Spirit is in the plane of Timelessness. Life is in Time. As the Spirit is in Timelessness, movements there are swift, as if instantaneous. To us, it is instantaneous miraculousness. Someone committed suicide in an office. The office was haunted. No one was safe there. Members were scared to work there. The owner called a magician. He did some rituals, chanted mantras. The oppression was cleared at once. No duration is needed when the Spirit acts. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's cousin voiced a complaint to him that he was neglected and had not received any spiritual boons from him. The Paramahamsa put his thumb on the chest of his cousin. The power of the Spirit directly passed into the body of the cousin, who was his cook. The power burnt his nerves and the cook howled. Again the Paramahamsa put his thumb on the man's chest for a minute. The whole power came back into the Paramahamsa .
An ardent disciple followed his Guru into the Himalayan forest against the will of the Guru, so that he might protect the Guru from danger. The Guru turned and saw him following, and waved his hands. The disciple was lifted into the air and safely deposited back in his original place. Padma sprang readily under the feet of the disciple of Shankara when the disciple walked on the water at the behest of the Guru. The action was instantaneous. It does not wait because it cannot wait. The common man knows that such events are for him to listen to and admire. It is not for him to possess such powers. From his experience or point of view, he is correct. Now things have changed. In a changed spiritual context, the Yogic Force is available for the common man even if he does not do yoga but fulfils the conditions to receive the Force. The condition is to believe in the Force fully. One more condition is to be utterly truthful.
Swami Gnanananda lived in these parts. He lived in a village for a long time and later moved to the nearby town. He had an intense desire to be of use to the village. The village was not receptive. Once the Swami had a pandal erected in peramboke lands, and did not disclose the purpose. Some mischievous elements in the village thought the Swami wanted the lands and instigated a thyagi to apply to the government for a land grant. News came to the Swami. That big pandal was gone the next morning. How could such a pandal be removed without anyone in the village not being employed? How could they not know of it? They could not discover either who had come to dismantle it and from where. When the Spirit acts, sometimes it is a pure miracle, sometimes it takes on the appearance of a miracle. Many are the ways of the Spirit.