HOW
KARMA IS DESTROYED
Sanchitam karma “Brahma eva aham,” iti
Nishchayaatmaka jnaanena
nashyati api jnaanena nashyati.
Kincha aagaami karmanaam
nalinee-dalagata-jalavat,
jnaaninaam sambandhah na
asti.
Kincha, ye jnaaninam
stuvanti, bhajanti, archayanti,
taan prati jnaani-kritam
aagaami punyam gacchhati.
taan prati jnaani-kritam
sarvam - aagaami kriyamaanam;
Ye jnaaninam nindanti,
dvishanti, duhkha-pradaanam kurvanti, yat avaachyam karma, paapaatmakam
tad gacchhati. suhridah punya-krityam, duhridah papa-krityam,
grihnanti.
The Sanchita Karma, by
holding the thought “I am Brahman alone” with firm, one-pointed knowledge,
gets destroyed.
The Agami Karma is also
destroyed by knowledge. Of Agama Karma it is said, they are as “a lotus
leaf unaffected by water on it.”
The wise man has no
relation with it.
Further, those who
praise, serve and worship the wise man, to them, out of all the actions
being done by the wise man, the good fruits accrue.
On the other hand, those
who criticize, hate or cause pain to the wise man-to them, out of all the
actions being done by the wise man, those which are not praiseworthy, i.e.
the sinful fruits, accrue.
In short, friends take
the meritorious results,
whilst enemies take the
demeritorious ones.
First
verse teaches that the single thought “I am Brahman”, also called as the
Brahmakara Vritti, burns away all the stock of past sanchita Karmas.
Next
verse teaches us how the Agami Karma is handled by the saint. He is
indifferent to them, since he has raised his consciousness above all worldly
concerns. These Karmas do not have any effect on him.
Then
what happens to them? Next verse gives the answer. The actions which
the saint does for the welfare of humanity have to generate some Karmas. They
are distributed in the manner explained in the verse – the good and the bad
Karmas are distributed to those connected with his life in accordance with their assistance or hindrance to
his work.
Here
Sankara explains how a person becomes free from the karmas. As we learned
earlier, Karma is of three kinds, Sanchita, Prarabdha and Agami.
Sanchitha
Karma is that Karma which is already accumulated through crores and crores of
our birth, Prarabdha karma is that which is giving fruits in the current birth
and agami karma is that which are the results of the actions done in the
current birth left for the future birth.
To
perform any action there should be a kartha and the kartha here is the jiva who
is ignorant of his own nature of Anandam. Jiva becomes the kartha when he has
desires and does action to satisfy his desire. Kartha enjoys the results of the
Karma. Thus as long as there is kartha, karma is there.
Thus
we have desire -> action -> result becoming never ending cycle, taking a
jiva from birth to birth. The root cause of this Samsaara is avidya or
ignorance of ones own nature of Self.
Atma
Ajnaana vanishes by Atma Jnaana that "I am Brahman". When the seeker
gets the Atman Jnana that "I am the Sat-Chit-Ananda swarupa", then he
realizes that Ananda is not outside, it is his own very nature only.
Thus
desire vanishes and hence the action also vanishes. Action vanishes because
there is no kartha to perform the action as the Jivahood which is cause of
ajnaana is not there.
Since
there is no karthrutvam (doer-ship) there is no bhogtrutvam or enjoyment as
well. Sanchitha karma and agami karma are only for the Jivas and when a
seeker realizes his own nature of Brahman, no karma affect him. His sanchita
karmas become ineffective like roasted seeds which cannot germinate and bear
any fruit.
Such a person crosses over the Samsara.
The
Prarabdha karma is only for the body and hence it will be there for the Jnani
till the fall of the body but the jnani will not be affected by it. Why?
because the Jnani knows that he is not the body and the mind, but Brahman.
Knowing that "I am Brahman and what exists is Brahman only", the
jnani may live in the world just like any other person.
He
might even do all worldly things just like normal people knowing that
everything is only illusion, Brahman alone is Real and thus always rejoices in
Eternal Bliss.
As
Sankara says in Bhaja govindam
"Yogaratova
Bhogaratova
Sangaratova Sangaviheenah
yasyath Brahmani ramathe
chittam
nandhati nandhati
nandhathyeva"
"Let
one revel in Yoga or let him revel in enjoyment or let him seek enjoyment in
the crowd or let him revel in solitude away from the crowd. He whose mind
revels in Brahman, he enjoys, verily he alone enjoys."
Since
there is neither Punyam nor Papam for a Jnani, he does not acquire a new
birth.
Thus Jnani as a result of Jnana enjoys Jīvan Mukti and Videha Mukti.
Love
PS. Interested readers are requested to go through the following posts in karma
to get clarity on the following:
1) Karma- Post no.8 for
answers to some very important questions that can arise in any one's mind
after going through Karma theory.
2) Karma Post no. 9 to be clear on how, in all stages
of life, one has to pursue the Purushartha (Dharma, Artha, Kama, moksha)
in life.
Love.
