Karma of past life yielding results in this life is referred
to as Prarabhda Karma in Hinduism. As per Hindu teachings, Karma is the law of
cause and effect. Prarabdha means that which has already started.
Karma acts are of three kinds:
- Sanchita – the whole stock of all acts accumulated in past lives.
- Prarabdha – those acts in the Sanchita karma which have started yielding their results – acts that are responsible for the present birth.
- Agami – generally acts that are performed in this birth.
All acts do not fructify all at once. Some of them are ripe
and fructify, while others wait their maturation. Those acts that have started
yielding their consequences, cannot be impeded in their operation. The will inexorably
run their course and their results have to be gone through.
The body of a human being is an instance of ripened moral
acts. Even the right liberating knowledge cannot stop this continuance of the
body till death. A person who becomes enlightened by wisdom cannot throw away
the body. The person must wait for its natural attenuation and death. However,
this does not stand in the way of his liberation. After the natural death of
the body, there is no future birth for the enlightened people.
The other two kinds of karmas (Sanchita and Agami0 may be
neutralized and nullified by human effort. With enlightenment, sanchita karmas
get destroyed and agami karmas, known as karmas performed after enlightenment, become
no more binding.
Notes taken from Encyclopedia of Hinduism Volume VIII page
249 – IHRF (2011)