[Advaita-l] Prayaschitta Karma

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

Sankaracharya clearly states that the karma which produced the body is
exhausted only by experiencing it (rf. commentary to BG 4.37). But the jnani
does not endeavour with body and mind to act to experience or alter the
results like others. The Lord protects what he has and brings what he lacks
(rf. commentary to BG 9.22).

If prarabda is immutable even by jnana, then it will be deemed more powerful
than jnana. The reason prarabda remains is so that there is a jnani
available to teach others.

For those who want to alter the effects of prarabda due to attachment to the
body, it is possible by performance of required karma. It is not that karma
will only produce effect in the next life such as giving svarga etc.
Chandogya Upanishad etc. have prescriptions on begetting qualified sons and
daughters in this life. There are mantras for lighting fire, water
etc. which produce instantaneous results. It is not just new effect that can
be produced by karma but also a suffering removed in this life.  There are
countless examples from puranas to contemporary legends. Savithri, due to
her pati vratha shakti, was able to bring back to life satyavan by asking
for a boon to have a son. But one can argue that it was prarabda that it
should happen so. Jyotisha has enough prescriptions for countering the
effects of prarabda but again one could say that one will not get the
prescription or result if one did not have the prarabda to do so. The only
answer to that is karma is mutable and isvarAnugraha is more powerful than
karma.