Guest guest Posted May 31, 2001 Report Share Posted May 31, 2001 Hello all, Can any of the renowned scholars in the list explain what is prarabda karma and also the various classifications of Karma. Thanks in Advance, Ram Prasad _______________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 31, 2001 Report Share Posted May 31, 2001 >"Ram Prasad" Can any of the renowned scholars in the list explain >what is prarabda karma and also the various classifications of Karma. > >Thanks in Advance, Ram Prasad Shree Ram Prasad - Greetings. Any action performed with ego leaves an impression in the mind which is called as vassana which makes one to repeat the action or avoid it depending on the nature of the result. This is called raaga and dwesha or likes and dislikes. The total vaasana-s are also referred to karma since they are products of karma. These vasana-s form the cause or kaaraNa for our birth and the type of body that one takes and the environement into which one is born is dictated by this prarabda karma. Jiiva selectes the conducive environment to take his/her birth that can exhaust its vaasana-s. Of the total vasana-s he brings only to this life those that that can be exhausted and that is prarabda karma. The total vasana-s or looking in a way, as total bank balance jiiva has is called sanchita karma. Only the part he brings to exhaust in this life with the particular body and environment is called prarabda. When he is born as human, he is provided with a choice of action or purushaartha. Thus when he preformes any action propelled by his prarabda karma, he accumulates new vasana-s that either can be exhaused in this life or deposited into the bank balance as Agaami karma. In a nut shell - the environment you are in is the result of previous actions or prarabda karma. The next environment you are going to have next is results of all the past plus modified by your present action. Hence inspite of your past actions or prarabda you can modifiy your future prarabda by the present actions. Hence proper education, culture and habits help to reformulate your future prarabda. If the existing body is no more conducive to exhaust bundle of vasana-s that are ready to germinate then one changes the body and takes a new birth that is more conducive to next powerful set of vasana-s. Thus krama leads to vasana-s which propell one to act which again leaves more vasana-s. Thus we have sanchita karma, prarabda karam and aagaami karama - total bank balance, the credit that you brought with you to spend in this life and new accumulated amount that is deposited to your total bank balance. One gets cought up in this cycle of karma to janma to karma etc. To get out of this, one needs yoga - and that is what Bhagavad geeta teaches - it is called yoga shaastra where in karma, bhakti and j~naana yogo are tought. Hari Om! Sadananda _______________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 1, 2001 Report Share Posted June 1, 2001 Hari Om, Thank you sadanandji for your quick replya.I will come up with more questions when i have them ready. Ram - Kuntimaddi Sadananda Friday, June 01, 2001 4:12 AM advaitin Re: Prarabda Karma >"Ram Prasad" Can any of the renowned scholars in the list explain >what is prarabda karma and also the various classifications of Karma. > >Thanks in Advance, Ram Prasad Shree Ram Prasad - Greetings. Any action performed with ego leaves an impression in the mind which is called as vassana which makes one to repeat the action or avoid it depending on the nature of the result. This is called raaga and dwesha or likes and dislikes. The total vaasana-s are also referred to karma since they are products of karma. These vasana-s form the cause or kaaraNa for our birth and the type of body that one takes and the environement into which one is born is dictated by this prarabda karma. Jiiva selectes the conducive environment to take his/her birth that can exhaust its vaasana-s. Of the total vasana-s he brings only to this life those that that can be exhausted and that is prarabda karma. The total vasana-s or looking in a way, as total bank balance jiiva has is called sanchita karma. Only the part he brings to exhaust in this life with the particular body and environment is called prarabda. When he is born as human, he is provided with a choice of action or purushaartha. Thus when he preformes any action propelled by his prarabda karma, he accumulates new vasana-s that either can be exhaused in this life or deposited into the bank balance as Agaami karma. In a nut shell - the environment you are in is the result of previous actions or prarabda karma. The next environment you are going to have next is results of all the past plus modified by your present action. Hence inspite of your past actions or prarabda you can modifiy your future prarabda by the present actions. Hence proper education, culture and habits help to reformulate your future prarabda. If the existing body is no more