This is a fascinating debate and I'm learning a lot! I would also like to add my 2 cents worth:
Why are you judging luck on material wealth? Isn't that maya? If the one in the rich family is abused or blinded by maya and therefore distracted from Waheguru but the child in the poor family is loved and has faith, which would you say was actually richer and luckier? Surely the luck is self created-what do you make out of your situation? How do you make things better and harness the opportunities given? Money doesn't buy happiness which takes me onto my next point:
How do you know those people are happy and content? Define happiness? They way I see it is even if outwardly you seem very happy, inside there is always a restlessness. Even in Japji it is said that the more you have, the more greedy you become. This is exemplified by people who have all the latest modcons and gadgets. They seem happy playing with all their toys but are they really satisfied as they always want more! Same with money and other possessions. People who do wrong are always looking over their shoulder in case they get caught-is that being content? Gangsters are constantly worried about being backstabbed-is that happiness? Rapists and thieves are looking for a short term adrenaline rush so once they finish they are already looking ahead-is that happiness and being contented?
The only way to get real happiness and contentment is to follow the Guru's path. The shahids went through tremendous physical stress and torture yet they were not unhappy as they submitted completely to the will of Waheguru. To interpret Gurbani correctly, we 1st need to stop judging happiness referred to in Gurbani by our worldly standards but think in terms of spiritual happiness-the inner peace that i'm sure most of us don't currently have.
I'm still not 100% sure where I stand on reincarnation but I'm sure many of the janam/maran lines in Gurbani do refer to this lifetime. Certainly looking back over my life, when worldly affairs take me over to distract me and my spirituality decreases I become very unhappy and feel like a part of me dies. When I comeback to Waheguru and regain my strength, I feel like I am a new person. When I am mean to someone my conscious haunts me and bad things happen. When I am good to someone, good things happen to me.
I appreciate the work done by G Singh. However, as Narayanjot Kaur said Gurbani quotes need to be interpreted with the shabad as a whole otherwise it's very easy to get a skewed view of what is being said. Either way, the message is to be conscious of how you behave and to be the best human being you can be, whether you get the fruits of that labour in this life or the next is irrelevant for me. We can't control how we behave in other lifetimes (if there are any) so lets focus on the here and now!
