30 Jul 2024
[Prof JSR Prasad asked:- Sāṣṭāṅga namaskāram Swami. What is meant by the word ‘praarabdha’, which is generally stated as the fruit of the last action in the list called ‘sancita’? Some say that the unenjoyed last part of ‘sancita’ list becomes the sancita of the new born soul. Is it correct?]
Swami replied:- The general view is that a soul is associated with a list of fruits of sancita while the soul in subtle body is travelling to the upper worlds after the death of its gross body for enjoying the fruits of deeds present in sancita list. Let us assume that the soul has gone up with 100 deeds named as ‘sancita’ and the soul enjoyed fruits of 90 deeds in the upper worlds. Sancita means the balance of deeds (remaining 10 deeds), whose fruits are yet to be enjoyed by the soul, which is ready to take new birth on returning to earth. Praarabdha means the total effect of the balance sancita (remaining 10 deeds) that gives new birth. Aagaami means the deeds done by the soul in the new birth that are to be added to the sancita list. When the soul goes to the upper worlds in a subtle body, it has 100 deeds in the list of sancita and the soul enjoys the fruits of 90 deeds in the upper worlds. Only 10 deeds are leftover in the list as the sancita-balance for the soul returning back to earth. People wrongly say that the fruit of 91st deed happens to be the praarabdha and that one fruit alone decides the new birth so that the soul born in the new birth has only 9 deeds (92nd to 100th) and these 9 deeds happen to be the balance sancita of the new born soul.
This is not the correct interpretation. Suppose the 91st deed is the fruit of merit and all the rest deeds (1st to 90th and 92nd to 100th) are sins. Then, the soul is born in a good family even though the soul is fully a sinner. Moreover, the Gita says that the new birth depends upon good or bad qualities represented by meritorious and sinful deeds of the soul (Kāraṇaam guṇa sango'sya, sadasat yoni janmasu). This means that the good qualities of meritorious deeds and the bad qualities of sins have an overall average influence on the future birth. It means that if the majority of qualities is good, the soul will get the new birth in a good family and if the majority of qualities is bad, the soul will get the new birth in a bad family. The Gita is speaking only about the influence of all the qualities associated with the soul and not the influence of a single accidental good or bad deed/quality in the balance sancita list. This means that if the majority of balance 10 deeds is having a net average influence as good or bad, such good or bad influence becomes responsible for the new birth, which is either good or bad respectively.
Now, the clear picture is that when the soul undergoes the enjoyment of fruits of 90 deeds in the upper worlds and is leftover with a balance of 10 deeds, the sancita of the soul is these 10 deeds only. The influence of these 10 deeds is responsible for the new birth. While the list of 10 deeds happens to be sancita, the influence of these 10 deeds giving new birth is called praarabdha. When the soul undergoes the enjoyment of the fruits of 90 deeds, all those 90 deeds are not completely exhausted because the soul cannot be completely reformed by the punishments or rewards unless it is reformed by spiritual knowledge (realization), devotion (repentance) and practice (non-repetition of the same sin during the rest of the life). Hence, after the enjoyment of the fruits of these 90 deeds in the upper worlds, the soul contains traces of the qualities of 90 deeds. Now, the overall picture is that if the majority of the 90 deeds is good, the majority of the traces of the 90 deeds are also good. The leftover 10 deeds also are almost a duplicate picture of those 90 deeds only because a good soul has majority of good qualities or deeds and a bad soul has majority of bad qualities or deeds everywhere whether the list contains 90 deeds or 10 deeds. Same is the case with bad deeds. It means that the majority of these 10 deeds must also be good if the majority of the 90 deeds is good and the majority of the 10 deeds must be bad if the majority of the 90 deeds is bad.
In this way, the influence of accumulated traces of the 90 deeds and the influence of the leftover 10 deeds are congenial to each other so that we can decide the overall nature of the soul as good or bad. The soul that is going to take a new birth can also be a mixture of good and bad qualities or deeds as per the majority of traces of 90 deeds and the 10 deeds leftover. Since there is homogeneity of majority of 90 deeds and 10 deeds, the overall net result is that a soul is good or bad. If good deeds and bad deeds are almost equal, the net result is that the soul is a mixture of good and bad qualities. This does not mean that every human being born is always a mixture of good and bad qualities. Among the human beings, if the soul is with majority of good qualities, such a human being is an angel (angel like). Similarly, if the soul is with majority of bad qualities, such a human being is demon (demon like). Similarly, if the soul is mixture of good and bad qualities equally, such a human being is human. We shall not take all the human beings as mixtures of good and bad qualities. Even though angels and demons exist separately in this creation living in their respective worlds, these three categories exist among the human beings also (Aniṣṭamiṣṭaṃ miśraṃ ca - Gita).
