Cause-effect is an in-alienable and un-avoidable Cosmic Law. ’Prarabdha” is the result of the aggregation of all previous actions. Krishna says that the all-pervading Self does not take on the sins or the merits of any creature. It is only for the one born to terminate the effect of the actions performed in earlier life, and no amount of divine intervention would put end to them.
Therefore, the sages seek to find the reasons which turns cause in to effect and ways how to disengage and neutralize the cause from being transformed as effect.
Continuity of primordial life become palpable when one observes the aggregate karmas, the sanchita karma - being transferred as arrows from one life to the other, with body deteriorating, decaying and dying and a new body taking over the same, as Prarabdha karma.
Deliverance comes not only when entirety of the sanchita karma ceases to be transferred but also when new karma cease to bear fruit. It is like burning the seeds to prevent further fruits coming forth.
For those who desire a deeper philosophic insight into the way a sage sees the world, an Acharya obliged with the following unusual explanation:
1. No Duality: A new term is now being introduced – Akhandata. It means “no dichotomy between subject and object”. In ordinary perception, there has to be a subject and an object. In God-realization, the sage has the Akhandata vision. He sees an unbroken mass of Reality. There is no two (subject and object); there is only the One Reality.
2. No Ego: In normal experience, the ego is the subject, and the world is the object. In God-vision this is not the case. Oneness cannot co-exist with the ego. In the state of Oneness, the ego gets dissolved completely and one experiences Oneness with the whole world. Subject and object become unified.
3. No Karma: The implication is that at one shot, the Sanchita karma is totally annulled. Let us take the example of a dream experience.
Suppose one has this fantastic dream: He is a tycoon, not an ordinary tycoon but a super-tycoon, the sort that one can only be in a dream! Real tycoons are known to buy out islands; but the dream-tycoon is presently dreaming of buying off the whole continent! At that point he suddenly awakens from his dream. However promising the dream was, does it not all simply vanish into nothingness? It is the same with the Sanchita karma of a realized saint.
4. No Cause & Effect: The very nature of the experience of existence suddenly changes – it has no semblance to ordinary existence as we know it, which has to follow the cause-effect rule. From a worldly standpoint, It is impossible to have any non-causal situation; to us, anything has to have a cause. We cannot comprehend the Absolute plane which is a “Karma-free Zone”. There are no Karmas in the Absolute plane!
5. No “Death”: In normal experience, when Prarabdha Karma is exhausted, the body
has done its work and, without exception, it has to fall off. The ‘pot’ space
merges with the universal space. But in the case of the sage, there is
no separate space in the first place. So death itself has no significance to
him; he is already ‘dead’ to the world from the moment he had realized. Hence,
in his case, the term death is not used. Instead, he is said to have attained
Videhamukti, or “liberation from the body”.
Let
us go through a conversation between Sri Ramana Maharshi (M) and Maurice
Frydman (M. F.).
M.
F.: Narada Bhakti Sutras say that the path of devotion is best, as all paths
lead to devotion. Cannot the same be said of jnana or yoga or nishkama karma?
M.:
Why this differentiation?
Jnana
is bhakti; vairagya is jnana.
M.
F.: To know is to love. If we love, we know more, and vice versa.
M.: Yes.
M.
F.: Ashtavakra Gita, Chapter IX, verse 4 says: “Things come by themselves.”
Does anything come of itself without the operation of some cause behind it?
M.:
That which comes to a man without present effort or desire is the result of
past efforts or desires — Prarabdha
karma. Even a jnani who has no desires has to meet such events, as they are the
result of his Prarabdha karma.
M.F.
Some one: “Jnana burns away all karma,” says the Bhagavad Gita; so the jnani’s
jnana could not leave Prarabdha
unburned. Is that so?
M.:
In the jnani’s view all karma has gone. But in the world’s view, the jnani’s
body is seen subject to some karma and this is attributed to Prarabdha.
M.
F.: The Ashtavakra Gita says, “The jnani does not remember what he has
done or not done.” How to understand this?
M.:
He is in Brahman, so he does not feel that he is the agent who has acted or not
acted.
M.
F.: If the jnani is subject to Prarabdha,
he may have to face desires, which are also a part of Prarabdha karma. Desires cloud jnana. How can he then be a jnani?
M.:
The desires that float before the jnani do not affect his jnana.
M.
F.: The Puranas say that jnanis warred against jnanis. That must be due to Prarabdha then?
M.:
Yes. Krishna fought against Bhishma.
M.
F.: But should not the jnani have vairagya, while it is desire that leads to
conflict?
M.:
Perfect vairagya is Jnana.
M.
F.: How can we judge from the outside whether a man’s vairagya, or surrender,
is perfect or complete?
M.: Of
perfect vairagya and jnana, who is there outside to judge?
M.
F.: Instead of constantly pursuing the enquiry ‘Who am I?’ why not constantly
ask ‘Who are you?’
M.:
Either enquiry that tends to still the mind is good. But ‘Who am I?’ is the
shortest and most direct method. The others lead up to it.
Dear All,
All about Prarabdha
Karma and how it is exhausted and how a jnani
does not perceive any Prarabdha karma
even while exhausting the same - have been covered in the posts under the theme
" theory of Karma". Much more clarity is given in the 4
parts of Karma session which is available in the author's youtube
channel. Readers who are not aware of his youtube channel may just
surf youtube with "Journey deep within+karma" or leave a comment
seeking the same and then the same shall be posted in a post.
Love.
