Prarabdh

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Prarabdh

 

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

tatwas 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 Paramatma from which it was

separated millions of years ago. In every birth, the

soul strives to reach 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 a 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 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

creates various karmas in the process of living,

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.

 

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 worldly happiness or worldly sadness. For

the balance twenty five percent of life the soul can

use its God given freewill which creates Kriyaman

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 unexpectedly, without any explainable

reason. Soul does not realize that this is the fruit

or effect of the 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 effectively 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 anything else.

Actually, 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 as 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. In Sai Satcharita, readers

have been advised to look inwards. The soul should

find a quiet place, close eyes and meditate. The

purpose is to withdraw all the five senses 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 the

internal spark of the soul, to try to reach the higher

self.

 

It is said that the seat of that spark is at midpoint

behind the eyes called Third Eye or Krishna

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 meditator’s 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 meditator’s mind changes.

The soul finds peace in all the situations it finds

itself in - whether good or bad - it does not matter

any more.

 

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 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.

 

If one has the grace of Sadguru, it will not take long

for a soul to achieve the desired results. In Sai

Satcharita, where Sai Baba has translated the Sanskrit

shloka for Nanasaheb, this thing has been brought out

very beautifully. At another place it has been

beautifully explained how with Guru’s grace, the soul

realizes that the meditator and the object of

meditation all are ONE.

 

Bhakti - As per Sai Satcharita, progressing on Bhakti

marg is the easiest way to get free from the Karmas.

The mind cannot sit idle but if we give it some wise

thought, say, chanting ‘Sai Sai’ always, get rid of

feeling of doership and surrender all our actions,

thoughts and ourselves to our Sadguru Sainath, we have

taken our first step towards working out our karma

fast. Sai Baba will work internally and remind the

soul of its purpose of taking human birth. This does

not mean that the soul will not have to work out the

Prarabdh.

 

Sai Baba will not come in the functioning of the

universal law but Baba 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. Sadguru Sainath

will grace us with strength necessary to work out our

Prarabdh easily. This is what we mean when we say that

Sadguru works out the karma of devotees. But then are

we willing to work for ourselves and absolve ourselves

of our Prarabdh the way Baba has advised us.