PRARABDHA AND PURUSHARTHA by Swami Sivananda

[Guest guest]

Namaste:

 

Swami Sivananda's article is quite treat and he focuses on the

distinction between Prarabdha and Purushartha (fate and free-will?)

 

Happy Holidays!

 

Ram Chandran

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PRARABDHA AND PURUSHARTHA

By SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA

 

Question: Man's actions are determined to a certain extent by his

Prarabdha, yet he is free in his Kriyamana Karmas. What is the line

of demarcation? How far the Kriyamana Karmas can bear fruit and how

far they are determined by Prarabdha? When a man fails to achieve a

desired object, is there a way to find out whether the failure was

due to Prarabdha or to deficiency or incompetency of his effort? At

what stage a man should stop his effort, when they are supposed to be

useless because of his Prarabdha?

 

Answer: An animal which is tethered to a peg by a rope of a given

length has freedom to move within the circle drawn by that radius,

the rope. But it has no freedom beyond that limit. It is bound to

move within that specified range. Man is something like this. His

reason and discrimination afford him a certain amount of freedom

which is within their scope. But this reasoning faculty is like the

rope with which the animal is tied. Reason is not unlimited and it is

circumscribed by the nature of the Prarabdha which governs this body

of the Jiva.

As long as man has consciousness of personality, and in so far as it

is possible for him and is within the capacity of his conscious

endeavour to exercise the sense of selective discrimination or

freedom of choice, he is responsible for what he does. He is an agent

or doer of the action, and such actions as these are fresh actions or

Kriyamana-Karmas, as they are connected with the sense of doership.

But if events occur when he is incapable of using this power of

understanding, as when he is not in his body-consciousness, or even

without his conscious intervention therein, he is not to be held

responsible for the same; for these are not fresh actions, but only

the fruition of a previous deed or deeds of Prarabdha.

 

Though every experience is finally caused by Prarabdha alone, its

connection with one's consciousness constitutes effort or a fresh

deed. Effort is nothing but consciousness of action as related to

oneself, whatever be the thing that prompts one to do that action. It

is not the action as such but the manner in which it is executed that

determines whether it is a Kriyamana- Karma or not. A Jivanmukta's

actions are not Kriyamana-Karmas; for they are not connected with any

personal consciousness. They are spontaneous functions of the

remaining momentum of past consciousness of agency.

 

Experiences which are forced upon oneself of which come of their own

accord without the personal will of the experiencer, are the workings

of Prarabdha. But others which result from a deliberate and conscious

act, which has a pre- meditated background, show that it is a

Kriyamana-Karma, though it may be sanctioned by the law of the

Prarabdha-Karma itself. An experience caused by mere Prarabdha does

not cause another fresh result but is exhausted thereby; but a

Kriyamana-Karma tends to produce a fresh experience in the future as

it is attended by the sense of doership.

 

If a desired end is not attained even after all possible efforts on

one's part, it has to be taken that the failure is due to an

obstructive Prarabdha. Of course, this is the same as saying that the

failure is due to incompetency of the person concerned; for, through

a greater effort allowed by a non- impeding Prarabdha - which,

however, he is not enabled to exercise at present - he could have

attained the desired end. As the Prarabdha determines even

Purushartha, it has to be said that the effort of man is the working

of the Prarabdha itself as superimposed on his consciousness.

Prarabdha, when it is functioning, can never be defied or destroyed,

but it can be exhausted through experience and non-commission of

further Kriyamana- Karmas. Even this cessation from doing Kriyamana-

Karma has to be allowed by the Prarabdha itself; otherwise even such

a cessation will not be possible. An evil Prarabdha will not allow

the withdrawal from Kriyamana-Karmas and as long as it is not

exhausted through experience, rebirth and pain cannot be stopped.

Only a good Prarabdha can allow higher effort, the rise of knowledge,

and cessation from Kriyamana-Karmas. But, on that account, effort

cannot be stopped; for the Prarabdha forces itself out in the form of

effort as long as its appearance can be possible only through the

individual consciousness. Sometimes Prarabdha manifests itself, not

through the individual consciousness, but either through external

agency or occurrences having causes beyond human comprehension.

 

Even when a person is goaded by another to do action or Purushartha,

it is only an aspect of his Prarabdha in relation to the other's that

works. In the state of supreme wisdom, however, such incitations and

admonitions cease. Efforts are automatically (and not deliberately)

stopped only on the rise of Self-Knowledge which is the goal of all

effort, and not before that. As long as there is body-consciousness

and world-consciousness, man will perforce carry on exerting to

achieve his desired end. Effort is the natural concomitant of the

consciousness of imperfection. Man, being imperfect, continues, by

his own nature, to exert until the achievement of Perfection. The

question of Prarabdha and Purushartha is a relative one and it loses

its meaning on the dawn of Perfect Knowledge.

 

Source: http://www.sivanandadlshq.org/discourse/sep97.htm