The statement in revelation that prarabdha karma survives is only in conformity with the view of the ignorant. From their point of view, those actions have results, because in their view the sage is embodied.
But this is only in some stray contexts. More emphatically in many places the Vedantas support the teaching of the sages.
The vedantic text, ‘The pleasant and unpleasant effects [of actions] do not affect the sage, who dwells bodiless as the Self,’ shows the unfruitfulness of the actions of the sage.
This is also confirmed by the following from the Yoga Vasishtam.
Even when a sage’s body is cut or burnt, there is no swerving from his real nature, just as jaggery [raw, brown sugar] does not lose its natural sweetness even when powdered or boiled over fire.
A practical instance of this occurred when Bhagavan, who had cancer of the left arm, finally submitted to an extensive operation, which was insisted upon by the surgeons and doctors sent for by the ashram authorities. Bhagavan did not have any anaesthetic, and the operation lasted for nearly three hours.If he felt the pain, he did not show it.
Later, when asked about the pain, he quoted the verse from the Yoga Vasishtam whose meaning has been given above.
There were other instances in his life which showed his unlimited power of endurance of pain. The Bhagavad Gita has this line: ‘Remaining wherein, he is not shaken [from his natural state] even by great pain.’
All this would suffice to show that the sage is really bodiless, that he is thus truly asanga, unattached, as the Self is said to be in the Upanishads.
This raises the question of the apparent distinction between the two kinds of deliverance spoken of: deliverance with the body and deliverance without the body, the former being supposed to be the state in which the body continues to live, and the latter after the body’s death. To this Bhagavan’s answer is given in the following verse.
In conformity with the beliefs of the ignorant, two kinds of deliverance are stated, one with the body [jivanmukti] and another without the body [videhamukti]. Really, no free one has a body. All deliverance is bodiless.
What is meant is that though the body remains alive, the sage is unattached, because his causal body, which is ignorance, has been destroyed. Without this, there is nothing to connect the real Self, which the sage is, with the subtle and the gross bodies.
Now the question of the prarabdha karma is resumed.
The power of the prarabdha karma extends only to the body; it does not affect the Self. Since his body has been surrendered to prarabdha by the sage, how can he be affected by the karma?
‘The sage, having given over his body to prarabdha karma, remains in his own state without the sense of “mineness” in the body.’ Thus, the great Guru Sankara has shown the truth of this in his Manisha Panchakam.
The truth that the real Self is unattached is further elucidated.
If it is said that the subtle body of the sage survives, [the answer is that] since the causal body consisting of ignorance has been extinguished, how can there be attachment of the sage [the Self] to the subtle body?
Since Brahman is unattached, so is the sage, who also appears to be in samsara, like the sky. Hence, the changes in the body and in the mind do not touch the sage.
The sage, who is wide-awake in his own natural state [as the Self], is said to be like one soundly asleep in a carriage. The body is likened to a carriage, and the ten sense organs are likened to the horses [of the carriage].
The sleeper in the carriage does not know anything about the going, the stopping and the unyoking of the horses [of the carriage]. Just so, the sage who is asleep [to the world] in the carriage, the body, does not know its changing conditions.
But the sage, being immersed in his natural samadhi, is seen by the ignorant as if he were doing actions and going through various [bodily or mental] conditions. Seeing these, the undiscriminating ones are confused.
It appears to the ignorant that he has three distinct states, sleep, samadhi and bodily activities, and the ignorant one thinks that these are distinct from one another.
But the sage is always the same. His state is one of eternal samadhi. This samadhi [of his] is not in any way hindered in the least by actions, nor are actions hindered in the least by the samadhi.
Samadhi is the state of awareness of the Self alone.
If the sage remains in samadhi all the time, how can actions be performed? The answer is given in the verses that follow:
There are two thought-free samadhis. One is called kevala, the other is called sahaja [natural]. By attaining kevala one does not become a sage. He alone is a sage who is firmly established in sahaja.
