Sri Ramakrishna Math : The Vedanta Kesari, Editorial: Inexorable Prarabdha

There are four well-devised paths or means to reach the spiritual goal. These are known as jnana yoga, raja yoga, karma yoga and bhakti yoga. Doubts creep in one's mind if one confuses one path with another. Sometimes this doubt is responsible for creating untold misery. Sri Krishna says in the Gita, 'samshayatma vinashyati--a doubting man perishes.^'4 It is therefore prudent for an aspirant to read such scriptures that are conducive to his or her chosen path only and stop speaking other words (those which are not connected with one's ideal). It is called ishta--nishtha, unflinching devotion to one's own chosen ideal. Anya vachah vimunchatha--give up all other talkssays the Upanishad.⁵ Acharya Shankara also warns us of the adverse effect of reading many books aimlessly: a network of words is like a dense forest which causes the mind to wander hither and thither.⁶

Even in one and the same scripture many different topics may be discussed and ways prescribed to suit the temperaments of different aspirants. One should listen to those injunctions which are essential and efficacious for one's own chosen path. `Yogi aya yog karaneko, tap karne sannyasi, Hari-bhajanko sadhu aya...'-- the yogis have come to follow the path of yoga, sannyasins (monks) to practise austerity, and the devotees to call on God, Hari. Once Sri Ramakrishna said to a pundit, `One must take up a definite attitude toward God. Then alone can one realize Him.'⁷ The aspirants who have embraced a devotional path are solely dependent on complete surrender to God. So, devotees do not discriminate in the way jnanis do. They surrender their everything to the will of the Lord. They do not care for the law of karma. As a result, they do not unnecessarily strain themselves with considerations of even their own prarabdha, what to speak of those of others.

Once a Tantrika (a follower of Tantra) asked Sri Ramakrishna, `We shall have to reap the result of our past Karma, shall we not?' Sri Ramakrishna replied, `That may be so. But it is different with the devotees of God. ... The fruit of action does not touch him.'⁸ In the Gita, the Lord, having imparted the most secret knowledge for the benefit of His devotees, leaves the choice to Arjuna saying: `do as you like'. However, He does not leave His devotee in the lurch. So He discloses the secret to Arjuna inspiring him thus,`Take refuge in Him alone with your whole being (with your mind, word and act), O Bharata. Through His grace you will attain the Supreme Peace (the cessation of nescience together with its effects) and the eternal State.'⁹ The duty of expiating the karma of devotees, who have surrendered their everything to the Lord, passes on to Him. The Bible confirms this: He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.¹⁰

Shankara, the high priest of Monism, admits that liberation is achieved by the grace of God.¹¹ In the case of jnanis, their prarabdha, with all the stored--up karma, is destroyed at the dawn of knowledge. But the answer Sri Ramakrishna gives quells all qualms about God's intervention in the scheme of prarabdha. The following is the conversation between Dr.Sreenath and Sri Ramakrishna:

`Dr.Sreenath: But, sir, how can one escape prarabdha, the effect of action performed in previous births?

`Master: No doubt a man experiences a little of the effect; but much of it is cancelled by the power of God's name. A man was born blind of an eye. This was his punishment for a certain misdeed he had committed in his past birth, and the punishment was to remain with him for six more births. He, however, took a bath in the Ganges, which gives one liberation. This meritorious action could not cure his blindness, but it saved him from his future births.'¹² It is like burning the candle at both ends--by God's grace the intensity of prarabdha will be minimised and the future births also got rid of.

The scriptures also say the same thing: Just as the fluffy tip of a reed placed in fire burns away completely, similarly all one's sins are burnt away.¹³ When there is no stored--up karma to trigger off next life, he is saved from transmigration.

For some, the idea of minimising the intensity of prarabdha, is debatable. On the authority of the scriptures and of Acharyas Shankara and Ramanuja we may plead in favour of this point. This has been dealt with by both the Acharyas in their commentaries on the Adhikarana starting with the Aphorism 3.3.26 of the Brahma Sutras. Both of them have quoted the Upanishadic texts (from Kaushitaki Upanishad and Shatyayani Upanishad) to tell us that when liberation or knowledge is achieved, the aspirant is relieved of the effects, both good and bad, of his or her karmas. The Shruti texts say that the friends of the aspirants (the realized souls) inherit their virtuous deeds and the enemies their vicious deeds. They themselves remain free. When the loads of the sanchita (stored--up) and the kriyamana (accruing) karmas are released, the situation is equated with the taking off of the propelling rod from the potter's wheel(kulala--chakra). The sooner we take off the rod the quicker is obtained the decrease in the speed of the wheel! However, it is perfectly compatible with reasoning and the words of the Incarnations of God like Sri Ramakrishna that by His omnipotence, God is capable of minimising the brunt of prarabdha for His devotees.

