Good fortune (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"good fortune"

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- November 7, 1970, Bombay:

Guest (5): This gentleman. You'll be answering in Hindi or English?

Prabhupāda: As you like.

Guest (5): They know Hindi.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Guest (6): (Hindi)

Guest (7): No, no. If you want to put questions in English, Swamiji will reply in English. If you want to put in Hindi, I hope... Yesterday I heard him in Hindi, I had the good fortune, and I can say with my understanding that he is equally past master in Hindi ...(laughter) Yesterday we had the good occasion and the good fortune of hearing him in Hindi as well. Disciples will speak English only.

Prabhupāda: Yes, they do not speak.

Guest (8): They probably don't know Hindi.

Prabhupāda: No.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 18, 1974, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that I have explained. Unless they believe it is good, how they can be put in to miserable condition? Just like some of the thieves. They go to jail. They think, "It is very nice. We haven't got to earn. We are getting food here, free of charge. Yes, it is very nice place. It is my father-in-law's house." (laughs) So unless they believe, how they can tolerate such tribulations? The worm in the stool, he believes, "This is enjoyment." You take it from the stool, put it here, no, it will go again. It thinks it is pleasurable. That is their position. Therefore they have been described as mūḍha. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhaḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). When they believe it, "Oh, it is not good," that is their good fortune. Then they are fortunate. That is explained by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa brahmite kono bhāgyavān jīva. When they come to that fortunate position, that is first-class.

Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is very fortunate to see so many big men at a time. So we were also talking to this doctor about this philosophy, how human civilization should be conducted. I was explaining to Professor that at the present moment, not at the present moment, always in this material world, we do not know what is the goal of life. We have got different philosophies, different mode of life, because we do not know what is the goal of life. If the goal of life is... (break) ...then everything is solved. Now it is very good fortune that you are all present. What is the goal of life? That is my submission. Human life is there, human intelligence is there. So what is the goal of life to achieve?

Reporters Interview -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: He will describe about Kṛṣṇa. He will ask you to become devotee of Kṛṣṇa. His business is to propagate Kṛṣṇa. That is the symptom of guru.

Devotee: Śrīla Prabhupāda, if we don't know what Kṛṣṇa is and we still get a bona fide spiritual master, then how do we call that? Our good fortune?

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is stated in Caitanya... Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva. Kona, some fortunate person, not all.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- October 7, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: ...is interested in God throughout the whole world, cent percent. We are simply canvassing, "Here is God. Take to God." This is our position. And still, some of you are cooperating with me. That is good fortune. Otherwise nobody is interested in God, nobody. They have no idea of God. They are not interested in God. Still, we are predominant, or people know us as Hare Kṛṣṇa people. This is our good luck. Nobody... My Guru Mahārāja used to say, "There is no scarcity of anything in this world. Only scarcity is Kṛṣṇa consciousness." He used to say like that.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 14, 1976, Mayapur:

Madhudviṣa: So that future is determined by the great souls, such as yourself.

Prabhupāda: No, that...

Madhudviṣa: Because you are creating people's good fortune.

Prabhupāda: Fortune, there. It is already there. I am simply informing.

Madhudviṣa: No, but you actually engage them in ajñāta-sukṛti, meritorious activities, even unwillingly performed.

Morning Walk -- March 17, 1976, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's a cause.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: You did nothing to deserve it, but it's caused your good fortune.

Trivikrama: Jaya.

Satsvarūpa: That poet from Ireland asked you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, when you were in Rome. He said, "I want to know who told God all that He knows, because..."

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Satsvarūpa: He asked, "Who.... Who has informed God of all knowledge? Everyone has to learn from someone." So he said, "Who informed God?"

Morning Walk -- March 25, 1976, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Then you are independent of mind always.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So even a person merged in the mode of ignorance can by some good fortune surrender to Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: No good fortune. God, Kṛṣṇa, says, "You do it"; you do it. Here immediately you become fortunate. There is no question of waiting for becoming fortunate. You become fortunate immediately. Suppose if I say, "Take this bag, 100,000 dollars." You can take it. Immediately you become rich man. Why don't you take it?

Guru dāsa: How does kṛpā-siddhi work, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Morning Walk -- April 12, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) And when she decided to kill Kṛṣṇa, she was killed.

Dr. Patel: And Kṛṣṇa gave...

Prabhupāda: Yes, she got good fortune.

