Our Prarabdha Karma has been the cause of our incarnation. Every action we perform, every word we speak, every thought or feeling we generate in the mind produces a reaction.
These reactions bounce back to shape our lives. Reactions produced by good thoughts, words and actions create pleasant circumstances and reactions produced by bad thoughts, words and actions create unpleasant circumstances. Our sages called these reactions Karma. How many actions do we perform in a lifetime? How many words do we speak? Above all, how many thoughts and feelings arise in our minds? Innumerable!So, in every lifetime we generate loads and loads of Karma. The Karma of all our lifetimes put together is called Sanchita Karma.
Every day, every hour, every minute and every second we experience a part of this Sanchita Karma. The part of the Sanchita Karma that we are experiencing in the present lifetime is called Prarabdha Karma.
Even as we are experiencing the fruits of our past actions, we are performing more actions and generating new Karma. We are bound to experience this sometime in the future. The Karma which has already been generated, but is yet to be experienced is called Agami Karma.
W
hen we talk about our fate or destiny, we are actually referring to our Prarabdha Karma. The extent of our lifespan, our status in life, our education and profession, our health, our relationship with others, the circumstances we encounter, our faith, beliefs, attitudes, thinking patterns, feelings and personality are all defined and determined by our Karma.
Our life reaches its conclusion only after we have experienced the Karma that has been allotted to us during that particular lifetime. Our Karma always begins and ends in our own mind and feelings of the heart.
Since the mind is restless, it keeps fleeting from one object to another, generating a spate of desires every moment.
Though we are able to fulfil several of these, many of our desires remain unfulfilled, which become a part of our Sanchita Karma and pave the way for another incarnation because we are reborn just to fulfil these desires.It is often difficult to distinguish between need and greed in our lives.
Although every desire that arises in the mind is automatically added to our Sanchita Karma, we remain unaware of this. In fact, often we are not even conscious of having desired something.
For example, if our friends are describing a holiday they spent in the Swiss Alps, we may enjoy their narration and then forget all about it. However, while we were listening to them, if a subtle desire arose in the far reaches of the mind—“This sounds wonderful. I would love to visit this place too”—the Karmic seed gets sown.This desire may have flashed past so quickly that we may not even have registered it, but if we are unable to visit the Swiss Alps during this life, we will certainly be born again just to fulfil this fleeting desire. Such is its binding power.
ashram-india@shrinimishamba.org