in the past and which have fooled thousands of religious followers especially from the Christian and Hindu faiths.

Most of the bleeding Virgin Mary statues that have appeared all over the world have been deemed nothing more than natural occurrences and hoaxes by the Church of Rome. Similarly, there have been hoaxes associated with the ‘milk- drinking’ statues.

The occurrence at the Radha Krishna Mandir will indeed go down in Guyana’s history books.

It is a modern- day ‘miracle’ which happened in a time when there is an influx of technology, such as television (we saw the video), the internet (we read the story and saw the video as well) and, yes, science.

One needs to remember that when these types of occurrences take place, it goes down better with skeptics when the clerics of that faith step forward and offer evidence and explanations, not to make others believe but to present a bit of logic and scope to what has been happening.

It is noteworthy that the two widely read independent daily newspapers did not carry any report about the matter, nor has there been any credence given to it by other media houses, except, of course, by the Guyana Chronicle.
The little known by sections of the population was due to the Guyana Chronicle’s report, the YouTube video on the internet and local religious programmes showing some video of the event.

While this issue is very debatable among different circles, some will believe, many more will not; but one thing’s for sure: God certainly does work in mysterious ways.