Unlucky

Expressions researched:
"unlucky"

SB Canto 1

O learned one, in this iron age of Kali men have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed.

SB 1.1.10, Translation and Purport:

O learned one, in this iron age of Kali men have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed.

The devotees of the Lord are always anxious for the spiritual improvement of the general public. When the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya analyzed the state of affairs of the people in this age of Kali, they foresaw that men would live short lives. In Kali-yuga, the duration of life is shortened not so much because of insufficient food but because of irregular habits. By keeping regular habits and eating simple food, any man can maintain his health. Overeating, over-sense gratification, overdependence on another's mercy, and artificial standards of living sap the very vitality of human energy. Therefore the duration of life is shortened.

The people of this age are also very lazy, not only materially but in the matter of self-realization. The human life is especially meant for self-realization. That is to say, man should come to know what he is, what the world is, and what the supreme truth is. Human life is a means by which the living entity can end all the miseries of the hard struggle for life in material existence and by which he can return to Godhead, his eternal home. But, due to a bad system of education, men have no desire for self-realization. Even if they come to know about it, they unfortunately become victims of misguided teachers.

In this age the people in general as well as their so-called leaders are all unlucky fellows, faithless in spiritual knowledge and influenced by the age of Kali.

SB 1.4.17-18, Purport:

And all such transcendentalists, who are naturally devotees of the Lord, are always eager to render welfare service to the people in general. They are the real friends of the people in general, not the so-called public leaders who are unable to see what is going to happen five minutes ahead. In this age the people in general as well as their so-called leaders are all unlucky fellows, faithless in spiritual knowledge and influenced by the age of Kali. They are always disturbed by various diseases. For example, in the present age there are so many TB patients and TB hospitals, but formerly this was not so because the time was not so unfavorable. The unfortunate men of this age are always reluctant to give a reception to the transcendentalists who are representatives of Śrīla Vyāsadeva and selfless workers always busy in planning something which may help everyone in all statuses and orders of life. The greatest philanthropists are those transcendentalists who represent the mission of Vyāsa, Nārada, Madhva, Caitanya, Rūpa, Sarasvatī, etc. They are all one and the same. The personalities may be different, but the aim of the mission is one and the same, namely, to deliver the fallen souls back home, back to Godhead.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.14.39, Translation:

O haughty one, you will have two contemptuous sons born of your condemned womb. Unlucky woman, they will cause constant lamentation to all the three worlds!

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 10.53.23, Translation:

(Princess Rukmiṇī thought:) Alas, my wedding is to take place when the night ends! How unlucky I am! Lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa does not come. I don't know why. And even the brāhmaṇa messenger has not yet returned.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

That is lucky or unlucky. That means according to our past association.

Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Melbourne, April 19, 1976:

Guest (2): Śrīla Prabhupāda, most of us or some of us on earth are lucky enough to have...

Prabhupāda: That is already explained. According to past karma, you get different position. Sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu. Sad-asat, abominable life and pleasing life, that is due to our past association with different modes of material nature.

Guest (2): Some of us are lucky enough to have realized.

Prabhupāda: That is lucky or unlucky. That means according to our past association.

Guest (2): There is such injustice...

Prabhupāda: Just like if you... In this life also, if you are properly educated, then you get good position in the society, same as a lucky or a lucky position. But the lucky position was due to your personal association of being educated. It depends on you to get this lucky or unlucky position.

Guest (2): There are so many children in the world that are suffering.

Prabhupāda: The same law is working. Law is one. Just like you infect some disease; you must suffer from the disease. There is no excuse. Because you are children, you are child, nature will not excuse. If the child touches fire, the fire will not excuse. It will burn. Similarly, as soon as you put yourself under the control of the material nature, then, according to your association, you have to accept the result. There is no question of child or elderly person.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Because he is not fit to get it, so God does not supply it. So we do not take anything as chance. We take everything as plan.

Room Conversation -- April 1, 1972, Sydney:

Śyāmasundara: They say, "Well, it's my luck," or "My bad luck."

Prabhupāda: Yes. They say. So this "luck," as soon as you say, "luck" there must be somebody who is giving you the luck, good luck or bad luck.

Śyāmasundara: One man may desire something very badly, and his whole life long he will not get it. He will always say, "I am so unlucky."

Prabhupāda: Because he is not fit to get it, so God does not supply it. So we do not take anything as chance. We take everything as plan. But because God's omnipotency is so subtle, we cannot see how things happen. Therefore we say "It is a chance, chance of physical arrangement." Just like in the airport, as soon as I step on the door it becomes opened. It is not chance. A child will see it is a chance: "Oh, how it is? I wanted to go and the door is already open." He takes it a chance. That is poor fund of knowledge. There is arrangement, nice arrangement, electrical arrangement. So to a poor fund of knowledge it becomes a chance, and to the sober mind it is not chance; it is arranged by higher authority. Another opposite point is nobody wants to die. Why the chance of death comes? Nobody wants to die. If that argument is taken, necessity—I want to die, and the death comes—then it is applicable. But I do not want to die. Why death comes? There is no necessity of my death, but why the death comes? Then where this argument will be?

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Hm. Submissive, we can guide him.

Room Conversation -- October 29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Where is Vrindavan? I spoke with him for about two hours this afternoon, going over all of the points again, and, er, I explained everything to him. He said that he personally has very bad luck, very unlucky person. He said, "My only possible hope is my father."

Prabhupāda: To guide him.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. I told him, "You're right. Actually Prabhupāda is... All of us were in the same position. We're all unlucky. Our only hope is Śrīla Prabhupāda." I said, "As long as you keep remembering that, then you'll be all right." (break)

Prabhupāda: Hm. Submissive, we can guide him.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He said he's very frightened of you. I told him that we also are. (laughter) I said, "Even though Prabhupāda is lying in bed ill, we are very frightened also."