Sankaracarya's Vivekachudamani 418

प्रारब्धसूत्रग्रथितं शरीरं

प्रयातु वा तिष्ठतु गोरिव स्रक् ।

न तत्पुनः पश्यति तत्त्ववेत्ता

(आ)नन्दात्मनि ब्रह्मणि लीनवृत्तिः ॥

prārabdhasūtragrathitaṃ śarīraṃ

prayātu vā tiṣṭhatu goriva srak |

na tatpunaḥ paśyati tattvavettā

(ā)nandātmani brahmaṇi līnavṛttiḥ ||

(Sankaracarya's Vivekachudamani 418)

This body is woven from the fiber of Prarabdha* and the knower of Truth is not concerned whether it drops off or remains—like the garland around the cow‘s neck, for his thoughts are reposed in Brahman, the quintessence of Bliss.

*The Vedic texts divide Karma into three types: Sanchita, Agami, and Prarabdha. Sanchita is karma accumulated in the past; Agami is karma to be worked out in the future, and Prarabdha is karma that has begun to fructify in the present. Prarabdha karma is selected out of the past accumulated heap in such a manner that the selected portions can produce results without being mutually nullifying. Prarabdha karma has to be self-consistent, as otherwise, it can't work.

Sometimes it is observed that even a sage has to settle prarabdha karma although with the dawn of true knowledge—that he is not the body, hence not the doer—the sanchita (accumulated) karma has become debilitated and the agami (future) karma has lost its entire prospect. This is also only relatively true. Sri Ramana has explained this with an elegant analogy in Ulladu Narpadu Anubandham, verse 33: ―The statement that the jnani retains prarabdha while free from sanchita and agami is only a formal answer to the questions of the ignorant. Of several wives none escapes widowhood when the husband dies; even so, when the doer goes, all three karmas vanish‖ (Collected Works, 2000, p. 127).

In some of the later verses of Vivekachudamani (see verses 455, 459-464 below), Sankara states that prarabdha karma cannot be attributed to a jnani or to one who has realized the Self. For one who has realized that he is not the body, this classification ceases to exist in effect. In verses 463-364, for example, Sankara clearly states that scriptures expound the doctrine of prarabdha to satisfy the spiritually ignorant.

In a small treatise on Self-realization titled Aparokshanubhuti, Sri Sankara devotes a whole segment to clarify this enigmatic point. He opines that prarabdha is spoken of by the scriptures only for those who do not understand the highest truth and cites vedic texts to refute prarabdha. He asks: ―The body also being within the phenomenal world (and therefore unreal), how could Prarabdha exit?‖ (Vimuktananda, 2001, p. 51). Since the sage has become free from the idea ‗I am the body,‘ there is no ego left to claim doership of any sort. And when there is no ego, there is no karma left to work out. Sankara cites an important verse from Mundakopanisad (II.2.viii) to support his contention: ―And all the actions of a man perish when he realizes the highest Self, the Atman.‖ The full verse runs like this: ‗bidhtey hridyey granthi cheedantey sarva sanshaya, ksheeyante chasyey karmaani tasmin drsishtey pravarae‘ (When a person realizes Him in both the high and the low, the knots of heart are rent asunder, doubts dispelled, and all karmas exhausted).