These two are further distinguished and explained in the verses that follow.
The kevala samadhi mentioned here is one that comes to a yogi by the mind going into latency. For him, it is well known that there are two distinct states, samadhi [introvertedness] and coming back [to the common waking of samsara].
It has been shown before that mental quiescence is of two kinds: latency and complete and final extinction, and that the latter alone leads to sagehood. This makes all the difference, as shown below.
The yogi’s mind, in his samadhi, remains latent with all its vasanas. After remaining for a very long time, it is brought out to samsara by a vasana.
When he is thrown out from the samadhi, he resumes samsara just where he left it, just as an anaesthetised person [on recovering consciousness] resumes an activity left unfinished before.
This was illustrated by Bhagavan by the story of a yogi. He had awakened from samadhi and being thirsty asked his disciple to bring water to drink. But before the water was brought he again went into samadhi and remained in it for about three centuries, during which the Muslim raj came and went and was superseded by the British raj. When he awoke, he called out, addressing his disciple who had long since died, ‘Have you brought water?’
The yogi, returning in this way to samsara, again enters samadhi with effort. But the sage, being established in the natural state [sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi] neither loses it nor gets it back [but remains in it uninterruptedly].
The sage never comes back to samsara. Samadhi is his natural state. There is no moment when he is without samadhi. Hence it is called sahaja [natural].
This samadhi is different from the kevala of the yogi in that it does not prevent the sage being seemingly active in the world while remaining in his samadhi.
The sage, remaining uninterruptedly in his natural state of samadhi, never swerving from it as a jivan mukta, is able to be active in the world, just as the sages of old such as Sri Sankaracharya did.
The yogi, while he is immersed in his kevala samadhi, is unable to do any work. When he comes out of the samadhi, then he does work, and is subject to ignorance.
The yogi is not equal to the task of teaching the truth of the real Self [and the sadhana for realising it] to disciples. The sage alone, remaining always, unswervingly, in the supreme state, is perfectly competent to teach and guide disciples.
If this sahaja samadhi is not accepted, it will follow that the sacred books, such as the Gita etc. are false. Sacred books are authoritative for the aspirants to deliverance, since they are filled with the teachings of sages.
It is the succession of sages that preserves the correct tradition of the science of right awareness of the real Self for the benefit of the aspirants to deliverance.
The final proof is one’s own experience of the truth, wherein doubts can no more arise. Until such experience is attained, the utterances of the sages are authority for the aspirants.
The difference between the two kinds of nirvikalpa [thought-free] samadhis was explained by Bhagavan as follows.
The sage [who is in sahaja samadhi] is like the river that has joined the ocean and become merged in it. The yogi in the kevala state is like a bucket let down into a well by means of a rope tied to it.
The bucket, when drawn up by the rope, comes out of the well. Just so the mind immersed in kevala samadhi is pulled out of it by vasanas back to samsara.
Thus it has been shown by the most holy one that the sage in the natural samadhi has no activity. But though by nature the sage is no actor, yet he is also a great actor, without being attached [or bound].
The sage has the whole potency of God in doing his appointed work, and hence there is no limit to his power, because, being egoless, the divine power works through his subtle and gross bodies.
The great blessing that disciples and devotees of the sage derive from associating with him is next expounded.
What is called association with the holy [satsang] is association with a sage. The term sat [truth, reality] means Brahman, and the sage is identical with that.
It must not be doubted, ‘Since all alike are Brahman, what is there special in the sage?’ In others, the real [Brahman] is eclipsed by the ego, but in the sage Brahman shines in its fullest effulgence.
In the company of sages, attachment vanishes, and with attachment, illusion. Freed from illusion, one attains stability, and thence liberation while yet alive. Seek therefore the company of sages.
Not by listening to preachers, nor by study of books, nor by meritorious deeds nor by any other means can one attain that supreme state, which is attainable only through association with the sages and the clear quest of the Self.