conducive to exhaust bundle of vasana-s that are ready to germinate then one changes the body and takes a new birth that is more conducive to next powerful set of vasana-s. Thus krama leads to vasana-s which propell one to act which again leaves more vasana-s. Thus we have sanchita karma, prarabda karam and aagaami karama - total bank balance, the credit that you brought with you to spend in this life and new accumulated amount that is deposited to your total bank balance. One gets cought up in this cycle of karma to janma to karma etc. To get out of this, one needs yoga - and that is what Bhagavad geeta teaches - it is called yoga shaastra where in karma, bhakti and j~naana yogo are tought. Hari Om! Sadananda _______________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com Discussion of Shankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy of nonseparablity of Atman and Brahman. Advaitin List Archives available at: http://www.eScribe.com/culture/advaitin/ To Post a message send an email to : advaitin Messages Archived at: advaitin/messages Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 5, 2001 Report Share Posted June 5, 2001 Dear Sadananda Ji, Thanks for your posting explaining Prarabdha karma and also Sanchit and Agaami karma. Some questions come to my mind. 1) how does Destiny fit in the scheme of Karma. Is there anything like Destiny at all if our present and future is solely determined by our past and present Karma ? ( by Destiny I mean something that is predetermined and certain to happen in one's life and all his/her thoughts, actions and circumstances inevitably taking him/her to that eventuality ). 2) what role does free will play ? Does free will exist or is it also governed by our past actions, impressions and thoughts ? Will appreciate a response. Thank you. - Shirish - Kuntimaddi Sadananda Friday, June 01, 2001 4:12 AM advaitin Re: Prarabda Karma >"Ram Prasad" Can any of the renowned scholars in the list explain >what is prarabda karma and also the various classifications of Karma. > >Thanks in Advance, Ram Prasad Shree Ram Prasad - Greetings. Any action performed with ego leaves an impression in the mind which is called as vassana which makes one to repeat the action or avoid it depending on the nature of the result. This is called raaga and dwesha or likes and dislikes. [more stuff delelted] Hari Om! Sadananda ___________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 6, 2001 Report Share Posted June 6, 2001 >Dear Sadananda Ji, > >Thanks for your posting explaining Prarabdha karma and also Sanchit >and Agaami karma. Some questions come to my mind. > >1) how does Destiny fit in the scheme of Karma. Is there anything like >Destiny at all if our present and future is solely determined by our >past and present Karma ? ( by Destiny I mean something that is >predetermined and certain to happen in one's life and all his/her >thoughts, actions and circumstances inevitably taking him/her to that >eventuality ). > >2) what role does free will play ? Does free will exist or is it also >governed by our past actions, impressions and thoughts ? > >Will appreciate a response. Thank you. > > - Shirish > Shirishji - Greetings. As I understand 'destiny' is a poor translation of what is known as praarabda karma - that which I brought with to exhaust in this life. These are the results of will-full actions in my past - hence in a way I am the author of my destiny since actions were done with the notion that I am the doer and hence I have to experience the results of my past actions. If I have murdered someone in the past and somehow escaped the Law but now have become a sage. The Law can still catch me and put me in jail or in one way or the other I have to experience the result of that action. Many a time we forget what we did or it is not visible to our mind - hence it is called adR^ishhTa or unseen. But I am accountable for all the actions that I did where I remember or not Now for a human who is endowed with discriminative intellect, he has a choice of action at every moment - In fact he cannot but choose - He is at cross roads every second- to do, not to do and to do another way - are always his choices. The past actions or destiny provides the environment and the degree of the choice of action in the present depends on how powerful that past destiny is - yet there is a limited choice in all and how one acts in the limited freedom depends on ones samskaara or value system and how willed the person is to follow his swadharma. The so-called free will is the choice at present, presented to the rational intellect. It is like a cow timed by lengthy rope to a post - The cow may think she is tied and does not have much choice. Yet the the length of the rope determines how much choice of freedom of movement she has. How strong that tie is depends on the results of the past action or praarabda or destiny. The future destiny is the result of all previous actions including