Prarabdha is the outstanding or accrued fruit—the result—of actions you have taken in the past.
Let’s understand it in the simplest way.
When you sow a seed, you expect the tree to bear fruit. But if you sow the seed of a plant filled with thorns, can you expect it to give you sweet fruit? No. You can only expect thorns. Likewise, when you perform a certain action—whether with a positive or negative intention—you generate karmic reactions.
When you act with positive intention, you create good karma. When you act with negative intention, you create bad karma. The results of these actions accumulate. Some results come to you in the same lifetime. But if the scale of your good deeds is too great to be exhausted in one birth, those results are carried forward to the next. Similarly, if your bad deeds are too extensive to bear their fruits in this life, they too will carry over into your future births.
This accumulation of karmic result—both good and bad—from past lives is what is known as Prarabdha. It is your destiny in the form of fructified karma that must be experienced.
Let us take a basic scientific analogy—Newton’s Third Law of Motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Whenever you act, your energy is thrown into the universe. This energy travels across dimensions. Some of it returns immediately. Some of it may take lifetimes to come back to you. The reactions to your actions are received as emotional energies—negative energies return as grief, sadness, anger, anxiety, or loss. Positive actions come back as joy, peace, love, expansion, and blissful events.
Whether you act intentionally or unintentionally, every action, every thought, every movement of yours generates a corresponding reaction. That reaction must eventually be borne by you.
For example, if you show anger to someone to hurt them, the person may not respond right away. But the energy of separation you created in them will eventually return to you—as suffering, heartbreak, or emotional turmoil—at some point in your life. That return depends on the volume of energy you emitted and how intensely you identified with the negative emotion at the time.
So be very mindful of your actions. If your actions are good, the reactions will be good. And remember, the reaction may not come from the same person to whom you directed the action. Energy does not work linearly. What you emit into the universe returns through different people, situations, and timelines.
You might suffer from trauma, depression, or life struggles not because of anyone else’s doing, but because of what your own energy has attracted back from previous actions.
To help you understand this further, consider a business scenario.
Throughout the year, you make both profits and losses. You may have some outstanding expenses (what you owe) and some accrued income (what is owed to you). These carry forward to the next financial year. You must settle those before moving ahead. Likewise, your karmic debts and blessings carry forward—Prarabdha is this cosmic accounting system. Only when you settle them—through experience and conscious living—do you become free of the karma associated with them.
This understanding is liberating. You begin to realize the importance of each action you take. You stop acting recklessly, knowing the consequences must be faced—if not now, then later. In your past birth, you may have been unaware. But right now, after reading this, you are becoming aware.
And awareness is the key.
It is awareness that gives you the power to shape your future karma and therefore your future Prarabdha. Nobody can change the Prarabdha you’ve already created from your past lives. But you can change the Prarabdha of your future by choosing what karma you create now.
Can you change your Prarabdha?
The truth is, you cannot change the Prarabdha that is already fructifying in this life. Just as in business—you cannot undo last year’s transactions—you must face your current liabilities and receive your pending incomes.
But here is what you can change: your response.
You can respond to both positive and negative events with awareness. With the knowing that these are the results of your past actions—whether done in wisdom or ignorance—you can remain centered. You can stop reacting and instead start responding. When you become non-reactive, conscious, and balanced in the face of your own karma, you stop creating new mental imprints. You stop generating new suffering.
This is how you break the cycle. This is how you go beyond pain and pleasure. You begin to see things as they are. And this wisdom gives you a new dimension of life itself.
If you wish to understand more about your inner GPS, if you wish to know what part of your Prarabdha is causing your suffering or joy, you are welcome to connect with me. I offer one-on-one coaching to help you discover the deeper wisdom of your soul’s journey.
Thank you. May this wisdom serve your liberation.