Well, in the case of an individual's prarabdha it may sound logical, but what about a collective prarabdha? So many people die at a time in accidents, wars, and natural calamities! God does not stop them in any way. How to account for it? Can it be argued that such mass--destructions come to pass due to a collective prarabdha? Let us listen to Sri Ramakrishna's answers. Once he said, `Can a man ever understand God's ways? I too think of God sometimes as good and sometimes as bad. He has kept us deluded by His great illusion.'¹⁴ Again, `Is it possible to understand God's action and His motive? He creates, He preserves, and He destroys. Can we ever understand why He destroys?'¹⁵ Following Sri Ramakrishna's views, as one diagnoses the question itself, one finds that its inspiration stems from utter irrationality. A collective presence of so many people or their collective enjoyment does not suggest any incongruity in God's deed; neither does the prarabdha of those who were absent at the fatal moments evoke in the doubter's mind a sensitive admiration. The doubter is therefore disqualified from pointing his finger at the prarabdha of the dead. Then again, one must remember that the destructive power of cyclone, etc., which are called adhidaivika afflictions, is a truth, though maybe a relative truth. They happen as a part of natural laws. We have to bear with them, as we bear the cold of winter or the heat of summer. On the other hand, a devotee who believes in God's redeeming power does not bother whether his or her body falls off naturally or due to natural calamities. As He creates and preserves, so He destroys. We cannot resist the temptation of quoting Einstein here. His observation is, `The truly religious man has no fear of the life and no fear of death--and certainly no blind faith; his faith must be in his conscience.'¹⁶

There is a story which sets at naught all such doubts about the collective prarabdha, and challenges our cleverness. Once a batch of ten pilgrims, on their way back from a pilgrimage to holy Kedarnath in the Himalayas, took shelter in an inn at Rishikesh. The sky was overcast in the afternoon, foreboding a heavy downpour any moment. Soon the heavens opened, accompanied with storm and deafening thunder. Lightning began striking the ground all around, fortunately just missing the particular inn every time. `It may be due to the prarabdha of one of us that the lightnings are caused,' so the pilgrims thought. They sat at an urgent meeting and finally decided that they would go out one by one for a few moments to try their lot lest all of them should die simultaneously. When nine of them had uneventfully tried their luck, the real culprit could not remain undetected. All the nine fell upon the poor man and almost threw him out in the open. And lo! no sooner had they done so than a lightning struck the inn killing the nine pilgrims at once. Was it due to the prarabdha of the lone survivor that the rest were safe, or was it due to their prarabdha that they were killed? Maybe any one or both of the postulates were true, who knows?

Right; we have understood your clever logic in support of a collective prarabdha. Now can you enlighten us about the collective prarabdha when as an after effect of a nuclear war all life on earth will just be wiped out and extinguished? What will be God's reaction if His creation is annihilated by unscrupulous people? As to that, we can surmise this much: it will be an absolute collective prarabdha only. So the answer is the same. However, God may question us: Who are you to put this question? You are by then dead. If you are talking of a postulate, well, you need not bother about it; it is My problem. It will happen only if I will so! Or it will come to pass only when you select or elect such insane leaders who will destroy you! As to the second question, it is not a challenge to Me. On the other hand, it is My challenge to you. You should learn that unless you follow religion, the saving voice of your only source, you are going to be punished mortally by yourself for your own mortal sin. Either leave all to the will of God and keep quiet, or take up the rein of everything in your hand and be responsible for anything that happens. Do not deceive yourself only because you are unable to deceive Me.

4. Cf. The Gita, 4.40.
5. Cf. The Mundaka Up. 2.2.5.
6. Cf. The Vivekachudamani.
7. M., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trns. Swami Nikhilananda (Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 2000), 610; hereafter cited as the Gospel
8. The Gospel, p.250--1.
9. Cf. The Gita, 18.62.
10. Cf. St. Matthew, 8:17.
11. Cf. The Brahma Sutras, 2.3.41.
12. The Gospel, p.951.
13. Cf. The Chhandogya Up. 5.24.3.
14. The Gospel, p.257.
15. The Gospel, p.161
16. William Hermans, Einstein and the Poet (MA: Branden Press, Inc. Brookline Village,1883),65