What is Prarabdh

[Guest guest]

What is Prarabdh

 

Soul - A soul has to take on a body made up of five elements to come to this

earth. It is said that soul has to take birth to learn and to experience each

and every aspect of human emotion without forgetting its original state i.e,

purity, love and bliss. It is through this human life that a soul can finally

merge with the holy divine Supreme from which it was separated millions of years

ago. In every birth, the soul strives to reach the perfection so that it can get

enlightened and become aware of the truth about oneness of the universe i.e.,

ALL IS ONE. All souls are the tiny part of that Supreme Divine Power thereby

implying that all souls have that tiny spark of Supreme Spirit within. However,

after taking human birth, in ignorance, the soul cannot recall its original

state, gets entangled in the earthly enjoyments and forgets its mission of self

realization and subsequently the God realization.

 

Karma - In its human form the soul cannot sit idle. It performs various karmas

to get on with the life, becomes attached to materialism over and above

spiritualism. Whether the karma is ‘good’ or ‘bad’, it is immaterial. The

universal law takes note of all the actions a soul performs to carry out its

earthly existence. It is said that all such karmas accumulate and become Sanchit

Karma(Accumulated Karma). It is said that all our karmas are recorded and stored

in our Akashic records. A soul cannot merge with the spirit unless it has worked

out the cause and effect of its Karma because universal law functions flawlessly

and impartially. When the soul is reborn again, it brings with it some portion

out of this Sanchit karma to work out in the present birth. This portion of

karma is called Prarabdh. It is said that seventy five percent life of a soul is

preordained and a soul has no say in it. Soul has to bear it whether it brings

wordly happiness or worldly sadness. For the balance twenty five percent life

the soul can use its God given freewill which creates Kriyaman Karma(Active

Karma). These kriyaman karma also result in accumulating more Sanchit karma.

 

 

Prarabdh - Outcome of Prarabdh are those happenings in the souls earthly life

which happen without any or little effort. Soul feels happy when it gains

materialistic comforts, pleasures and position in life but it gets totally

baffled when it loses the very same possessions unexpectatedly, without any

explainable reason. Soul does not realize that this is the fruit or effect of

cause of its Prarabdh in this lifetime. For example, we find a good human being

doing all the best for the world but yet suffering from a deadly disease, a

selfish person getting success in almost any activity it undertakes. All this is

happening due to Prarabdh of these souls

 

 

Imagine how it could be when different souls come together in a lifetime and

form a family. Each soul has its own Prarabdh and its own individual journey.

But universal law is perfect. It arranges the soul groups so affectively that

one soul’s Prarabdh matches with the Prarabdh of other souls. Thus souls living

in a family life not only perform their respective earthly duties but also work

out their Prarabdh together. This way they keep coming back on earth again and

again, learn their lessons and help each other to work out their balance karmas

till their last earthly desires has been fulfilled. The soul discards its human

body once its Prarabdh of current lifetime is worked out completely. However,

Maya plays such a strong role that it takes ages for an ignorant soul to work

out all its karma and realize that the Supreme Divine Power is nowhere else but

within.

 

How to work out Karma - The biggest question is how can the effect of Karmas be

effaced? Man's actions or karmas are the manifestations of his thoughts. Karma

is any action, thought, feeling, emotion generated by mind of a Man. The mind,

by projecting thoughts to sense-organs, enjoys pleasures. It, more or less,

identifies itself with these thoughts and pleasures. At that time, it does not

think of any thing else. In actual, the earthly thoughts and impulses should be

converted into the zeal for securing internal bliss and happiness after

attaining a perfect balance between materialism and spiritualism. In simple

terms, soul must perform duties required to be performed in its earthly lifetime

with a sense of detachment i.e, without feeling sad about losses and without

feeling elated about gains. But then it is easier said than done.

 

Meditation - Meditation is one way for the soul to connect to the higher self.

Shirdi SaiBaba advised mankind to look inwards. The soul should find a quiet

place, close eyes and meditate. The purpose is to withdraw all the five sense

inwards, make them inactive because these senses have been given to the soul to

see, hear, taste, touch and enjoy the external world only. The practice of

meditation in solitude consists in reverting and raising internal spark of the

soul to try to reach the high self. It is said that the seat of that spark is at

midpoint behind the eyes called Third Eye or Krishna / Christ Consciousness.

When such a condition begins to supervene to some extent, as a result of

performing the meditation practices, the working of Karmas, both internally and

externally, is automatically enfeebled. On getting some bliss and joy

internally, and on witnessing the love, grace and mercy of the Supreme Being,

the meditators’ mind is, of itself, detached from the world and its pleasures.

The pleasures of the world become insipid. The situation is the same, however,

its effect on the meditators mind changes. The soul finds peace in all the

situations it finds itself in whether good or bad, it doesnot matter anymore.

 

After this, the longing for progress in meditation, and higher and higher bliss,

goes on increasing. Worldly desires are curtailed. The soul always gives

priority to the will, grace and mercy of the Supreme Being in whatever he does.

It subordinates its desires to the will of the Supreme Being. Thus the soul is

entangled in Kriyaman(active) Karmas very little or not at all. This cuts short

the chain of its Karmas.

 

Prarabdh Karmas, which are unfolding in this very life will be very much

mitigated by the grace and mercy of the Divine Spirit. This way the soul is able

to withdraw from the eyes, it goes on getting detached from the body and the

world. In the wakeful state, the seat of the spirit is behind the eyes. It is

here that pains and pleasures are felt and Karmas are performed. Therefore, as

the spark of soul is withdrawn from here with the help of spiritual exercises,

pains and pleasures cease to be felt. In this way, the effect of Prarabdh Karmas

is lightened.

 

As to the Sanchit Karmas, that are stored in Akashic records (mind-sky) in the

form of seed-impressions. They will fructify in a future life. As the soul

penetrates these records in its ascent to higher regions, the Sanchit Karmas

appear in the form of thoughts and impulses. They come into play for a short

while only and are obliterated and finally the Sanchit karma are also cleared

off.

 

If one has the grace of Sadguru (special messengers of God like Jesus or

Saibaba), it will not take long for a soul to achieve the desired results. With

Guru/ God’s grace, the soul realizes that meditator, object of meditation all

are ONE.

 

Bhakti (devotion) - As per Sai Satcharita (book containing life and teachings of

Shirdi SaiBaba) taking the road of devotion is the easiest way to get free from

the Karmas. A mind cannot sit idle but if we give it some wise thought, say,

chanting ‘Sai Sai’ (you can substitute this with name of God you believe in)

always, get rid of feeling of doership and surrender all our actions, thoughts

and ourselves to our God, we have taken our first step towards working out our

karma fast. Saibaba(God) will work internally and remind the soul of its purpose

of taking human birth. This doesnot mean that the soul will not have to work out

the Prarabdh. Saibaba(God) will not come in the functioning of the universal law

but will make the soul strong enough that it will not feel the effect of

Prarabdh i.e, soul will not be ecstatic when it gains and will not feel

depressed when it suffers. God or spirit guides and angels will grace us with

strength necessary to work out our Prarabdh easily. This is what we mean when we

say that God works out the karma of devotees. But then are we willing to work

for ourselves, absolve ourselves of our Prarabdh the way Baba(substitute with

the name of God you believe in) has advised us.

 

Vandana Ritik

New Delhi

 

http://saivandana.blogspot.com/2008/05/prarabdh-or-karma-as-i-understand-now.htm\

l