While some think that things like luck and karma do exist and it plays a very important role in what and how things happen in their lives; many others believe that hard work is the only factor in success.

Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan, an Enlightened being, says:

If money can be earned through hard work, then these labourers would have a lot of money, because they work the hardest of all, don’t they? And if money could be earned through the intellect, then there are extremely well educated people out there and yet their shoes are all worn out!

So earning money (or getting success) is never with the use of intellect nor is it the fruits of hard labour. It is the reward of one’s merit karmas (a result of good karmas that manifest as luck in this life) from one’s past life. So if you want money (or success), you have to be cautious as far as merit and demerit karmas (the main factors in success) are concerned.

Money (success, etc.) goes to those with merit karma, whereas hard working people run after money. So from this, you should realize that money would only come your way if you have the merit karmas. Hard work will earn you some food and you may have some surplus to get your daughter married, but without merit karma, money will not come your way.

So reality says that if you are a person with a lot of merit karmas, why must you struggle? And if you are not, then why are you struggling? What you are destined to earn in this life cannot be changed.

What is life like for a person with a lot of merit karmas? Let me tell you what even these CEOs have to put up with. How do their wives greet them when they come home after the entire day’s hard work at the office? ‘Where have you been, you are two hours late?’ Just look at these ‘fortunate’ (!) ones. Should someone with a lot of merit karma have to put up with this?

In reality, a truly fortunate one, who has earned a lot of merit karma from last life, does not have to face anything negative in his life. Such people belong to a different breed. From their very youth, they never experience any insults or tough times. Wherever they go, they are welcomed with a lot of respect. This is how they grow up, whereas other people do nothing but struggle. What does this mean? When a person’s merit karma runs out, he is back to where he started.

If you do not have the credit of merit karma, then even if you were to go around begging all night, are you likely to get even fifty rupees by the morning? So do not live life, struggling helplessly. Be content with what you have.

Your worldly life is the result of no effort. It is totally an outcome of karma of your past life, for which no effort is required. So enjoy it, but know how to enjoy it. Even the Lord concedes that when the basic necessities in life are missing, then it is natural for one to experience suffering. True suffering is, not having any air to breathe, or food to eat. These are the basic necessities in life – without which the body cannot survive. Nowadays people have so many different things available to them and yet they do not enjoy them. They are involved in something else. They do not enjoy what is in front of them. When a wealthy businessman sits to dine, instead of enjoying his meal, he is preoccupied with his business. A fool! He does not even know what he eats. Everything is like this.

This world is a mixture of people who enjoy themselves and those who work very hard. It has a mixture of everything. Those who work very hard have the ego of, ‘I am doing it all’. Those who enjoy themselves have the ego, ‘I am enjoying all this’. The one who works hard enjoys the pleasure of doership.

A wealthy man once pleaded to me saying, “Please say something to my son. He does not want to do any work. All he does is enjoys himself and has a good time every day.” I explained to the father, “It is not worth saying anything. He is only enjoying the fruits of his merit karma. Why should we interfere in his enjoyment?’ He replied, ‘Is it not important to make him wise?” I told him, “The wise ones in the world enjoy themselves. The foolish ones waste their wealth. The one who works hard for money is a labourer.”

Those who work hard derive pleasure from doing so because of their ego. The boss goes to work wearing a long coat so that all the workers stand up and welcome him when he enters the office. His ego is fed. While those who enjoy themselves, care little about power or authority. The truth is to enjoy whatever is yours.

People use the words ‘lucky’ and ‘unlucky’. What is that? Why is one lucky and another unlucky? What is the cause of this luck and bad luck? These words explain the effects (or a result) of one’s past karmas that he is experiencing right now. ‘If it’s good karmas, one gets the effect of success in the form of luck. And if bad karmas, one gets the effect in the form of being unlucky’ and thus failing.

But an important fact to remember is that there are two kinds of merit karma:

1. One that binds demerit karma and takes a person into a lower life form and
2. The other that binds merit karma which takes a person into a higher life form.

The success that results in a birth in a higher life form is very rare in the current era. Where such ‘pure and right’ success exists, there is continuous inner peace, material comforts and the existence of true religion!