Aparokshanubhuthi – 8

Prarabdha for a Jnani 

Verse 89

Athmanam satatam janankalaṃ naya mahadyute I

Prarabdhamakhilam bhunjannodvegam kartumaharsi II

O enlightened one, pass your time always contemplating on Athma while you are experiencing all the results of prarabdha for it ill becomes you to feel distressed.

This verse is a verse of advice to the student who has the grasped the teaching so far. This teaching can be broadly classified into two lessons.  The first lesson is on Athma-anathma-Viveka; separating world including one’s own body-mind complex as anathma from One’s own Self, ’I’, as Athma that is same as Brahman, the super Self.  Second lesson is; anathma is mithya and non-substantial and Athma alone is the substance and Sathya and is One only, without changes. Sri Sankara is advising the student to spend his time thinking of himself as “I”, the Athma, without bothering about the problems of body, the anathma.  Body will not get liquidated on Liberation, but will continue until exhaustion of prarabdha, experiencing problems of health and environs.  He cannot change the experience but he can change his attitude to the experience. The changed attitude is - “All these problems concern the body which is not me, the Athma”.  This change of attitude and constant contemplation of Self as Athma will change the impact of prarabdha on him.  From the next verse a discussion on prarabdha and Jnani is started.

Verse 90

Utpanne'pyathmavijnane prarabdham naiva munchati I

Iti yacchruyate sastre tannirakriyate'dhuna II

The theory one hears of from the scripture, that prarabdha does not lose its hold upon one even after the origination of the knowledge of Athma, is now being refuted.

Verse 91

Tattvajnanodayadurdhvaṃ prarabdham naiva vidyate I

Dehadinamasatyatvadyatha svapno vibodhatah II

After the origination of Athma Jnanam, prarabdha verily ceases to exist, inasmuch as the body and the like become non-existent; just as a dream does not exist on waking

Verse 92

Karma janmantariyam yatprarabdhamiti kirtitam I

Tattu janmantarabhavatpumso naivasti karhichit II

That karma which is done in a previous life is known as prarabdha (with respect to this life which it has brought forth).  But such a prarabdha does not exist (for a Jnani) as he has no other birth.

Verse 93

Svapnadeho yathadhyasthastathaivayam hi dehakah I

Adhyastasya kuto janma janmabhave hi tatkutah II

Just as a body in a dream is superimposed (and therefore illusory), so is also this body.  How could there be any birth of the superimposed (body), and in the absence of birth (of the body) where is the room for that (prarabdha) at all?

Prakarana granthas like Tattvabodha have said that a Jnani has got prarabdha.  “On gaining Jnanam the sanchitha gets removed and agami is avoided but prarabdha continues for a Jnani because of which he survives until its exhaustion” is what one learns from them. Sri Sankara after recalling this in verse 90 proceeds to refute it in succeeding verses. Verse 91 points out that one who has acquired Athma Jnanam is a person with the realization that as Athma he is neither a kartha nor bhoktha and his body-mind complex is an unReal upadhi only and is like the dream body that does not exist for the waker.  So though from vyavaharika-drshti a Jnani is said to have prarabdha, a Jnani does not have prarabdha from Paramarthika-drshti

 Verse 92 advances another argument in support of this.  The karma of the previous other births are known as prarabdha. For the realized Jnani, there is no question of other births and so the prarabdha also does not exist.  Verse 93 explains why it is said there is no purva janma for Jnani.  Just as a dream-body is superimposed on the waker, the sthula sareera, which is unreal for the Jnani, is a superimposition on the Jnani, the Athma. How can prarabdha, which is said to be the cause for birth of the body exist when there is no body in the first place, just like the date of birth for the rope-snake.

Verse 94

Upadanam prapanchasya mrdbhandasyeva kathyate I

Ajnanam chaiva vedantaistasminnashte kva visvata II

The Vedanta texts declare ignorance to be verily the material (cause) of the world, just as clay is of the pot. That (ignorance) being destroyed, where can the world, subsist?