The conclusion is that any soul is either good or bad or a mixture. For any soul, the sancita, the praarabdha and the aagaami are clearly distinguished as said above and each of these three is either good or bad or a mixture of both. We must understand that the sancita (10 deeds leftover + the traces of fruits of the 90 deeds enjoyed), the praarabdha (in deciding new birth, the influence of the overall effect of 10 deeds leftover + traces of 90 deeds enjoyed already exists) and the aagaami (the future deeds going to be added to sancita are also influenced by the sancita only, which is 90 traces + 10 unenjoyed full deeds) are either good or bad or a mixture homogeneously without any internal contradiction since majority is of one type. Hence, the overall nature of a soul is fixed and based on this fact, the Veda says that good souls are born in good families and bad souls are born in bad families (Ramaṇīya caraṇāḥ…). Of course, apart from this general Vedic rule, God may send a lesser bad soul to a good family and may send a strong good soul to a lesser bad family expecting the reformation of the lesser bad soul and the lesser bad family respectively. The Vedic rule is based on attraction between likes and repulsion between dislikes, but God interferes with this rule in a different way for the sake of reformation of a bad soul or a bad family.
The Karma-shesha or Guna-shesha (traces of 90 enjoyed deeds + 10 unenjoyed deeds) is essential to exist so that the overall influence (Praarabdha) of this Karma-shesha gives the new birth to the soul. If this basic Karma-shesha is absent, the influence of the Karma-shesha named as Praarabdha does not exist and the new birth to the soul on this earth becomes impossible. If the soul is not born on the earth or Karma Loka, the soul is not having a chance to put good efforts for spiritual progress. If the soul stays in the upper worlds without coming down, the soul cannot put any practical effort in the upper worlds because those are the worlds meant for enjoying the fruits of deeds (Bhoga Lokas) and not to do practical deeds that help the soul’s spiritual upliftment. If the soul undergoes the fruits of all 100 deeds in the upper worlds, the soul will not have the possibility to take a new birth on this earth to do fresh deeds that help the spiritual upliftment of that soul. The influence of the 90 traces is very small and hence, the 10 unenjoyed deeds are also added so that the influence of 90 traces + 10 full deeds becomes substantial to give a new birth effectively. If the soul is leftover with 90 traces only without the 10 balance deeds, what will happen? The soul cannot take a new birth because the influence of the 90 traces is very insignificant. This soul cannot get salvation because the 90 traces exist in the soul as a hurdle to get full salvation from the fascinations of the worldly bonds. In this way, the soul neither gets salvation nor goes to earth to improve its spiritual development by which salvation may be possible at least in the future.
Let us say that the ratio of Sattvam, Rajas and Tamas in the 90 traces is 6:3:1. The same ratio is seen in the leftover 10 deeds also. By the addition of 10 deeds to the 90 traces, the ratio is not at all changed. Only the quantities of Sattvam, Rajas and Tamas are slightly increased so that the influence of this 6:3:1 ratio becomes a little more effective to influence the selection of the future birth. When the soul reached the upper worlds along with its sancita (100 deeds in this 6:3:1 ratio), the Sattvam deeds are 60 kgs, the Rajas deeds are 30 kgs and the Tamas deeds are 10 kgs. After 90 deeds get exhausted in the upper worlds, 54 kgs of Sattvam, 27 kgs of Rajas and 9 kgs of Tamas (6:3:1) are turned into 54 gms of Sattvam, 27 gms of Rajas and 9 gms of Tamas respectively, which are trace quantities of the deeds/qualities. There is no qualitative change in the ratio and only a quantitative reduction took place. The leftover 10 deeds also maintain the same ratio of 6:3:1 and the quantities of Sattvam, Rajas and Tamas in these 10 deeds are 6 kgs, 3 kgs and 1 kg. The trace quantities join with the quantities of three qualities present in 10 deeds. The resulting ratio is also the same 6:3:1 and the final quantities are slightly increased due to this combination. The resulting Sattvam = 6 kgs + 54 gms = 6054 gms, the resulting Rajas = 3 kgs + 27 gms = 3027 gms and the resulting Tamas = 1 kg + 9 gms = 1009 gms. The resulting quantities of three qualities also maintain the same basic ratio of 6:3:1. Even if you say that all the 100 deeds are exhausted in the upper worlds only, the resulting traces are the above said ratio only (60 gms, 30 gms and 10 gms). Hence, whether you say that all the sancita deeds (100) are enjoyed and traces remained or whether you say that the majority of sancita (90) are enjoyed and a minority (10) are leftover, the resultant ratio is one and the same. Both these ways are explained and finally united as far as the ratio (6:3:1) is concerned so that there is no contradiction between the two types of explanations of scholars of philosophy.
Angels do not err and hence, they are in happy heaven only. The angel like human beings are also happy on this earth by God’s grace. Demons, who always err, are in hell and the demon-like human beings are also unhappy on this earth by God’s anger. The fraction of humanity (the other two fractions are angel like and demon like), which is a mixture of both good and bad qualities, having the capability of rectification even if they err, undergo the enjoyment of both happiness and misery on this earth as per the nature of their deeds and God is a neutral spectator in this case. These human beings have the scope of becoming angels and also have the scope of Nivrutti devotion subsequently. Hence, God always comes down as human incarnations to guide these human beings. Animals err but cannot rectify due to their solid ignorance and due to this, they can never come out of the cycle of animals at any time. The demonic souls are thrown into this cycle of animals forever (Tānahaṃ dviṣataḥ krūrān… – Gita).
