Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Karma - Part 5

Arrows in Flight (Prarabhda Karma)

Arrow already shot: The arrows in flight are the Karmas that have already started to play themselves out, either in our inner world or in the external world. These are the arrows that have already been shot. The arrows and our actions still in flight are called "Prarabhda Karma".  If you carefully observe the same drawing given in Sanchita Karma, the dotted circle was around the quiver which meant that they were not yet shot. In Prarabdha karma drawing, the dotted circle are around the arrows which means, the arrows have been shot aimlessly and ready to fetch the results- good or bad. 

They have to run their course: An arrow in flight cannot be called back. It must complete its journey.  Thoughts, speech, and actions that have been set in motion cannot be called back. They too will run their course, bringing consequences or fruits. (Some say that this Karma can be altered by grace.)

Experiencing Joy/Sorrow out of White/Red arrows: The white and red arrows were explained in sanchita karma. It is easy to understand that when the red arrows are in flight and are discharged, those arrows, tainted in red with our past sins, are bound to give us experience of Sorrow/ pain.

On the other hand, the discharge of white arrows gain us experience of peace and joy.

It is to be noted that the discharge of both these arrows are not in our control as we have brought them along with us and they are shot by us to fetch us experience accordingly.

One important thing to be understood here. Unlike the Profit and loss account of a business where the debit figures are subtracted from the credit figures and the net result is profit if it is positive and negative if it is minus, in life, such a thing does not hold true.

Suppose we brought 2000 arrows with us for shooting in this life to fetch us the result of our past deeds and out of the 2000, 1200 were white arrows and 800 were red ones, it is not that the 800 would be deducted from 1200 and we would enjoy pleasure due to the discharge of net 400 arrows.

In the theory of karma, one must suffer for 800 arrows and one must enjoy for the 1200 arrows and there is no netting off  business.

This can be validated in our own life when we look back and realize that after all our life was neither a bed of roses nor the bed of arrows giving us blood. We have always had good moments and bad moments in our life and most often, we have  been suffering as well as getting some good things in our life, side by side.

There are heaps and heaps of lofty mountain full of unripe Sanchita Karmas piled up amounting to billions and billions of millions i.e. innumerable Sanchita Karmas deposited in balance at the credit of each and every person, earned and accumulated by him during his past innumerable births since time immemorial. They do not become ripe to give fruits all at a time in one birth.

Only a very few of them out of this whole tremendous stock become ripe and ready to give fruits during one lifetime. They are called Prarabdha Karmas (readily destined to give fruits commonly known as fate, luck, fortune, destiny etc.).

Strictly according to these Prarabdha Karmas, a person gets a particular type of body, parents, wife, children, wealth, caste, creed, race, sex, environment, etc. just appropriate to enjoy, suffer and exhaust his Prarabdha Karmas destined during his present lifetime.

He cannot leave his present body till he has fully enjoyed, suffered and exhausted all these Prarabdha Karmas during his present life even though he is totally bed-ridden or suffering due to paralysis and other diseases and desperately craving for freedom from his crippled body and again gets a new body to enjoy other new Prarabdha Karmas, say about 20,000 which have become ripe by that time to give him fruits.

Unfortunately, while exhausting his predestined Prarabdha Karmas during one lifetime, he creates and accumulates much more new Karma during the same lifetime which are again deposited in the stock of his previous Sanchita Karmas and this situation is repeated in every birth.

Thus the vicious cycle goes on uninterruptedly increasing, instead of decreasing, the total balance of Sanchita Karmas at the end of each birth. The stock of Sanchita Karmas is increasing by leaps and bounds as the new accumulation is much more than the expenditure during each birth and there is no end to this process. Therefore, the cycle of birth and death goes on indefinitely and there does not appear to be any hope of chance for liberation of emancipation.

Due to the experience one gets when the sanchita karmas get converted to prarabdha karmas, it is often that one feels helpless as he sees that things are not in his control at all.