Verse 95

Yatha rajjum parityajya sarpam gṛhnati vai bhramat I

Tadvatsatyamavijnaya jagatpasyati mudhadhih II

Just as a person out of confusion perceives only the snake leaving aside the rope, so does an ignorant person see only the world without knowing the Reality

Verse 96

Rajjurupe parijnate sarpakhandam na tisthati I

Adhisthane tatha jnate prapanchah sunyatam gatah II

The real nature of the rope being known, the appearance of the snake no longer persists; so the substratum being known, the world becomes extinct.

Verse 97

Dehasyapi prapanchatvatprarabdhavasthitih kutah I

Ajnanijanabodhartham prarabdham vakti vai srutih II

The body also being within the world (and therefore unReal), how could prarabdha exist? It is therefore for the understanding of the ignorant alone that the Sruthi speaks of prarabdha (for the Jnani). 

In the above verses, two examples quoted earlier to prove mithyathvam of the world is restated to support the statement that prarabdha does not exist for Jnani.  The clay-pot example is repeated in verse 94 and the rope-snake example is repeated in verses 95 and 96 to emphasize mithyathvam of the phenomenal world for the Jnani, which the ajjnani treats as Real.  Verse 97 explains in the second line why Sruthi in some places speaks of prarabdha for Jnani.   In the first line it continues the statement of earlier verses that the world is falsified for the Jnani. Body being part of the world is also falsified as well and the prarabdha that affects the body has no impact on him as body does not exist for him. But ajjnani argues that if ignorance with all its effects is destroyed by knowledge how does a body of a Jnani live and how is it possible for him to behave like ordinary mortals?  It is for their sake Sruthi gives a tentative explanation that Jnani has prarabdha and only the other two karmas get destroyed with the dawn of Jnanam only to get refuted at the advanced stage of spiritual learning.  Sri Sankara himself who has earlier stated in Tattvabodha that Jnani has prarabdha, later refutes it in Vivekachudamani in 18 slokas (446 to 464)

Verse 98

Ksiyante chasya karmnni tasmindrste paravare I

Bahutvam tannisedhartham srutya gitam cha yatsphutam II

“And all the actions of a man perish when he realizes that (Athma) which is both the higher and the lower”.  Here the clear use of the plural by the Sruthi is to negate prarabdha as well.

Verse 99

Uchyate'jnairbalccaitattadanarthadvayagamah I

Vedantamatahanam cha yato jnanamiti srutih II

If the ignorant still arbitrarily maintain this, they will not only involve themselves into two absurdities but will also run the risk of forgoing the Vedantic conclusion.  So one should accept those Sruthis alone from which proceeds true knowledge.

Verse 98 has as its first line the second line of Mundaka Upanishad Mantra (2-2-8) which states that for the one who has realized Brahman as both Nirguna and Saguna, the karmas get exhausted.  To prove that the karmas include all the three, the second line of the verse quotes a grammar point. In Sanskrit we have singular, dual and plural which is more than two.  In the Mandukya Mantra plural is used and so the word ‘karmas’ denote all the three i.e. agami, sanchitha and prarabdha karmas. So the Upanishad statement is a support for the argument that Jnani has no prarabdha from paramarthika dhrishti.

Verse 99 which is the concluding verse of the discussion on Jnani and Prarabdha outlines the problem if one ignorantly holds on to the view that Jnani has prarabdha. This will mean that prarabdha cannot be destroyed by Jnanam and then prarabdha also will become Real or Sathyam along with Athma and that is duality. From duality arises fear and fear leads to samsara. If samsara is there Moksha is not possible and so acceptance of prarabdha for Jnani means there is no Moksha possible for him and he will be in eternal samsara.  The second defect is that the whole parampara, Guru-sishya-parampara, will become redundant in the absence of Moksha for the Jnani.  Further this view will also be contradicting the Sruthi teaching that clearly says Jnanam is the only Moksha-sadhanam.  If Jnanam does not destroy prarabdha then Jivanmukthi also will not be there.  So prarabdha is negatable by Jnanam and Jnani is free from prarabdha also.  

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