Sadhana Panchakam, Instruction 39

Translation and Commentary by Jayaram V

5.7 Resolve the prarabdha karma

Prarabdha means what has already begun or started. Prarabdha karma is that karma which begins to unravel in this life. It partly arises from the actions of past lives (prakkarma) and partly from the actions in the current life. Whatever may be the source, no one can escape from it since the causes are already set in motion. It is the basis of your current life experiences and your successes and failures. You may call it your fate or destiny. It is possible that your life is shaped not only by your prarabdha karma but also that of others with whom you may have a karmic connection.

Another aspect of prarabdha is that it may also lead to future (agami) karma as a consequence of the actions you perform in response to it. It may also bring you good tidings and help you in positive ways. For example, your interest in spiritual practice or your aspiration for liberation is largely due to prarabdha only. Your success and failure on the path may also arise from it. For a liberated yogi, liberation itself is the result of prarabdha. Each time he practices yoga and enters samadhi, that action of his in this life bears fruit and leads him into transcendence. In other words, without the onset of prarabdha, there is no progress and no possibility of any experience.

There are different opinions about what happens to prarabdha karma in case of liberated beings. One of the questions which is frequently asked in this regard is whether it remain active in case of a liberated yogi and whether he too has to face the consequences when it bears fruit. According to one opinion, prarabdha karma keeps bearing fruit as long as one remains embodied. Since it cannot be stopped by any means, no one can escape from it, including the liberated souls.

Even great yogis and adepts have to deal with the prarabdha karma which arises from the functions of their minds and bodies such as thoughts, feelings, emotions, physical sensations and mental formation. They have to deal with them. Further, as experience shows, even great yogis are subject to aging, sickness and death. They happen due to prarabdha only. They have to endure their prarabdha as a part of their past debt.

Liberation does not guarantee immunity from the play of chance, death or disease, the causes of which may be rooted in one’s past karma. Even the liberated ones have to engage in several actions everyday for the maintenance of their minds and bodies or to help others. However, their actions do not lead to future karma since they are free from desires and impurities and engage desireless actions which do not produce any consequences. Their actions may produce consequences for others but not for themselves. Just as a person is no more troubled by a dream from which he has already woken up, a yogi who has transcended the impurities and woken up from the illusion of maya is no more troubled by the karma which arises from his mind and body.

According to another school of opinion, no one can escape from prarabdha or its consequences as long as the ego is active. If the ego is active and acts as the support, all karmas including prarabdha karma become consequential, which means they not only bear fruit but also become the source for future karma. If the ego is inactive or subdued or dissolved, due to the absence of doership and ownership, actions do not produce karma. In other words, the dissolution of ego automatically ends the formation and progression of karma. The ego can be weakened and dissolved through austerities, purification, devotion and selfless service. Karma sannyasa yoga (renunciation of desires in actions) is an effective solution to end the tyranny of the ego and neutralize past and present karmas.

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