Angel is the highest position, human being is the middle position and the demon is the lowest position. These positions change based on the average influence of the majority of the qualities of the soul. A human being is always degrading itself to become a demon by being attracted to many sins. The upgrading of a human being into an angel is very much reduced due to the lack of interest in doing meritorious deeds. Hence, the probability of a human being to become a demon and to be thrown in the cycle of animals is very great. Therefore, it is told that human re-birth is very very rare (Jantūnāṃ narajanma durlabham). God does not punish angels, whereas God excuses human beings if they are reformed. God always punishes demons because even though they have intelligence to understand sin, they do not rectify themselves through reformation due to their excessive ego. God throws demons into the cycle of animals so that the demons escape the punishments from God since animals can’t reform themselves due to the lack of intelligence and they must always be excused. The birth as animal is a blessing given by God to the demon so that the demon escapes the punishment from God due to the strong ignorance that prevents its reformation and the animal is not considered faulty due to its inevitable and uncontrollable natural ignorance. Since the animal cannot come out of its cycle, the suffering caused by the demon to the society is also avoided forever. A demon is always engaged in eating, drinking, sleeping and sex only and since all these four alone exist in the case of an animal also, no injustice is done to the demon by getting the birth of an animal. Angels may also err very rarely. The reason for this is that all the three qualities exist together and there cannot be existence of 100% single quality alone. 100% good Sattvam quality means 99% good sattvam + 0.5% bad Rajas + 0.5% bad Tamas. Only God is having 100% good Sattvam since God is beyond these three qualities and the rule of co-existence of these three qualities.
The qualities are always picked up by the soul from its surrounding environment. But, once the soul is having very strong solidified qualities as its nature (prakruti), further exposure to the environment cannot change the soul. The environment of Sadguru or contemporary human incarnation of God giving true and complete spiritual knowledge can only bring the total reformation in a soul provided the soul develops the complete strongest faith in the human incarnation. Karma-shesha need not be balance of deeds only since it can be taken as the balance of qualities also (Guna-shesha). Quality is made of nervous energy, whereas deed is made of physical energy. Both are of the same energy only and hence, one can be expressed for the other. Karma may affect others and guna may not affect others, but, this difference need not be considered in this context of representation of one by the other. When the soul undergoes the enjoyment of the fruits of 90 deeds in the upper worlds, the soul is not completely reformed. This means that the quality of the soul is not completely removed since a very minute trace of the quality remains in the soul. These traces of qualities of the fruits enjoyed in the upper worlds constitute Karma-shesha, which is actually Guna-shesha. Soul is always accompanied by the qualities that are responsible for the deeds and deeds will not accompany the soul. Based on these qualities, punishments and rewards are given because the quantities of the qualities are directly proportional to the quantities of deeds. The quantity of the quality is directly proportional to the intensity of the colour of the quality (Sattvam is white, Rajas is red and Tamas is black). The soul associated with the traces of qualities (Guna-shesha) is said to be associated with traces of deeds (Karma-shesha). Before taking new birth, even the 10 deeds along with the traces of 90 deeds forming the sancita of the soul accompany the soul in the form of qualities only and not as deeds. The quality is given punishment, which means that the deed is given punishment. Hence, Karma means quality and Karma-shesha means Guna-shesha only. The subject of qualities and subsequent deeds is very deep as said in the Gita (Gahanā karamaṇo gatiḥ).
If the majority of sancita is good, it does not mean that the soul is 100% good. If one bad quality exists in the sancita-list, the soul is 99% good and 1% bad. Hence, the above said classification is based on the convention of majority overruling minority. If one bad quality exists, that one bad quality is eliminated by its corresponding punishment so that the soul can now be declared as 100% good. Sage Jada Bharata was having all excellent qualities congenial to pure spiritual journey only. But, he developed fascination towards a deer and in his next birth, the sage had to be born as a deer since he died fixing his eyes on the deer (Yaṃ yaṃ vāpi… - Gita). After taking the birth of a deer, the sage became a 100% good spiritual traveller blessed by God’s grace fully and hence, he was born as a holy sage only without any bad quality. By taking the birth of a deer, the soul of the sage realised the lowest status of a petty animal and attained reformation from that single sin called worldly fascination. Such cases are exceptional and in these cases, the rule of inevitable co-existence of three qualities does not apply. You cannot compare Jada Bharata with Ajaamila. Ajaamila was a 100% bad soul. Ajaamila called his son, who was named ‘Narayana’ at the end. Even there, the feeling of God was not there. Hence, the salvation of Ajaamila was not correct. This story is based on Arthavaada, which is a lie told for the purpose of a good hope. The hope is that a bad human being will become the devotee of God at least in his old age. Such useful lies are permitted for the sake of welfare of the world.
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