An Accident Avoided

The Mother advises us that we are generally not aware of the action of all the subtle forces and how they interact to cause circumstances that occur in the external world. She further notes that with awareness, many accidents could be avoided. This reminds us of an incident reported some time back:

It occurred in 1981. Two devotees were in the process of traveling across the USA visiting various national parks. It was mid- to late-summer when they reached Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone is noted not only for its geysers and other geological features, but also for the abundance of wildlife.

The devotees were driving on one of the main roads in the park in a Dodge van. The driver had an intimation that “something” was going to happen, and he was driving exceedingly slowly on the road in the near twilight conditions. A park ranger came up behind the van and was clearly frustrated with how slowly the van was moving. After a few minutes, the park range passed the van and sped by. The driver remained extremely cautious, not sure why, but feeling that there was something up ahead that would require immediate reaction. Suddenly a massive bison ran into the roadway immediately in front of the van. The driver hit the brakes hard, and all kinds of things in the van went flying through the cabin. When the van stopped, there was an enormous bison right in front of the vehicle within inches. Had the driver been moving at any faster speed, a tragic accident would clearly have occurred. The uncanny sense of an impending event saved everyone from the harm that would clearly have occurred in a collision with a fully mature adult bull bison standing almost 6 feet tall and weighing likely close to 2000 pounds.

The devotees were shaken by the near-miss, but were grateful for what was so clearly a warning and an intimation that protected them from this accident that was “waiting to happen”.

The exact mechanism that brought this subtle awareness could not be described by the participants. They attributed it to Divine Grace. The Grace clearly acted, and there was a subtle vital awareness that it awakened in the driver. We can speculate that perhaps while driving in a park known for its wildlife, particularly bison herds, and the time of year, and the time of day, the driver was somehow subtly alerted to the possibilities, but it goes beyond that simple explanation by the fact that the speed of the vehicle was far below the normal driving speeds, and yet, was exactly the speed that could be driven to avoid the collision.

The Mother speaks of other senses and possibly some subtle sense had opened up to be receptive to what was moving in the world in that natural setting at that time. There was clearly some type of premonition alerting them. The participants did not know why or how. We will likely never know the exact cause or action that created the situation, the awareness of the situation and the response to the situation. We can only know that we are confronted with a clear example of ‘an accident avoided.’

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Ch. 3 Hidden Forces Around, pg. 78