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Shri Datta Swami

Posted on: 23 Jun 2019

               

Sanchita, prarabdha and agami forms of karma

Shri Manikanta asked: Could you kindly elaborate upon the sanchita, prarabdha and agami forms of karma?

Swami replied: All the three types of karma are based on the constant ratio of the three fundamental qualities namely, sattvam, rajas and tamas in a particular soul. Sattvam is the good quality of knowledge. Rajas is the bad quality of ego and tamas is the bad quality of ignorance and rigidity. When the soul reaches the upper worlds for enjoying the fruits of its good and bad deeds, the souls fruits are in this constant ratio of the three qualities. Let us imagine that the fruits corresponding to the three qualities are measured in kilograms. Let us say that a certain soul, who has died on Earth and has reached the upper world, has 60 kg sattvam, 30 kg rajas and 10 kg tamas. This bundle of qualities of the soul, as it arrives in the upper worlds, is called the sanchita. The ratio of the three qualities in this particular soul is 60:30:10 and it remains approximately constant for that soul throughout its journey through the various worlds.

After enjoying the fruits of the soul’s bad and good deeds in hell and heaven respectively, the quantity of fruits or the intensity of sattvam, rajas and tamas in the soul, reduces to 60 gm, 30 gm and 10 gm respectively. Note that in spite of the reduction in intensity, the ratio of 60:30:10 remains constant. At this point, the soul is given a suitable new birth on Earth. The constant ratio of the three qualities determines the type of body and the external atmosphere in which the soul will be granted birth. The bundle of the three qualities of reduced intensity, in the same constant ratio, which results in giving the soul a fresh birth on Earth, is called prarabdham. After taking birth on Earth, the soul again performs actions as per the same ratio of its qualities. The performed actions lead to an increase in the intensity of sattvam, rajas and tamas to 60 kg, 30 kg and 10 kg respectively, while maintaining the same ratio. Thus, we see that throughout the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, the intensities of the qualities change and the place or the location of the soul changes. But the same ratio of the three qualities (60:30:10) is maintained.

Agami is the bundle of qualities at the end of the soul’s life on Earth. Sanchita is the bundle of qualities when the soul arrives in the upper world. Both the ratio as well as the intensities of the three qualities are the same for agami and sanchita. The difference is only in the place or location. Prarabdham is the bundle of qualities of a reduced intensity, in the same constant ratio, after the enjoyment of the fruits in the upper worlds, just before taking birth on Earth. Different souls have different ratios of the three qualities and the ratio remains more or less constant through the various life cycles of each soul. But a drastic positive change in that ratio can occur when a soul, during its life on Earth, gets the fortunate association of the Human Incarnation of God. The soul learns and digests true spiritual knowledge (sattvam) from the Incarnation, which destroys its ego (rajas) and ignorance (tamas).

 
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