Miracle or coincidence?

Remember those times when you 'hope' for something knowing fully well the chances of it happening are very rare? Like if your music player is on shuffle mode and suddenly you are reminded of a song, but lazy to scroll down to it and out of nowhere that song plays? Well, is that a miracle? A coincidence? I believe there is a thin line between the two and one can never see the difference.

To most people, once is a coincidence, twice is somewhat of a coincidence, but beyond a point, it is more of a miracle. Of course, these numbers are absolutely relative

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Our heritage is just jam-packed with such ambiguities. What might seem to be a coincidence might turn to be realized as a miracle much later. Imagine this. I am going to quote two incidents from my own life.

The first one happened sometime around seven years back. Dad, mom and myself were on the way from Chennai to Trichy to attend the SASTRA counselling. That was also the time when I was waiting for results from PSG Tech as well, and I was really hoping to get there instead of SASTRA. But it seemed difficult. Legend has it that when you cross the Cauvery bridge between Srirangam and Trichy, you drop a coin into the river praying for something and it is bound to happen. So, the train crosses this bridge and dad asks me to drop a coin. I did. And trust me, moment the train crossed the bridge, I get a call from PSG asking me to appear for an interview with their admissions office. Miracle? Coincidence?

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The second one happened a few weeks back. I was really clueless about my intern options and one particular week, was extremely dejected. So, I decided to visit a mandir which I used to go to regularly till end of last year (somehow, couldn't go for around four months). I go to the temple, sit and just keep calm for a while. Some fifteen minutes later, I had calmed down, so I left and took a cab back home. Two minutes into the cab, I get a call from one of the companies I applied to, asking me if I was available for interview the following day. Again, miracle? Coincidence?

Honestly, I find it very hard to separate the two, or point out at either of them. Perhaps, few years back, I would have called it coincidence, but now, I may not be so sure to call it one. Yet, I don't completely agree that it is a miracle. Like I said, there is a wafer thin difference between the two, and try as one may, it is hard to tell the two apart.

Yet, fact remains that some incidents in our lives are certainly way beyond our control and are destined to be so. The way universe operates in this aspect is really hard and complex, we cannot even think of trying to comprehend, let alone accept. The only thing we can accept is how events unfold and play along with forces beyond us.

What's your take on this?

-Prashanth