Tattva Bodha - 8
Law of Karma states
that every deliberate action one does, produces two types of results; one
that flows from the visible action
called dhrishta phala, visible result and another that flows from the invisible
motive behind the action called adrishta
phala. invisible result. The positive invisible result is called Punyam,
with a pleasurable impact and the negative invisible result is called Papam
with a painful impact. While the dhrishta phala fructifies soon after
the action, the adrishta phala takes its time to fructify, maybe now or
later in this janma or in next or in one of the subsequent janmas. This uncertainty of the gestation period
gives rise to three categories called, Agami Karma, Sanchitha Karma, and Prarabhdha
Karma.
The actions wilfully performed by a Jeeva in human form with a sense of doership result in Punyas and Papas which come under Agami karma. Living beings other than humans have no sense of doership and no judgemental capacity to discriminate actions as good and bad and so they all have no Agami Karma. Some of the Agami Karma may fructify during jeeva’s current lifetime. The unfructified Agami Karma at death gets added to the unexhausted, accumulated stockpile of Karma called Sanchitha Karma. Sanchitha Karma is the unexhausted accumulated punyas and papas over the countless births in the past. Cycle of birth and death continues until Sanchitha Karma is reduced to nil balance with no unfructified Agami Karma to add at the time of the death of Jeeva.
Prarabhdha karma is that portion of Sanchitha Karma that comes to fruition at the time of Jeeva’s birth. Prarabhdha Karma determines जातिः आयुः भोगाः (Jathihi, aayuh,bhoghah), as per sutra 13 of Sadhana pada of Patanjali Yoga Sutra. जातिः stands for environments of birth like birth in a particular country, society, family and other characteristics at birth like sex, defects or peculiarities. आयुः stands for the life span. When Prarabhdha is totally exhausted death of the body occurs. भोगाः stands for experiences of life pleasant, painful and mixed. Prarabhdha is commonly called fate or destiny.
So in a nutshell, Agami Karma is the freshly acquired punya, papa in the current janma; Sanchitha Karma the stockpile of unexhausted Agami Karma accumulated over countless births and Prarabhdha Karma the portion of Sanchita Karma that matures at jeeva’s birth to be exhausted in jeeva’s lifetime.
Law of karma is not fatalism. Rightly understood it can be an antidote for fatalism. From the study of Prarabhdha Karma we understand that past "I" as kartha is responsible for the present "I". Extending this logic we can say future "I" can be shaped by the present "I" as kartha by managing the circumstances intelligently in this janma. So the responsibility for our future lies in our hands only and that is why Sri Krishna says in Gita(6-5) “उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं (uddhareth athmanaathmanam)”- one should lift oneself by one’s own efforts.
Every experience we undergo in our life is because of Prarabhdha Karma and Agami Karma i.e. our own actions in the present and past janmas. So we cannot blame the world or any other beings for our experiences. When we understand this we will stop blaming the world or others for our sufferings; and accepting responsibility as a past or present karta, will improve our mental health. So right understanding of the law will help us to stop blaming others or the world including God for our ills and sufferings.
We are
experiencing in the present janma not only the Agami phalam (action done
as current kartha) but also the Prarabhdha Phalam (action done as
previous kartha). That is the reason why
some good people appear to suffer and some not so good people appear to prosper.
If the reason is rightly understood that
it may be the effect of past karma, this understanding will help us retain our
faith in the Lord and not turn cynical.
Swami
Paramatmananda talks of the availability of Prayaschitha Karma to mitigate the
effects of Prarabhdha in his talk on Law of Karma. Prarabhdham is adrishtam, not
visible. So this cannot be dealt with
normally. Planetary positions as revealed in the horoscope give an indication
of the Prarabhdha in store, but they themselves do not cause joy or sufferings. Through the clock we see the time of sunrise
and sunset but clock itself does not cause sunrise or sunset. By knowing what
is in store for us, we can create an Agami, to counter or mitigate the Prarabhdha
effects to come. This is called Prayaschitha Karma which like
medicine can cure the disease or help to manage the disease or only be just a
temporary palliative. In the case of weak Prarabhdha it can relieve the
suffering, in intermediate case it can help to manage the suffering and in a strong case give the mental strength to accept it. When the Prayaschitha is general it is
called prayer, when it is specific, it is called parihara.
Before going into Videha mukthi
let us see what happens to the bodies at the time of death. The gross body of ajnani as well as Jnani disintegrates to merge with the Pancha
bhuthas at death. The subtle body
and causal body of the ajnani along with the reflection of Chaithanyam
in Sukshma Sareera, Chidabasa, leave the gross body to take up a
new body according to the fructified portion of Sanchitha Karma, Prarabhdha
Karma; and continues in the new body accumulating Agami Karma until the Prarabhdha
Karma is exhausted when again it continues the journey in another new body with fresh Prarabhdha Karma. Liberation
from this cycle of journey from body to body is called Mukthi. What
happens in Mukthi we can see from the life of Jnani.
A Jnani is one who
is firmly established in Athma Jnanam. Whatever
Sanchitha Karma was to his credit along with the unexhausted Agami Karma in his account , they all
get totally destroyed on the date of his
firm realization that he is neither the doer nor the enjoyer but only the
witness Consciousness. This Sri Krishna points out in Bhagavat Gita (4-37)
“यथैधांसि समिद्धोऽग्निर्भस्मसात्कुरुतेऽर्जुन।(yathaidhamsi
samiddhognih bhasmasath kuruthe Arjuna)
ज्ञानाग्निः सर्वकर्माणि भस्मसात्कुरुते
तथा ॥ (Jnangnih sarvakarmani bhasmasath kuruthe tatha)
As a blazing fire reduces all fuel
to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of Self-knowledge reduces all karma to
ashes.
But
this applies only to Sanchitha and Agami Karma. Prarabhdha Karma has to be exhausted
by living it through. That is why we
have seen Jnanis like Ramakrisna Paramahamsa and Ramana Maharishi suffering
from body afflictions before death. Their
illness only brought grief to others but they remained indifferent to it with
the firm conviction that it is only the body that is affected and they are not
the affected body. Because of this Jnanam the Jnani lives as Muktha
Purusha until death and is called Jeevanmuktha and his state is
called Jeevanmukthi, liberation while living. Agami karma does not accrue to him after
he attains Jeevanmukthi as he has no sense of doership. At death Jeevanmuktha’s subtle body merges with the subtle bhuthas and
the casual body gets liquidated as there is no residual karma to give rise to
gross body or to sustain subtle body. Since the subtle body is dissolved, Chithabasa, the reflected Consciousness, also
gets dissolved and the witness
consciousness becomes one with the total Consciousness like pot space becoming
one with the total space when pot is broken.
This is called Videha Mukthi, liberation at death.
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