What Happened That Day

In the early hours of Thursday 21st September 1995 an ordinary man in the outskirts of New Delhi had a dream of Lord Ganesha, the son of Lord Shiva and remover of obstacles, wanting to drink milk. Upon waking up before dawn he quickly went to a nearby temple, an unconvinced pandit at the temple let him feed a spoonful of milk to the Murthi (statue) of Lord Ganesha and both watched in amazement how the milk disappeared, almost as if the Murthi had drank it. The man was one of a few that day that that claimed to have dreamt about the Lord.

Ganesh Murthi Accepting Milk

The news spread like wild fire by word of mouth, then through the media, within hour’s people were offering milk and watching a miracle take place as the Murthi’s began accepting the milk. People began offering milk all over India and then all over the world, in Hong Kong, UK, Canada, Indonesia and many other countries where Hindu temples resided. India was virtually brought to a standstill as people left work early to go and feed the Lord, thousands began flocking to local stores to obtain milk.

Mass Hysteria

In some places, statues of Lord Ganesha’s parents Lord Shiva and Parvati also accepted milk. Overall there was mass hysteria, shopping outlets became overwhelmed by the demand for milk by devotees eagerly wanting to feed God. Prices for milk soared as businesses took advantage and temples crowded as people watched in awe, as the unexplainable took place.

Such a miracle had never before been witnessed by such a great number of people in modern times, the miracle began dominating international media headlines, newspapers, television and radio all over the world described the milk drinking statues. Sceptical journalists witnessed the event in amazement, many of them participated in the spoon feeding, a Daily Express journalist in the UK wrote:

Newspapers Report The Miracle

"I had a good view from the side and all I can say is that the statue appeared to suck in half a spoonful while it was held level by the worshipper. The rest was sipped reverently by the devotee... most of the worshippers said they only went to the temple occasionally and were certainly not religious fanatics. But they were adamant that a new god had been born to save the world from evil.”

The bull Nandi is known as the vehicle of Lord Shiva, whom is the father of Lord Ganesha. The Vishwa Temple in London allowed over 10,000 people on that day to see a statue of Nandi and a bronze snake called the Shash Naag drink milk from spoons and cups. A nearby store sold its entire stock of 28,000 pints of milk!

An extraordinary event occurred at another major Hindu temple in Wimbledon in London. Milk given to a statue of Lord Ganesha also disappeared and at the same time a large photo of Sai Baba was seen to be manifesting vibhuti, or holy ash from Baba’s forehead and amrit or nectar, ran from his feet. At the Geeta Bhavan temple in Manchester, milk was accepted in large amounts by a small silver statue of Ganesha. Some British tabloid reporters, drowned in disbelief, looked for flaws in the miracle as they photographed the events taking place, none could deny they witnessed such an amazing and unexplainable event.

The Unexplainable

Some scientists tried to explain the statues absorbed the milk, through capillary action, but how can metal as well as marble statues absorb milk too? Also, if absorption was the case then why does this not happen to any Murthi and happen everyday? Why were hundreds and thousands of Murthi’s all across the world accepting milk just for that short period of time? Some statues had drank gallons upon gallons of milk, the reality of the matter is that it was a miracle and a rare one, it would not have been a miracle had this happened everyday of our lives and it proves that there is a god. There is not doubt that a divine intervention had taken place, Hindus believe the acceptance of milk as a good omen from up above and the miracle strengthened the beliefs of many Hindus and non-Hindus.

This type of miracle or event has not appeared for the first time however, according to Hindu scriptures such as the Srimad Bhagavatam, known as the story of Lord Krishna. It mentions that when the Kali Yuga, or the Dark Age, began 5000 years ago, idols in temples would weep as if they wanted to leave. The milk miracle is a sure sign of a godly presence amongst us, those who believe in god do not need an explanation and those who don’t, can’t find one.

For more information, images and video visit milkmiracle.com here. A short video clip is also available on the BBC website about this event here.