But this is only in some stray contexts. More emphatically in many places the Vedantas support the teaching of the sages.
The vedantic text, ‘The pleasant and unpleasant effects [of actions] do not affect the sage, who dwells bodiless as the Self,’ shows the unfruitfulness of the actions of the sage.
This is also confirmed by the following from the Yoga Vasishtam.
Even when a sage’s body is cut or burnt, there is no swerving from his real nature, just as jaggery [raw, brown sugar] does not lose its natural sweetness even when powdered or boiled over fire.
A practical instance of this occurred when Bhagavan, who had cancer of the left arm, finally submitted to an extensive operation, which was insisted upon by the surgeons and doctors sent for by the ashram authorities. Bhagavan did not have any anaesthetic, and the operation lasted for nearly three hours.If he felt the pain, he did not show it.
Later, when asked about the pain, he quoted the verse from the Yoga Vasishtam whose meaning has been given above.
There were other instances in his life which showed his unlimited power of endurance of pain. The Bhagavad Gita has this line: ‘Remaining wherein, he is not shaken [from his natural state] even by great pain.’
All this would suffice to show that the sage is really bodiless, that he is thus truly asanga, unattached, as the Self is said to be in the Upanishads.
This raises the question of the apparent distinction between the two kinds of deliverance spoken of: deliverance with the body and deliverance without the body, the former being supposed to be the state in which the body continues to live, and the latter after the body’s death. To this Bhagavan’s answer is given in the following verse.
In conformity with the beliefs of the ignorant, two kinds of deliverance are stated, one with the body [jivanmukti] and another without the body [videhamukti]. Really, no free one has a body. All deliverance is bodiless.
What is meant is that though the body remains alive, the sage is unattached, because his causal body, which is ignorance, has been destroyed. Without this, there is nothing to connect the real Self, which the sage is, with the subtle and the gross bodies.
Now the question of the prarabdha karma is resumed.
The power of the prarabdha karma extends only to the body; it does not affect the Self. Since his body has been surrendered to prarabdha by the sage, how can he be affected by the karma?
‘The sage, having given over his body to prarabdha karma, remains in his own state without the sense of “mineness” in the body.’ Thus, the great Guru Sankara has shown the truth of this in his Manisha Panchakam.
The truth that the real Self is unattached is further elucidated.
If it is said that the subtle body of the sage survives, [the answer is that] since the causal body consisting of ignorance has been extinguished, how can there be attachment of the sage [the Self] to the subtle body?
Since Brahman is unattached, so is the sage, who also appears to be in samsara, like the sky. Hence, the changes in the body and in the mind do not touch the sage.
The sage, who is wide-awake in his own natural state [as the Self], is said to be like one soundly asleep in a carriage. The body is likened to a carriage, and the ten sense organs are likened to the horses [of the carriage].
The sleeper in the carriage does not know anything about the going, the stopping and the unyoking of the horses [of the carriage]. Just so, the sage who is asleep [to the world] in the carriage, the body, does not know its changing conditions.
But the sage, being immersed in his natural samadhi, is seen by the ignorant as if he were doing actions and going through various [bodily or mental] conditions. Seeing these, the undiscriminating ones are confused.
It appears to the ignorant that he has three distinct states, sleep, samadhi and bodily activities, and the ignorant one thinks that these are distinct from one another.
But the sage is always the same. His state is one of eternal samadhi. This samadhi [of his] is not in any way hindered in the least by actions, nor are actions hindered in the least by the samadhi.
Samadhi is the state of awareness of the Self alone.
If the sage remains in samadhi all the time, how can actions be performed? The answer is given in the verses that follow:
There are two thought-free samadhis. One is called kevala, the other is called sahaja [natural]. By attaining kevala one does not become a sage. He alone is a sage who is firmly established in sahaja.
