Bhagya-Vaad and Karma-Vaad : These are the two conflicting views which people always have. The bhagyavaadi people say that everything is pre decided and will happen as per our luck, the second cult say that everything is in our hand, what we do , is what happens.
Actually , both the philosophies talk about the same truth, ironically people will not understand this easily.
The Hindu philosophy of karma and bhagya goes like this:
- When one takes birth, he is assigned a portion of the karma stock he has accumulated in his previous births.This assigned portion is called "Prarabdh Karma", which we call as bhagya, luck, destiny. The person takes birth in a family , his health, wealth, wisdom, happiness and problems, all are as per this assigned karma stock called "Prarabdh".
- The complete stock of karmas which one has accumlated so far is called, "Sanchit Karma". Prarabdh is a portion taken out from this Sanchit Karma and allocated to a particular birth.
- The good/bad deeds which one does in the current birth are known as "Kriyamaan Karma".
"Prarabdh pahile bana, peeche bana sareer ; kabeer achambha hai yahi, man nahin bandhe dheer"
Meaning: Prarabhdha is decided , before we take birth, this is the strange reality of this world, but still our mind does not undertand this and is always impatient about the future.
Now the two most common questions which arise are:
1) If everything has to happen as per "Prarabdh Karma" then what are we doing here?
Yes, everything happens as per prarabdha karma, but the Kriyaaman karmas also have their effects and role to play.
Kabeer explains it like this:
"Keenhe bina upaye kachu, Dev kabhu naa det ; Khet beej bove nahin, to kyun jamen khet "
Meaning: Without one's endeavour, even the gods do not give anything. Why would a field yield, if no seeds have been sown in it.
2) Can pujas/rituals/remedies and/or our present karma help us in evading past karamas?
Astrological/Tantrik/Relgious texts do mention about pujas, rituals , fasts and remedial measures to reduce the karmic influences of prarabdh karma. Yes, they help us reduce karmic influences, but it is like creating positive energy to counter-act the negative energy of our bad deeds. The karmic energy of bad deeds do not reduce, they are intact; it is only that we create some positive energy to help us .
It is like, if you are destined to be hurt by a sword, You will surely get hurt, but at the same time in case you have done some positive karma/remedies you would get some one who would look after for you and help you till you heal.
Also our present karmas can help us. Example, if a person is destined to be poor, he will be poor. But if he does a lot of hard work to earn money, he can get a little more than what he was supposed to get, since the present karmas also count. The only thing is that Kriyaaman Karma take their time to give effects, just as, we sow a seed today, but we have to wait for years to get the fruits. So it is more of the prarabdh karma which has hold on us, then the kriyaaman karma.
Kabeer explains it better:
"Likha mite nahin karm ka, guru kar bhaj hari naam ; seedhe maarg nit chale, daya dharm visraam"
Meaning: Fruits of our karmas can not be averted, so it is advised to be in the shelter of Guru and always chant the name of God, while doing good deeds and following the path pf dharma and mercy.
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He died due to throat cancer, and was unable to talk , eat and drink in his last days.
During this time, he was asked by his devotees that, you are a sidha, Maa Kali talks to you, (it is believed that Maa used to appear to RamKrishna Paramhans, and accept the kheer as offering from him daily) why don't you ask her to cure this cancer. We all can not see you in this state.
On this, he laughed and told his devotees that, yes Kali can cure this throat cancer for me, but this is my Karma, If I don't bear it now, I will have to take birth again, just to finish this off. So , I choose to suffer and finish up this karmic debt of mine, so that I can attain Moksha.
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