Prarabdha' (Devanagari: प्रारब्ध) is employed in the *Nada Bindu Upanishad
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nada_Bindu_Upanishad>* verse 21 as follows
in Devanagari for probity and as rendered in English by K. Narayanasvami
Aiyar (1914):
आत्मानं सततं ज्ञात्वा कालं नय महामते | प्रारब्धमखिलं भुञ्जन्नोद्वेगं
कर्तुमर्हसि || २१||
21. O intelligent man, spend your life always in the knowing of the supreme
bliss, enjoying the whole of your Prarabdha (that portion of past Karma now
being enjoyed) without making any complaint (of it).
There is generally a belief, quite an egregious one at that, that one
cannot do anything about one’s “prarabdha karma” — that portion of the past
Karma which is responsible for the present body that we have taken now on
earth.
Let us see what prarabdha karma, first of all, is: Swami Sivananda of
Rishikesh, in his celebrated work “All about Hinduism”, has explained what
“Prarabdha karma” is:
*“Karma is of three kinds, viz., Sanchita (accumulated works), Prarabdha
(fructifying works) and Kriyamana or Agami (current works). Sanchita is all
the accumulated Karmas of the past. Part of it is seen in the character of
man, in his tendencies and aptitudes, capacities, inclinations and desires,
etc. Tendencies come from this. Prarabdha is that portion of the past Karma
which is responsible for the present body. That portion of the Sanchita
Karma which influences human life in the present incarnation is called
Prarabdha. It is ripe for reaping. It cannot be avoided or changed. It is
only exhausted by being experienced. You pay your past debts. Prarabdha
Karma is that which has begun and is actually bearing fruit. It is selected
out of the mass of the Sanchita Karma. Kriyamana is that Karma which is now
being made for the future. It is also called Agami or Vartamana.”* (pg. 47).
What is of immense interest in the above description is the part where
Swami Sivananda has said, “Prarabdha….cannot be avoided or changed. It is
only exhausted by being experienced. You pay your past debts”, something
which the great majority of fatalists have come to grossly misunderstand.
One’s birth and death are part of prarabdha karma. They are unalterable,
generally. Therefore, can prarabdha karma, which has already begun and is
actually bearing fruit, be ever stopped?
The author of “All about Hinduism”, Swami Sivananda, in his commentary on
Bgahavad Gita 4:37, explains, “…even Prarabdha Karma is destroyed by the
fire of knowledge. Sri Sankara states in His Aparokshanubhi, ‘In the line:
“his actions are destroyed when the Supreme is realised”, the Vedas
expressly speak of actions (Karmas) in the plural, signifying the
destruction of the Prarabdha Karma as well.’ …If… only the Sanchita and
Agami were destroyed and not Prarabdha, the dual number would have been
used and not the plural. Sanskrit grammar has singular, dual and plural
numbers.” In another commentary, at Bhagavad Gita 9:02, Swamiji says,
“…Knowledge of the Self is the best purifier. It immediately reduces to
ashes the roots of all Karmas and the Karmas themselves, which have been
stored up in the course of many thousands of births…”
In another valuable treatise of His, He reminds us, “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). Purushsharta 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 our his wish. So, it is
possible to overcome Prarabdha by Teevra Purusharta (Intense Effort).” (pg.
38, May I Answer That?).
Therefore, He makes the pronouncement, “You can change your destiny by
strong will-power, by leading a purely spiritual life.” (pg. 489, Sadhana
by Swami Sivananda).
Loudly echoing this declaration, Ramana Maharishi put it even more
succinctly, “If the agent, upon whom the Karma depends, namely the ego,
which has come into existence between the body and the Self, merges in its
source and loses its form, how can the Karma, which depends upon it,
survive? When there is no ‘I’ there is no Karma.”, a point well reiterated
by sage Vasistha in his classical work Yoga Vasistha, wherein, when Lord
Rama asks sage Vasistha about the way to transcend the two binding effects
of past karmas, namely Vasanas or the effect of impressions left on the
mind by past actions and one’s fate created by Prarabdha Karma, to which he
replies, through with Divine grace (Kripa), one can go beyond the
influences of past actions. (The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi Edited by
David Godman)
*But Do Not Astrology and Horoscope Say that Karma Prarabdha Must be
Experienced*
Swami Sivananda, “Do not believe in the evil influence of stars and
planets. You are the Lord of the universe. Stars and planets take their
power from your very self,” (pg. 188, Revelation).