what I have brought up with me from the total balance plus results of the actions in this life that can be exhausted in this life itself - plus the results of my present action. If the cow winds itself to the pole as it moves around, the length of the free rope decreases and her movement gets further limited by the result of her own past action. Of course I can unwind myself from the shackles and increase my freedom of movement. Hence although I am prisoner of my past, I am also an architect of my future destiny too. If I am an engineer now - that is the result of my past efforts. Now if I get interested in Medicine and start studying, I will become one day a medical doctor, a doctor with an engineering background. Thus future destiny modified by present action. Sometimes the praarabda can be so powerful that it determines the result withnot much of a choice other than screaming and shouting! It is like getting caught up in powerful stream of water currents and there is not much I can do to hang on or cannot find anything to hang on. Catastrophic accidents etc come under this category. Sometime samishhTi vaasana-s dictate the result - like so many got caught up in the recent earth quack. Nature looks very unfair - but one can ask the question why only the people in that city not anywhere else. You hear the stories that some left the town just during that time for some official or family business and escaped the accident while others ended up in that town who do not belong there for the same reason. According to Vedanta there are no accidents - there are only incidents in life and Iswara being so compassionate cannot be arbitrary. Hence every action is the result of will-full action done by an egocentric entity. Hence purushhaartha and praarabda in my opinion go hand-in-hand. That is the reason, saadhana is very important to change our future destiny. But once ego is transcended, all these have no more meaning. Since the results belong to the egocentric entity, when the ego is gone, there is no more locus to which these past belongs - this includes the sanchita karma (the whole bank balance). Now it belongs to the samishhTi or the totality. The good is distributed to the good and the bad is distributed to the bad. There are statements made that half of puNya of husband goes to his wife while he keeps all his paapa, while half of paapa of his wife he has to share while she keeps all her puNya. This is logical only if she is truly sahadharma chaarNi since she surrenders most of her will to the will of her husband- while he makes his independent decisions and makes her to do what he wants. Now a days it may be the other way around if wife feels that she is independent and makes the decisions and ask her husband to follow, then he gets her puNya and does not have to share her paapa! - By law also the same applies between employee and his/her supervisor. Everything is logical. I hope I am clear. Hari Om! Sadananda -- K. Sadananda Code 6323 Naval Research Laboratory Washington D.C. 20375 Voice (202)767-2117 Fax:(202)767-2623 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 8, 2001 Report Share Posted June 8, 2001 > But once ego is transcended, all these have no more meaning. Since > the results belong to the egocentric entity, when the ego is gone, > there is no more locus to which these past belongs - this includes > the sanchita karma (the whole bank balance). Now it belongs to the > samishhTi or the totality. The good is distributed to the good and > the bad is distributed to the bad. Namaste Sri Sadananda garu, I have been a passive member so far and have enjoyed the discussions of the list immensely. I have a dumb question on your post Re: Prarabda Karma... If I understood your post correctly, once a person becomes jIvanmukta , the upAdhis and the prarabda karma associated with them are still there till death but the identification with the upAdhis ceases. There is no locus for his individual sanchita karma and it now belongs to samishhTi. How does this samishhTi karma work? What do you mean by "The good is distributed to the good and the bad is distributed to the bad" ? Can an individual's bad karma as a result of bad actions and thoughts be distributed to the society as samishhTi ? Can one transcend ego before reducing the sanchita karma balance to zero? Please explain.Again,apologies if the questions look dumb. Thank You, Srinivas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 9, 2001 Report Share Posted June 9, 2001 > >Namaste Sri Sadananda garu, >I have been a passive member so far and have enjoyed the discussions >of the list immensely. >I have a dumb question on your post Re: Prarabda Karma... Srinivas- my teacher once told me that a dumb question is only that which was not asked. So nothing is a dumb question, particularly in the path of spirituality. Everyone learns by questioning and through discussions. The forum is essentially meant for that. I am gland to learn