Prarabdha(Fate) is true only in the domain of ignorance.+

 

Prarabdha implies duality. Duality is a product of ignorance. Prarabdha is true only in the domain of ignorance.

That Karma which is done in a previous life is known as Prarabdha. Previous life karma produces the present life. But such Karma cannot take the place of Prarabdha for Gnani, as he has no other birth being free from ignorance.

When the present birth itself is an illusion then the past and future birth are bound to be an illusion.

The theory of fate (Prarabdha) is an imaginary theory based on the false self (ego).

The theory of fate (Prarabdha) is for the ignorant, because, those who accept the waking entity as self and the waking world as reality and believe the present experience of birth, life, death, and the world as reality. That means they have accepted their body as self whereas the ‘Self’ is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Thus, they will remain in believing in the theory of birth, death, and rebirth and permanently remain in ignorance. Thus, whatever is based on the waking entity or ego is a falsehood because the waking experience itself is a falsehood from the ultimate standpoint.

The waking entity and the waking world are a reality within the waking experience. From the ultimate standpoint, the waking experience itself is an illusion.

The body being in this universe does not also exist and due to this, Prarabdha also does not exist, Though the Vedas speak of Prarabdha, For the understanding of the ignorant.

Mundaka Upanishad:~ Ksheeyanthe thasya karmani thasmin drushte cha paravare, Bahuthwam than nishedartha sruthya geetham cha yath sphutam. 98

The body being in this world does not also exist and due to this, Prarabdha also does not exist, though the Vedas speak of Prarabdha, for the understanding of the ignorant.

All actions of man including Prarabdha, Perishes when one is able to see, Brahman which is in the higher and also lower, Thus tell the Vedas with clarity, *Cause and effect If fate does not get destroyed, ignorance gets never destroyed and spiritual realization never comes.

Uchyathe agnai balath chaithaththadaanatha thad vayagama, Vedantha matha hanam cha yadho jnanam ithi sruthi. 99

If the ignorant adamantly refuse to know this, Not only will they get involved in two absurdities*, But also forsake the conclusions of Vedanta, which proceed from Veda, the true knowledge. *negation of Brahman and its realization.

Sage Sankara says in Aparokshanubhuti:~ 88. When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman?

89. O enlightened one; pass your time always contemplating on Atman while you are experiencing all the results of Prarabdha; for it ill becomes you to feel distressed.

90. The theory one hears from the scripture, that Prarabdha does not lose its hold upon one even after the origination of the knowledge of Atman, is now being refuted.

91. After the origination of the knowledge of Reality, Prarabdha verily ceases to exist, inasmuch as the body and the like become non-existent; just as a dream does not exist on waking.

92. That Karma which is done in a previous life is known as Prarabdha (which produces the present life). But such Karma cannot take the place of Prarabdha (for a man of knowledge), as he has no other birth (being free from ego).

93. Just as the body in a dream is superimposed (and therefore illusory), so is also this body. How could there be any birth of the superimposed (body), and in the absence of birth (of the body) where is the room for that (i.e., Prarabdha) at all?

94. The Vedanta texts declare ignorance to be verily the material (cause) of the phenomenal world just as the earth is of a jar. That (ignorance) being destroyed, where can the universe subsist?

95. Just as a person out of confusion perceives only the snake leaving aside the rope, so does an ignorant person see only the phenomenal world without knowing the reality?

96. The real nature of the rope being known, the appearance of the snake no longer persists; so the substratum being known, the phenomenal world disappears completely.

97. The body also being within the phenomenal world (and therefore unreal), how could Prarabdha exist? It is, therefore, for the understanding of the ignorant alone that the Shruti speaks of Prarabdha.

98. “And all the actions of a man perish when he realizes that (Atman) which is both the higher and the lower”. Here the clear use of the plural by the Shruti is to negate Prarabdha as well.

99. If the ignorant still arbitrarily maintain this, they will not only involve themselves in two absurdities but will also run the risk of forgoing the Vedantic conclusion. So one should accept those Shrutis alone from which proceeds true knowledge.

The above proves that karma is a reality only on the base of the false self, where one thinks of the body and the universe as a reality. When one becomes aware of the fact that, the true self is Soul, then karma becomes part and parcel of illusion or Maya.

My point is that, if one accepts the karma theory as reality, he will never be able to come out of ignorance. And ignorance makes him believe the cycle of birth, life, and death or pain and pleasure as reality.

Thus, the freedom which one is seeking will remain a distant dream. For the one who accepts birth, life, and death as a reality, Self-knowledge is impossible.

Thus it is necessary for the seeker of truth to know the fact that the body which is born, lives, and dies is not the self. Since he is taking the body to be the Self, he is experiencing the duality as a reality.

As Sage Sankara says: When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman.

If the body is not the Self, then the karma theory is meaningless, there is no second thing that exists other than the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The prarabdha holds no water from the ultimate standpoint. If the body is not the Self, then the karma theory is meaningless, there is no second thing that exists other than the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness. The prarabdha holds no water from the ultimate standpoint. :~Santthosh Kumaar