Swami Sivananda, “Do not pin your faith in astrological predictions. They
will SIMPLY make you restless. You will be ever worrying over a supposed
future mishap. Divine GRACE will dispel all clouds of ignorance, worries
and mishaps. Stick to the Divine Name BY ALL MEANS.” (pg. 247, Revelation).
Srila Prabhupada, a Vaishnavite, on the issue of Karma, categorically
pronounces: “Prarabdha can be changed. Kṛṣṇa says. Prarabdha means you are
enjoying the fruits of your past activities. That is said in the Brahma-saṁ
hitā. Karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām. Nirdahati. Karmāṇi, the
resultant action of your past karma, can be vanquished by Kṛṣṇa. As Kṛṣṇa
says in the Bhagavad-gītā, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi: ‘ shall
give you protection’.
Someone who interviewed Srila Prabhupada pressed him further for an
explanation. He asked, “Then what was the necessity for the Pandavas to
suffer when they had themselves surrendered to the Lord Kṛṣṇa, and they
have suffered?” To which, unflustered Prabhupada: said, “They have not
suffered. They have served Kṛṣṇa’s purposes. Kṛṣṇa wanted to kill all the
demons. They did it. That’s all.” (Lecture on BG 2.24 — Hyderabad, November
28, 1972.).{KR Note this carefully}
In Srimad Bhagavatam 6:2:17, Vishnudutas have said, “…one may neutralise
the reactions of sinful life through austerity, charity, vows and other
methods…” The word “reactions” here is referred to prarabdha karma that has
already begun and is actually bearing fruit.
In Bhagavad Gita 18:66, Lord Krishna, who talks eloquently about the
concept of Kripa and Liberation, finally makes statement to Arjuna,
“Abandoning all duties, take refuge in Me alone: I will liberate thee from
all sins; grieve not.” The Lord did not particularise which sin; rather, “
*all* sins”, which, as we had seen Sri Sankara’s explanation above,
unequivocally comprehend prarabdha karma.
Hindu puranas are replete with many an account of how God destroyed
prarabdha karma. Ajamila and Markendeya are but some known examples. In
Bhagavatam 3:3:2, it has been said, Sri Krishna interfered with someone’s
prarabdha karma by “bringing back his dead son from the region of
Yamaloka”. That extraordinary is the kripa, *i.e.,* God’s Grace.
In Kali Yuga, too, we have had great many incidents: a case in point of the
life of Kumaraguruparar, who was congenitally mute. Born to Shanmukha
Sikhamani Kavirayar and Sivakama-Sundari Ammaiyar in Srivaikuntam, the
child could not speak until the age five, when his parents took him to Sri
Tiruchendur temple, where they pleaded with the Lord to change his
prarabdha karma. Not only did Lord Muruga made the child speak, but the
five-year-old was also blessed with the talent to compose Kandar Kalivenba
in praise on Murugan. Mooka Panchami Adi Shankara also says a story
similar. Kalidasan poetry from Kali has a similar incident
“…To RESIST the effects of karma is to use commonsense remedies, but rely
more on the power of the mind. Refuse to accept any limiting condition.
affirm and believe in health, strength, success, even in the face of
contradictory evidence…
“…The only way that you can permanently stop the undesirable effects of
past wrong actions is by removing the cause of those effects. Harmful
past-life seed-tendencies must be CAUTERIZED from the BRAIN; then there
will be no recurrence of ANY type of illness or other troubles arising from
them. Roast them in the fire of wisdom…seek the wisdom born of meditation,
which removes forever from within you the darkness of ignorance. Krishna
said: ‘As fire reduces to ashes all wood, even so, O Arjuna, does the flame
of wisdom consume ALL karma.’ [Gita 4:37]” (pg. 49, The Divine Romance).