that you are not passive memeber anymore. Only through communication we can learn from one another. I can explain only from what I understand from the teachings. > >If I understood your post correctly, once a person becomes >jIvanmukta , the upAdhis and the prarabda karma associated with them >are still there till death but the identification with the upAdhis >ceases. Yes, that is what Jiivanmukata means - since he has no more notions that he is the ego-centric entity and now he has realized that he is Brahman, the totality. Hence from his point he has no more identifications that "I am this" and "that is separate from me". Hence Krishna says: sarvabhuutastam aatmaanam sarvabhuutani ca aatmani - all being in himself and himself in all beings. The one who sees (or understands) that is one who is really a yogi. >There is no locus for his individual sanchita karma and it now >belongs to samishhTi. >How does this samishhTi karma work? What do you mean by "The good is >distributed to the good and the bad is distributed to the bad" ? >Can an individual's bad karma as a result of bad actions and thoughts >be distributed to the society as samishhTi ? Can one transcend ego >before reducing the sanchita karma balance to zero? The last question first - yes - There is no need to reduce it to zero- only because to start with it never belonged to him in reality anyway. akartaa aham abhoktaa aham - never I am a doer nor an enjoyer. But when I identify with ego, I take myself as doer and when the action is performed I tried to own the action - as I did it and consequently the results belongs to the doer. Hence I enjoy the consequences of this ownership in the action, good or bad. Hence once I realize that I am not really a doer and not only that I realize that I was never a doer - that is jiivanmukta state - The results also I disown automatically. Ramanuja explains this with an analogy - it is like lighting a match stick to the mountain of cotton ball. However big that mountain is it gets to ashes in no time. But I would put it as not the distruction of the cause but disowning the cause since according to advaita vedanta, one is never a doer to start with and one never owns it. But the law of action and results are very precise. The prakriti does the action in His presence, the results go back to prakriti alone. prakriti includes samishishhTi that includes the upaadhies that he had which he identified as he himself as those upaadhi-s. Now the Iswara can utilize these jiivanmukta's equipments to perform actions - like the apartment which was originally occupied is now empty since the ego-centric entity living is now disappeared. There is no ego-centric entity for action since there are no ego-centric vaasana-s there to propel the actions. Hence even though a jiivanmukta appear to act - actually Iswara himself acts since Jiivanmukta is the one who understood that he is Brahman - hence now it is as though Brahman will be acting. Hence consequence of the actions by the jiivanmukta belong to Brahman that is to everyone - good or bad. Actually it is said that those who come close to the jiivamukta in adoration will get the good effects of those actions since that is what they see and admire most and have a value for them. Those who criticize and see even bad in those actions actually get the bad results of those actions, since they have that talent to see crookedness even when it is not crooked! If you analyze it is logical since jiivamukta appears to act only for samishhti cause since he himself has no desires to act. Hence samishhTi should get the good or bad results of that action. That is why it is said that - sat sanghatva nissangatvam, nissangatve nirmohatvam, nirmohatve nischala tatvam, nischala tatve jiivan muktaH| The great emphasis of satsanghaH. By osmosis one absorbs the good in the others. Actually the presence of such mahaatma will be a blessing of a life time. How many people went and sat in front of Bhagavaan Ramana Maharshi and got lot of mental satisfaction just being in His presence. Those who were agitated and had no faith in the swami would end up having more agitations and would run away from that environment. That is the reason why one should not criticize mahatmaa-s without knowing the motives behind the actions and one can never know the motives any way - judge not though shall be judged - is a biblical statement. All the pointers and discussions of good and bad in the scriptues is only for self evaluation and not to evaluate others. In 18th chapter Lord discusses the satvic actions, satvic food etc - all intended to ones growth and not to use that a yard stick to evaluate others. >Please explain.Again,apologies if the questions look dumb. My thanks for giving me an opportunity to clarify the concepts to the best I can. Hari Om! Sadananda > >Thank You, >Srinivas > _______________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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