We know Karma as the law of cause and effect. In my previous article Karma: What they didn’t tell you about it, I have shared the complete story about Karma in general.
It is highly recommended to go through that post before you continue reading this to get a better insight.
This article is all about Karma at an individual level. So if you ever asked yourself
Why does this happen to me?
Why am I so unlucky?
Why am I born poor or ugly
Why didn’t I get the job even when all went right
And so many other whys, then this article is for you.
Well if you guess, maybe, it is because of your previous Karma then yes, it’s partially correct. Here I am sharing the complete insight of Karma and its various types.
Before we continue exploring the concept of Karma in-depth, there are a few things that you should know beforehand.
We are an eternal soul living in a temporary body
The effects of our Karma span across births and is not limited to just one birth
So here we go.
There are three types of Karma
Sanchita Karma or Accumulated Karma
Prarabdha or Destiny
Kriyamana Karma or free will
The categorization of Karma is not just a philosophy but they have a deeper meaning which governs the functioning of this materialistic world and not to get surprised your life too.
So what are these?
Sanchita Karma
Since our first birth as a human, we have been doing our Karma. Our every action physical, mental and emotional are responsible for generating our Karma. In each birth we kept on accumulating a certain amount of Karma and also we reaped the fruits of them either good or bad.
So Sanchita Karma is the total amount of Karma accumulated in all our past lifetimes minus the amount of Karma which has already been burned out.
Therefore Sanchita Karma is the net amount of Karma still present that needs to be disbursed.
Prarabdha or Destiny
All through our life, we encounter situations that are beyond our control. There are situations where we just can’t imagine how it came. These are our destiny.
Prarabdha or destiny is the small portion of accumulated Karma with which we are born.
We don’t choose our parents; we are born based on our Prarabdha. We don’t choose our looks; we are destined to look the way we look.
If you play cards, you don’t choose which cards you want, the hand is dealt randomly and that is your Prarabdha or destiny.
If a child is born blind and asks you why he was born so, what would you answer? His brother was born with a 6×5 vision and he is born blind. If you say to him it was God’s wish then God is very unfair; it is gross partiality.
So these are our Prarabdha- the destiny with which we are born.
So you can see if everything is based upon our previous Karma and everything is already destined then what is our role in this world? Should it keep on happening the way it is going on?
If someone comes and insults me then it is my Prarabdha, it is the situation over which I have no control. But how I respond to that situation is definitely in my control and this constitutes the third form of Karma i.e. Kriyamana Karma.
Kriyamana Karma or Free will
God has given us the free will to live our life as per our wish. Though we have no control over the situations that come to us, we are very much responsible for our reactions towards it.
If a person comes and insults you, your reaction towards him will decide your Kriyamana Karma. You can choose to insult him back or just carry on with your activities, this is your choice, your free will.
Our Kriyamana karma decides our future life. Hence they say – Man is the maker of his own destiny.
In the game of cards, a bad player can loose with good hands and a good player can win with bad hands. It is by man’s free will only that he does his works.
And that is why this allows for an equal opportunity for every living being.
If you are destined to get a lottery of $1 Million then you will surely get it. But you can blow all of it in one year or you can multiply it to 1 billion will be your independent effort coming from your free will.
Sanchita Karma and Prarabdha are fixed, but Kriyamana Karma is not fixed. Therefore, you can change the course of your life for yours as well as others’ wellbeing.
Why does this happen to me?
Have you ever asked yourself this question- why does this happen to me?
As told earlier, Karma can travel across many births. Let’s call it a black ball. When you through the ball it is ought to come back to us.
When it comes back in an hour you will remember it. When it comes back in 10 years, you may or may not remember it. But when it comes back in 100 years, you will definitely not remember it.
So when bad Karma from your previous birth comes back, you ask this question – why does this happen to me? And you start blaming others.
Conclusion
God keeps an account of everything.
The ultimate aim of a man is liberation or Moksha or to get united with him. To attain liberation it is very much important that all of your Sanchita Karma is disbursed. And therefore yoga is important. Yoga literally means Union.
Follow Ashtanga Yoga, meditate regularly and enjoy life in the moment with no materialistic desires to dissipate all your accumulated Karma and avoid the creation of new Karma. This will not only help you with liberation, breaking the cycle of birth and death, happiness and sadness, misery and suffering but will also help to live your life peacefully and blissfully in the earth.
Do you want to know how to disburse all of your Karma? Do let me know in the comments section below so that I can come up with detailed insights on how to do that. Keep loving and have fun. This is only one of the many lives you have got.
Note: This article contains excerpts from video attached above, Bhagvad Gita, Quora answers and personal experiences.
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