KR When I was thinking in line with the Pra and abda karma; Pra
is pre; abda is completion of the earlier years; Prarabdha karma is total
outstanding SUNDRY CREDITORS as at that date Balance sheet. Of course,
from Ramayanam to B G to the kumara Guruparar, by the words of Sivananda,
it is confirmed, the Prarabdha Karma can be reversed. However as western
pep talks, it is conditional. The condition being, it is not uttering 25
lakhs Gayathri mantras, zoom it will disappear. It is not doing pujas and
punaskaras to deities. It is not doing yagnas. They do you good and reduce
the balances, but whether the sufferings can be wiped out totally? Then a
villain after killing the people in rows, will be absolved? Rapists
Pardoned? No Never. Not that easy. YOU HAVE TO REALISE; THAT MEANS YOU HAVE
TO BECOME GOD; YOU SHALL END THE REBIRTH; IF REBIRTH IS STOPPED OR THE
THERE IS NO BIRTH AJAYA, WHERE IS THE QUESTION CARRY FORWARD AT ALL.? So
all the saints say the same thing ATHATHO BRAHMA GIGNASA: Brahma sutram 1
1 1 .
Silappadikaram says: கீழ்க்காணும் முப்பெரும் உண்மைகளை விளக்குவது
சிலப்பதிகாரம்.
*1.*
*அரைசியல்* *பிழைத்தோர்க்கு* *அறம்* *கூற்றாகும்**.*
*2.*
*ஊழ்வினை* *உருத்து* *வந்து* *ஊட்டும்**.*
*3.*
*உரைசால்* *பத்தினியை* *உயர்ந்தோர்* *ஏத்துவர்**.*
(*அரைசியல்*= அரசியல் = ஆட்சி)
ஆட்சி செய்வதில் தவறிழைத்தவர்களை அறம் தண்டிக்கும்; ஊழ்வினை, விடாது பற்றித்
தொடரும்; கற்புடைப் பெண்டிரை உயர்ந்தவர்கள் போற்றுவார்கள் என்னும் கருத்துகளையே
மேற்குறித்த வரிகள் சுட்டுகின்றன.
It says that: 1 When you err in the governance dharma shall kill; prarbda
karma will chase around; and the virtuous women shall be praised by well
behaved people.
குறள் 377 <https://www.ytamizh.com/thirukural/kural-377/>:
*வகுத்தான்* *வகுத்த* *வகையல்லால்* *கோடி** தொகுத்தார்க்கு* *துய்த்தல்*
*அரிது**.* : வரையறுத்துக் கொடுத்தவன் தந்த வாய்ப்பு அல்லாமல் கோடி
தொகுத்தாலும் அனுபவித்தல் அரிது. WHAT EVER IS YOUR DESTINY ONE CANNOT ENJOY
MORE THAN THAT DESTINY.
குறள் 380 <https://www.ytamizh.com/thirukural/kural-380/>:
*ஊழிற்* *பெருவலி* *யாவுள* *மற்றொன்று சூழினுந்* *தான்முந்* *துறும்**.* விதியை
விட (ஊழ்) வலிமையானது வேறொன்று நம்மை ஆட்படித்தினும் விதியே முந்தி
இருக்கும். Fate
alone is powerful .
However, the same Tiruvalluar also said *ஊழையும்* *உப்பக்கம்*
*காண்பர்* *உலைவின்றித்** தாழாது* *உஞற்று* *பவர்**.:* சோர்வு இல்லாமல்
முயற்சியில் குறைவு இல்லாமல் முயல்கின்றவர்,(செயலுக்கு இடையூறாக வரும்) ஊழையும்
ஒரு காலத்தில் தோல்வியுறச் செய்யும். Action as in B G may change the fate.
That means that the change of force may happen with the change in the force
applied by the self-mechanism. However, it does then mean there is a will
power to break the God’s Knots; is that correct? NO. The will power does
exist; not our will power; but the power one WILL get when realised as GOD.
HE alone has the will power. But the thevaram says AVANARULAL AVAN THAAL
VANAGI, meaning even to worship HIM, you need HIS blessings; if so,
Prarabdha karma shall have his blessing to realise HIM is it not? K
RAJARAM IRS 21723
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