The Connection Between Luck and Spirituality

 The Connection Between Luck and Spirituality

Is there any relationship between our spiritual practices and good fortune in life? This was one of the most talked-about topics in the discourses of Navajyoti Sri KarunakaraGuru. The majority of his followers came from the downtrodden class. They were mostly from Sudra communities beginning from Nairs, Ezhavas, and Dalits. Guru was much pained to see the sad plight of these communities. He connected their pathetic situation with their ignorant lifestyle and meritless worship tradition.

Many of them came to Guru at a point when they had exhausted all Punya (good fortune) in life. There was no unity, love, and harmony in their domestic life. Each member of the family held an opposite opinion on everything. They do not help each other most of the time. There will be mutual accusations and mistrust. If one person in the family is well off, he will keep the others at a certain distance fearing that they may ask for some help. Most of them live separately with their wives and children. Their wives feel that the husband's parents are a burden. The poor aged parents become physically and mentally sick because of the environment of insecurity, lack of love, and care.

If any of these people earn some money, they will live ignorantly without any knowledge of dharma because it was not taught to them. Over a period of time, their Punya and health get deteriorated. In the end, they will have only diseases as their companions. When there is no Punya, there will be poverty also. Poverty is both spiritual and material. At last, they go away from this world without earning any merit. This is the domestic situation in most families today.

There are many psychologists and social scientists but they have not been able to identify the real reason behind this or offer a solution. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru brought to light the inseparable connection between Spirituality and Punya. Every member of the family will have a separate Ishta Devata. One may worship Siva, while the others may like Durga, Vishnu, Hanuman, and so on. All these deities have different qualities, likes, and dislikes. The Vishnu bhakta would be a vegetarian, while the worshipper of Durga cannot live without non-veg. One among them may never go to a temple; he may be an atheist or a Vedanti. So in the same family, you will find different characters that make unity impossible. Most often an outsider will come and take advantage of their disunity. This is the situation in most Hindu families. It is this spiritual disunity that gets reflected at the national level too. Hindus can never be united because of their spiritual disunity.

If you examine the background of these families still closer, you will find that they have behind them a tradition of the family deity. Many families will have a family temple to where they go and worship occasionally. That family deity will be a sort of evil spirits such as an ancestral spirit, kuttichattan, yakshi, brahmarakshas, or any other such evil spirits. These are found more in southern India. In the north the names are different. They are worshipped with the sweet-sounding names of Trimurti or of some other grand gods and goddesses. These evil spirits will shatter the peace in the house, and drain off the Punya of worshippers. When there is no Punya, there will not be good fortunes by way of wealth, health, beauty, riches, wisdom, or fine culture. There will be perpetual misery in life.

Realizing that misery in life is due to the paucity of Punya in the soul, Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru opened a new path for such people by which they can earn Punya in life. Thousands of families were rescued from a malignant spiritual culture and were guided into Guru Margam – the New Path of Spiritual Liberation.