When predictions go wrong

[Guest guest]

Dear Maharajas, Prabhus and Matajis,

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Bhakta-vigna-vinasa Nrsimhadeva Bhagavan ki jaya!

 

Recently I made a prediction that India would win the World Cup of Cricket.

This prediction did not come to pass and I have received a few emails such

as the following. I have included it as well as my response to indicate

reasons why a prediction can go wrong.

 

Your humble servant

 

Shyamasundara Dasa

 

________________________

 

"If I am not wrong, you had predicted India to win the world cup by Prasna

but India has shown a very shabby performance. Now, it is the time to cross

check your observations as to where you went wrong! By all means, failures

are the stepping-stones for success. "

 

I agree. And I will examine where the prediction went wrong. But 2nd place

is not that shabby. If they had come near the bottom I would have agreed. By

the way how many teams were involved? I haven't looked at the chart yet as I

have been very busy getting resettled after returning from 3 ½ months in

India. But I have been thinking about general causes for the failure and

they are:

 

1) Even the legendary Varaha Mihira got predictions wrong--he predicted

the death of the King Vikramaditya's son by a boar but did not figure out if

the boar was a dhatu (metallic) or a jiva (living) boar. The prince was

killed by a boar made of metal but the King was trying to protect the Prince

from a boar made of flesh. So my prediction made 3 weeks before the final

game showed great success for India, who at that time was not even a

contender. It came true in that India beat out all the other teams and made

it to the finals but they did not get ultimate success, but rather came

second. Unfortunately "close only counts in horseshoes and atom bombs." Of

course the question arises as to whether one would even imagine that the

boar would be a metal statue rather than living or that success at the World

Cup meant 2nd place rather than 1st.

 

2) In reference to #1 I should have checked to see if India would have

beaten Australia just as Mihira should have checked if the boar was dhatu or

jiva. I would have checked but since I was traveling and arrived here just

as the war began and had to unpack I was very much distracted. In the India

versus Pakistan game I was asked who would win after Pakistan finished

batting and before India went to bat--I correctly predicted that India would

win though it would be a nail-biter. So I should have done the same for

India versus Australia. Unfortunately after leaving India I lost track of

events and the Second Iraqi War became most prominent in my mind. (It is so

tense here that last Friday just a few days after my return on Sunday, the

FBI came to my house to ask me questions about unclaimed packages sent to me

from India.) Hence Cricket matches were the last things on my mind. I

didn't even know when they were playing until after it was all over.

 

3) I am subject to make mistakes no matter how good I may be. I am

reputed to be a very good cook but on occasion I have over salted a dish or

even burned something but those failures do not mean I am now a bad cook

just that I am not 100% perfect. That is only for the Lord and His pure

devotees. Mistakes in life what to speak of in astrology occur because of

multifarious reasons. If one gets distracted one may overlook an obvious

error and end up in trouble.