Karmas after surrender

June 03, 2023 05:05 am | Updated 05:05 am IST

Prapatti or surrender to the Supreme One ensures that we have no future births, said Valayapet Ramachariar in a discourse. But if there are to be no more births, then we must not have any pending karmas, for which we have to face the results. What prapatti does is to get rid of the entire Sanchita Karma. But we are now in a birth, in which we continue to perform karmas. Will these not yield fruits? If they do, then how do we experience these fruits? And how are more births avoided?

The effects of anything that is done unknowingly after prapatti gets wiped out. So bad deeds that we do without being aware that we are doing wrong do not yield any results. But what of those karmas done knowingly? In the case of such karmas, if we regret our actions, then our remorse gets rid of one-fourth of the effects of that bad deed. If we do not repeat that bad deed, then another one-fourth is wiped out. When we begin to attempt atonement for our bad deed, another one-fourth of the effects is nullified. And finally, when we complete the prayaschtitta, the remaining effects go away.

But the Lord is unforgiving when we offend His devotees. In case we hurt or harm His devotees through our words or actions, we cannot go to Him for forgiveness. We must seek forgiveness from the devotee whom we have offended. Post prapatti, we continue to do acts, both good and bad. The effects of our good deeds done post prapatti go to those who are well disposed towards us. The effects of our bad deeds go to those who are inimical towards us. So our karmas, post prapatti do not just vanish. They merely get transferred to others, the good deeds going to the account of those who are friendly with us, and the bad deeds going to the account of those who treat us as enemies.

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