Dr. Patel: Gave her the mukti.

Prabhupāda: Kambhat? Kambhata? Kambhata means this...(?)

Dr. Patel: This aviation fellow.

Prabhupāda: No, that what is called? Kambhata.(?)

Dr. Patel: ...he has got some planes here. Some safari service. (break)

Guru dāsa: Why? Why not technology?

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Rāmeśvara: Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja gave one class this morning. So he was explaining that we cannot understand the good fortune of this city that you have come here. We cannot begin to estimate how fortunate this city is.

Prabhupāda: Yes, I, when I decided I shall go to foreign countries, I never thought of going to London, I thought of coming here. Generally they go to London, but I thought, "No, I shall go to New York."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very progressive.

Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: You can do it immediately, but unfortunately you'll not do it. What can be done? There is a story, I may narrate it. One poor man was begging on the street, and Lord Śiva and Pārvatī was passing as ordinary man. So Pārvatī requested Lord Śiva that this poor man, he's asking, he's begging, so requested him, "Why don't you give him something?" And Lord Śiva replied, "Even if I give, he'll not be able to enjoy it. He's so unfortunate." "Oh, that we shall see. Why don't you give?" So Lord Śiva, in a watermelon, gave him, say, one thousand dollars. "You take this watermelon." So he thanked him, and after that he thought "What I shall do with this watermelon?" So another man came, "Sir, if you take this watermelon and give me one anna." So he gave one anna and he took it. Because he had no good fortune to take that money within the watermelon. Our fortune is like that. Kṛṣṇa is giving us the final benefit, but we are not taking care of. This is our misfortune.

Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Prabhupāda: Yes, our whole family. We have our family Deity, Dāmodara. In my childhood I was worshiping Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deities. And then, fortunately, I got my Guru Mahārāja, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. So this was a good fortune, from the very beginning we were trained up. So in the beginning of our life, I was worshiping Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and playing with (indistinct). The same thing is being done now. In a larger scale. (laughter) Nitya yukta upāsate. There is no change.

Mr. Malhotra: People must be very curious in California when this Ratha-yātrā, Jagannātha, they must be very curious.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Surendra Kumar and O.B.L. Kapoor -- June 26, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (Hindi conversation)

Surendra Kumar: Your Divine Grace, it is our good fortune that we have such a administration...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Surendra Kumar: ...in which some of the people are... Advani, for example, and Vajpayeeji. These two people are...

Prabhupāda: What is the Advani? He is other...

Surendra Kumar: They write the...

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Jan Sakirna.(?)

Room Conversation With Son (Vrindavan De) -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Um hm. (aside:) You can go out. (break) ...but still, I have given you chance. So you want simply... Just like a widow. We... But we want that you may not be disturbed. Go ahead. Do business and have big building. Everyone's constructing big, big building, Marwaris. Why you cannot do? You have been given all chance. Yogināṁ puruṣam upaiti lakṣmīm. Unless one is dedicated, a yogi, very endeavoring... So we have showed a yogi endeavoring. Seventy years old, I was here in Vṛndāvana, and I came. For ten years I worked! Now see. All over the world I have got hundreds of buildings like this. I am the same man. At least one hundred temples we have only by working ten years. So there must be capacity, there must be endeavor, there must be good fortune.

Room Conversation-Recent Mail -- July 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...Vyāsadeva is the basis of all education. " 'Later the saint Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, in commenting upon the life of the great Mahāprabhu Śrī Caitanya, brought to the highest level of understanding these principles in his immortal Indian classic, Caitanya-caritāmṛta. It is good fortune of the world that these two spiritual works presented as the Encyclopedia of Indian Culture have been translated and commented upon in the style of a true scholar by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda, out of his obviously great desire to inject the world with his vast storehouse of learning, has translated precisely the rich Sanskrit and Bengali ślokas. He has given the transliteration, word-for-word meaning, purports, and each volume filled with full color illustrations by his disciples. I therefore wholeheartedly recommend this encyclopedia of our culture and all other Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publications to all educational institutions, schools, libraries, and colleges concerned with the moral and cultural development of their students within the boundary of Maharastra and throughout the world.' "

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Room Conversation -- October 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But his good fortune was that he chose to photograph you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and the devotees. So he became very attracted. (whispering)

Prabhupāda: Hm? What is that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We're just getting Pradyumna.

Prabhupāda: Yadubara has freedom...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Yadubara has freedom to do anything.