Accidents causing death, sudden diseases, the cause for which is not explained even by doctors, loss in career, in business due to reasons not in one’s control, not able to get child although doctors confirm that there is no deficiency in the couple, there is no disease which is the reason for the woman not able to conceive..., like this there are many such things which are experienced by human beings in the society/in their circle.

These are not caused by one’s own Body, Mind, Intellect, not due to carelessness on one’s part, not due to negligence, not due to deliberate measures, not even due to changing minds.

Only the past deeds, brought in present life, fetching experience either joyous or painful can provide any explanation to such things which happen in our life.

There is a very important aspect of sanchita and prarabdha karma, explained by Sri Ramana, which is a milestone in this theory of karma and is most convincing and most appealing in the entire posts on karma to follow.

Ramana Maharshi credits God with personally picking and choosing the karmas that will bear fruit it each person's life:

Ramana says-“Individuals have to suffer their karma but Iswara manages to make the best of their karmas for His purpose. The subconscious of man is a warehouse of good and bad karma”.

“Iswara chooses from this warehouse what he sees will best suit the spiritual evolution at the time of each man, whether pleasant or painful. Thus, there is nothing arbitrary”.

Dear Ones,

How wonderful!

Ramana gives such a clarity which is not to be found anywhere in any treatise otherwise.

In other words, if what Ramana said is to be understood more easily, it is as if, Lord picks up the red and white arrows of our past and fills them in the sanchi and sends us to this world when we are born. Though it is explained that Lord does not interfere with our fate and just stands and witnesses us suffering or enjoying, by this one interference of choosing the combination and quality of arrows (quality and intensity of our past good and bad deeds), He in fact has showered His grace on us. How?

WHILE WE DISCHARGE THOSE CHOSEN ARROWS, RED OR WHITE AND WE EITHER SUFFER OR ENJOY AS A RESULT, THE RESULT IS THAT, AS A RESULT OF ALL THOSE ARROWS DISCHARGED, NO MATTER WHAT WE UNDERGO, THE LORD ENSURES THAT WE EVOLVE SPIRITUALLY AS COMPARED TO OUR PREVIOUS BIRTH AND WE THUS LEAVE THE WORLD, TO BE BORN AGAIN, TO BE MORE SPIRITUALLY EVOLVED WHILE WE LEAD OUR LIFE IN NEXT BIRTH. THE CYCLE GOES ON TILL WE DISCHARGE ALL ARROWS AND THERE ARE NO MORE ARROWS TO BE SHOT.

IT IS THIS MOMENT WHICH IS MOMENT OF OUR LIBERATION OR FREEDOM OR MOKSHA OR SELF REALIZATION, NO MATTER WHAT NAME IS GIVEN TO THAT STAGE

(For  those in the path of devotion, if the above para, the truth revealed by Ramana is absorbed, it is enough, they have understood the essence of Karma)

After a proper understanding of Sanchita karma and prarabdha karma, we have known that we keep acting in this life and keep experiencing joy/sorrow while we helplessly perform action based on our sanchita karma, which fetches us prarabdha karma.

If this be the case, while we are not aware of what we did in our past and now, we are helplessly enjoying the fruits of acts in our past, then do we have any freedom at all to choose any good action in our present life??? In every birth, we are gathering these red and white arrows and in next birth, we clear some of them and add some more. When will this vicious circle end?? Is there any way, any secret, any solution, whereby we add only white arrows at least from now onwards???

Swami Sivananda answers 

"Prarabdha can be overcome by the Grace of the Lord. The Lord's Grace descend when there is sincere devotion and when Man does Purushartha (effort). Purusharta is possible when the mind is pure... the laws of nature do not operate when there is the Grace of the Lord. His Grace is all-powerful. We have the instance of Markandeya who conquered death by his Purushartha, by sincere devotion to the Lord. He was destined to die young, but when the Lord's Grace descended, Lord Yama had no power to carry out his wish. So,it is possible to overcome Prarabdha by Teevra Purusharta (Intense Effort)." (pg. 38, May I Understand That?). 

What is this PURUSHARTHA?? How do we choose arrows for exercising this purushartha??

We will hopefully get the answer for this in the next few posts.

Love.