Luck, Life and New Year

Luck, Life and New Year

We all wait eagerly for New Year to come and to fill our life with good fortune of health, happiness and prosperity. Generally every year we get a gift in a mixed packet, which contains, joy and sorrow, pain and gain, love and enmity etc. But sometimes, unexpected luck appears in life so suddenly that, it makes a story for all of us. And the lucky one becomes zero to hero overnight. 

Young and handsome Ashok Kumar was working as a lab technician in Bombay movies, completely unnoticed. One day when suddenly the leading lady Devika Rani disappeared with some actor, the director Himanshu Rai was put into great trouble. He hesitantly approached Ashok Kumar to play the lead role. That first film of Ashok Kumar, “Jeevan Naiya, 1936”, became such a hit, that Ashok Kumar became zero to hero overnight. 

This sudden appearance and disappearance of luck factor makes life interesting and unpredictable. How and when luck favors, and puts one up and other down in the chess board of life, we do not know. 

Referring about this luck factor, we get a very revealing verse, in Bhagwad Gita :- which says, in order to achieve the goal of all actions we need five causes. “The seat of activity (body), the doer (jivatman), various sense organs, functions of the organs of action, and the presiding deity, the fifth.”.

We may try to do our best in every possible way, but finally the success or failure depends on the divine helping hand, which we call luck, the unseen force. 

According to Upanishad, whatever happens in this world has a solid cause and effect theory behind it. Nothing happens by chance. 

The theory of destiny or luck explained in Bhagavad Gita and Upanishad is very logical, interesting, and based on inner revelations of profound wisdom of ancient sages. 

Our general belief is that, with hard work and with greater skills we can bring success and luck in life. To some extent this theory has some validity, but it does not work always. 

The unknown factor called destiny, or luck is explained in Indian philosophy, as a fruit of our past actions. Our past karma waits for its maturity, and influences our endeavors in present life, at a particular time, in a particular moment to make action a success or failure. Deposits of our past karma, lie deep within, and suddenly come into fruitation, in present life, in a particular time. We call it karma phalam, fruits of action. Karmic energy never gets lost. Unknowingly and slowly it gets matured, and when it appears in life we call it luck. Luck is nothing, but the reappearance of our past karmic account, which we have to pay back and settle, in this life. 

As a seed remains under the earth, hidden and unseen for some time, but carries great potentiality in it. In right time, it slowly appears on the earth, matures gradually, and when times comes, it bears fruits. Those fruits may be sweet and nourishing or bitter and poisonous. It all depends on the inner nature and quality of that seed. What we sow, we reap. The nature’s law is, what we give to life, life gives it back to us in ten fold. So it is always a wise policy, to nurture positive and constructive thoughts, speak only truth and kind words, and do service for well being of all. With that solid foundation of good karma, both our present and future will be secured, happy and meaningful. Opposite situations, like pain and gain, joy and sorrow etc appear in life with a purpose. They come to make us aware about the impermanence of life, and inspire us to act wisely. Then our action can be the path of our liberation. 

Albert Einstein said, “In the middle of every difficulty lies an opportunity”. Only when winds and waves flow high, we get an opportunity, to make ourselves good navigators, who can stay calm, focused and centered, and try to find out a right solution. 

Some struggle is always necessary for our growth and progress. In life when we pay back for our karmic debt, the best way to do it with dignified calmness, and with kindness in heart. Even for the wrong doer, we must be forgiving. Being reactive with anger and aggressiveness, things worsens. By holding back our anger, we feel suffocated. The only way to make ourselves free from all bondages, is to forgive, forget and go ahead. 

We are always being blessed by our creator. To have clean air, water and sun shine, to have disease free body, loving family and friends, to have a shelter and sufficient food to nourish our body; are they not great luck in life? Is it not wise to be happily contented and grateful for what we have, rather being stressed out and run for what we do not have? The lucky star is very much in our hand’s reach. 

We get confused to see, the fluctuation of appearance and disappearance of luck in life.  One can neither be always lucky or unlucky in life. This mixed fortune, can only be explained and linked to our past karmic theory. Only when we connect our present situation to our past karma, we get some convincing answer. Soul is immortal. So when body perishes, the soul carries its karmic result from one life to another. 

But man can be the master of his own life, and can be the creator of his own destiny. By being positive, creative and wise we can change our life and can make it shine like a lucky star again at this moment with our will power. Everything is possible. It all depends on our positive outlook, inner wisdom and strong will power. To be lucky or unlucky, ultimately it depends on our choice. We are the architect of our life and destiny.