[Advaita-l] Free will Versus Karma Phala

K Kathirasan NCS kkathir at ncs.com.sg
Wed Sep 12 22:04:33 CDT 2007


Namaste

Just to add on. One's Karmic progress which was forcibly interrupted by
the abuse of another person could also be the result of the former's
prarabdha karma. The network of Karmas can be so confusing that the very
pursuit of trying to understand it will lead one to Vairagya. This is
the inherent limitation of Karma. 

"The true nature of action is mysterious." Bhagavad Gita  4:17. 

Warmest Regards,
Kathirasan K
-----Original Message-----
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Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Free will Versus Karma Phala

Pranams
This is my understanding.
Whenever there is a act of violence - such as a murder - it constitutes
an abuse of free will which may unfortunately be interfering with the
fructification of someone else's prarabdha. This is also applicable to
say manmade disasters such as a bridge or building collapsing or a fire
that may be resulting from someone's careless act.
In such cases the law of karma continues as per Ishwara's perfect Order
and the person whose karmic progress was forcibly interrupted (due to
some other jiva's abuse of free will) will be reborn as per the current
diktats of his karmic balance.
Trust this clarifies.
Humble pranams.
Shri Gurubhyo nama
Hari OM
Shyam
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: "Vishwanathan Raman" <raman.vishwanathan at gmail.com>

Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2007 22:09:42 
To:advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Subject: [Advaita-l] Free will Versus Karma Phala


Pranams,

  I have a doubt lingering for sometime now and I am now posting it to
this
list hoping that some of the learned members will help me with my
understanding. Whatever I have stated below is based on my understanding
of
the Karma theory, and so if there are any flaws in it, I request you to
correct me.

 According to the Karma theory, every experience an individual
experiences
in his life is a result of his actions (either in the past or present
life).
There is a bank of Karma phala waiting for fructification (Sanchita) and
those that have fructified for the present birth is known as Prarabhdha
Karma. Those that are earned in the present birth is known as Agami
Karma
(and may fructify either in the present birth or in the future births).

 Further every human being is also endowed with a free will which allows
him
to choose the type of karma that he wishes to perform, with good karmas
earning him punya while the bad karmas earn him a paapa.

 For e.g. lets taken an incident such as a terrorist attack. In this
case
the result of actions of a few set of people is causing grief to lot of
people. I have difficulty in understanding such incidences. Is it that
the
attack serve as a means to distribute the Karma Phala of the individuals
(victims) concerned. [similar to what happens during natural
calamities].

 If so then the attackers have only been an instrument in the hands of
the
Lord to give the karma phala to the individuals concerned (nimitta
matram
bhava savyasachin B.Gita Ch.11-V.33) and no papam should accrue to them.

 But clearly this defies logic, as even in the case of a individual
committing suicide, papam accrues to the person, since he is abusing his
freewill. Thus the act of terrorism can only be an act that abuses
freewill.
But then how does one explain the suffering undergone by people who are
affected by such acts.

 I don't have problem understanding suffering caused due to events such
as
natural disasters, suffering caused to diseases, or events that happen
to
which prior motive cannot be attributed (like accidents etc). But when
willfull action by an individual causes harm to others, I am unable to
understand / explain it using the karma theory.

 Shree Gurubhyo Namaha ||

-Viswanathan.R
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