These two are further distinguished and explained in the verses that follow.
The kevala samadhi mentioned here is one that comes to a yogi by the mind going into latency. For him, it is well known that there are two distinct states, samadhi [introvertedness] and coming back [to the common waking of samsara].
It has been shown before that mental quiescence is of two kinds: latency and complete and final extinction, and that the latter alone leads to sagehood. This makes all the difference, as shown below.
The yogi’s mind, in his samadhi, remains latent with all its vasanas. After remaining for a very long time, it is brought out to samsara by a vasana.
When he is thrown out from the samadhi, he resumes samsara just where he left it, just as an anaesthetised person [on recovering consciousness] resumes an activity left unfinished before.
This was illustrated by Bhagavan by the story of a yogi. He had awakened from samadhi and being thirsty asked his disciple to bring water to drink. But before the water was brought he again went into samadhi and remained in it for about three centuries, during which the Muslim raj came and went and was superseded by the British raj. When he awoke, he called out, addressing his disciple who had long since died, ‘Have you brought water?’
The yogi, returning in this way to samsara, again enters samadhi with effort. But the sage, being established in the natural state [sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi] neither loses it nor gets it back [but remains in it uninterruptedly].
The sage never comes back to samsara. Samadhi is his natural state. There is no moment when he is without samadhi. Hence it is called sahaja [natural].
This samadhi is different from the kevala of the yogi in that it does not prevent the sage being seemingly active in the world while remaining in his samadhi.
The sage, remaining uninterruptedly in his natural state of samadhi, never swerving from it as a jivan mukta, is able to be active in the world, just as the sages of old such as Sri Sankaracharya did.
The yogi, while he is immersed in his kevala samadhi, is unable to do any work. When he comes out of the samadhi, then he does work, and is subject to ignorance.
The yogi is not equal to the task of teaching the truth of the real Self [and the sadhana for realising it] to disciples. The sage alone, remaining always, unswervingly, in the supreme state, is perfectly competent to teach and guide disciples.
If this sahaja samadhi is not accepted, it will follow that the sacred books, such as the Gita etc. are false. Sacred books are authoritative for the aspirants to deliverance, since they are filled with the teachings of sages.
It is the succession of sages that preserves the correct tradition of the science of right awareness of the real Self for the benefit of the aspirants to deliverance.
The final proof is one’s own experience of the truth, wherein doubts can no more arise. Until such experience is attained, the utterances of the sages are authority for the aspirants.
The difference between the two kinds of nirvikalpa [thought-free] samadhis was explained by Bhagavan as follows.
The sage [who is in sahaja samadhi] is like the river that has joined the ocean and become merged in it. The yogi in the kevala state is like a bucket let down into a well by means of a rope tied to it.
The bucket, when drawn up by the rope, comes out of the well. Just so the mind immersed in kevala samadhi is pulled out of it by vasanas back to samsara.
Thus it has been shown by the most holy one that the sage in the natural samadhi has no activity. But though by nature the sage is no actor, yet he is also a great actor, without being attached [or bound].
The sage has the whole potency of God in doing his appointed work, and hence there is no limit to his power, because, being egoless, the divine power works through his subtle and gross bodies.
The great blessing that disciples and devotees of the sage derive from associating with him is next expounded.
What is called association with the holy [satsang] is association with a sage. The term sat [truth, reality] means Brahman, and the sage is identical with that.
It must not be doubted, ‘Since all alike are Brahman, what is there special in the sage?’ In others, the real [Brahman] is eclipsed by the ego, but in the sage Brahman shines in its fullest effulgence.
In the company of sages, attachment vanishes, and with attachment, illusion. Freed from illusion, one attains stability, and thence liberation while yet alive. Seek therefore the company of sages.
Not by listening to preachers, nor by study of books, nor by meritorious deeds nor by any other means can one attain that supreme state, which is attainable only through association with the sages and the clear quest of the Self.
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