Wish You Good Luck by TusharK

Are you feeling Lucky today?

Here are few stories, cases, and lessons to talk about something which is very common yet mystical – The Luck Factor.

Here we start with a famous story of a Chinese farmer by British writer and philosopher Alan Watts (Link)

Story 1 :

Once upon a time, there was a Chinese farmer whose horse ran away. That evening, all of his neighbors came around to commiserate. They said, “We are so sorry to hear your horse has run away. This is most unfortunate.” The farmer said, “Maybe.”

The next day the horse came back bringing seven wild horses with it, and in the evening everybody came back and said, “Oh, isn’t that lucky. What a great turn of events. You now have eight horses!” The farmer again said, “Maybe.”

The following day his son tried to ride one of the horses and was thrown to break his leg. The neighbors then said, “Oh dear, that’s too bad,” and the farmer responded, “Maybe.”

The next day the King’s soldiers came around to recruit people into the army, and they rejected his son because he had a broken leg. Again all the neighbors came around and said, “Isn’t that great!” Again, he said, “Maybe.”

Luck is an interpretation and not the absolute condition

Luck in a general sense is considered a pleasant accident or serendipity. It is a situation when one acquires the most favorable results out of random chance.

Consider, when someone is gambling in a casino with all bets on the number “4”. The dice roll and happen to stop at “4”, making the player Lucky Winner!

If we look closely, the player didn’t do anything special, the dice just rolled and settled obeying all the laws of motion.

It’s a cause-and-effect chain that decides the end position of the dice. The player might be ignorant about the underlying cause and effect.

The next moment when dice rolls, the same player may lose the same or higher bet.

The world is wired with predefined laws of cause and effect. We sometimes happen to be in the middle of it which is in our favor.

There are many serendipitous inventions in the history of science and engineering.

Examples: (Link)

3M scientist Dr. Spencer Silver was doing research on strong adhesives when he came across quite the opposite: one that “stuck lightly to surfaces but didn’t bond tightly to them.” Years later another 3M scientist, Art Fry, came to him with the idea to create a bookmark that could stick to paper without damaging it which became the Post-it note.
On November 8, 1895, physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen was in his laboratory in Germany, experimenting on a vacuum tube covered in cardboard when he noticed a mysterious glow emanating from a chemically coated screen nearby. He played around some more with the new rays and discovered that putting his hand in front of the glow allowed him to see past his skin to his bones, thus leading to the world’s first X-ray.
In 1826, chemist John Walker discovered what are now Matchsticks when he accidentally scraped a stick coated in chemicals across his hearth and found that it caught fire.

There are many more inventions in the same category like Safety Pins, Ice Cream Cones, Penicillin, Chewing Gum, Coca-Cola, etc

Just note, that researchers were working on something already as the preceding cause.

As per Vedic literature, this is not an accident. It is the cause which is sum total of past actions called Prarabhdha which decides the present outcome. This is the law of cause and effect or the Law of Karma with no exceptions.

A luck is a result of preceding actions abiding by the law of Karma. There is no free lunch.

In many scenarios, there are repercussions of getting lucky.

Story 3:

A disciple was digging the soil near the Ashram for plantation. He dug a few feets down to see a sack buried inside.

He carefully lifted and opened it up out of curiosity. He g0t simply awestruck to see it full of money & gold.

He rushed inside the ashram premises and shouted. Swamiji, look at this. There are so many valuables in it.

We are lucky to get blessed by God today.

Swamiji glanced at the gathered crowd and said with a bit of a nervous tone

Now, this puts more work and responsibility on all of us to use and expend it wisely!

With Better Luck comes more responsibility.

Interestingly the latest studies show that the people who win the lottery, win the bet the gamble get into issues of fear, depression, societal relationships, etc. This happens when they are not able to manage the instant wealth acquired. Link

It’s ok not to win a lottery or get new surprising great offers. It’s more fruitful to lead a normal, controlled, and trouble-free life rather than live on chance-driven outcomes.

Here is the next funny story with a moral

Once, Sheikhchilli was riding a Horse Buggy with his fiancee.

He said, Hey Darling, look around, the road is so smooth, free, and full of greenery. The horses are also moving fast without me doing anything.

Let’s relax and enjoy the journey. It’s Just Luck!

A while later he fell asleep and went into a sweet slumber.

Soon, the good road was over and Horses came across a big rocky bump. The horses jumped over it with full momentum.

The buggy rubbed along the rock, rolled over, and broke apart. The Horses also fled the spot.

Shekhchilli and his fiancee barely managed to come out from the cart.

Shikhchiili looked at her and said while tingling the eyebrows

No worries dear. It’s just Luck!

The simple moral is

No one can be forever Lucky as external circumstances keep changing.

Being Lucky is surely a great feeling. However, leading a life purely on the basis of luck and serendipity is a roller coaster ride full of anxieties and fear.

The good news is that we can get so-called Lucky. It just needs a combination of the right proactive actions and the right knowledge.

We need to be grateful when the horses of our cart are moving on the smooth road. However, it’s wise to be prepared to maneuver in all circumstances of bumpy roads and tough terrains. In all likelihood, this will pave the way to good luck.

With this premise, let me wish you Good Luck.

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