Sensei Rajeev on sanchit karma, prarabdh karma and kriyaman karma, on attachment, and on the meaning of zero balance.
Karma Bhog arises from three kinds of karma. The first is sanchit karma. We can picture it as something we hold in a bank or a storehouse, to which every month we add another deposit. It keeps growing all the time.
Sanchit means "stored" or "accumulated". It is the karma that has been depositing itself since the very beginning of our journey. In the past we have passed through many lives, and this accumulated karma produces a reaction, a response.
Prarabdh karma: what has already begun to act
When the reaction from previous lives becomes ready to manifest in this life, it begins to act and it happens. That is the second category — prarabdh karma. It is something that is already prepared to occur, or is on the very verge of taking place.
It is like firing a gun: the moment you pull the trigger, the bullet can no longer return into the barrel.
Prarabdh that has already begun to act can be reversed only by a fully realised master — a poorna guru. He can reduce its impact to an absolute minimum, and if he so wishes, he can remove it entirely. Someone, for instance, was meant to die, but instead the consequence is divided into smaller parts: for five years they experience pain or a certain ailment, then they are fine again — and they do not die.
Kriyaman karma: what we are doing right now
The third category is kriyaman karma. It is what we are doing right now. The act itself — for instance, when I take a sip from a cup — already creates a certain karma bhog and deposits itself into our bank of sanchit karma.
The whole of human life is entangled in this cycle, and a person cannot get out of it. So what is the way? What is the solution?
The solution is, in essence, very simple.
We do not have the past under our control. Prarabdh is a result of the past, and so we have no control over it either. But over the third category, kriyaman karma — that is, over what we are doing now — we do have control. It is precisely here that we can act rightly and correct our karma.
Attachment is what decides
How is this possible? I drank two cups of tea, but I am not attached to them. I reprimanded you, but I am not attached to that reprimand either. I am only carrying out my duty.
The moment I become attached, karma bhog arises. If it touches me that someone reprimanded me, and I say to myself: "He reprimanded me. Next time I come…", karma bhog is created.
It is similar when defending one's own country. You attack, and I defend it. I feel no hostility toward you, but I will kill you, because I am carrying out my duty. There is nothing personal in it — no karma bhog.
Sadhana and the meaning of zero balance
During sadhana we remove sanchit karma, that is, stored karma bhog. We reduce what we created in the past and what we hold in our imagined bank. If some part of the karma bhog is so intense that we cannot remove it ourselves, a master or guru helps and softens its impact. The Guru will take care of, say, ninety-five per cent, and leaves the remaining five per cent for us, so that we complete the work through our own sadhana.
Because of these three kinds of karma, life is full of suffering and we cannot step out of it. We cleanse one karma, but at the same time we create another. The balance is therefore never zero.
That is precisely the meaning of zero balance: the past is at zero, prarabdh is at zero, and the result of what we are doing right now also represents zero karma.
That is the first level. Once a person completes it, they move higher. The next level of zero balance is the universe, and the third is the supercosmos at the level of the very origin. But it is not possible to reach the higher levels until we reach zero balance in sanchit, prarabdh and kriyaman karma.
How the present is stored into the past
Kriyaman is what is happening right at this very moment. Imagine I turn a piece of paper over five times. The first turn is still kriyaman, but a second later it has already been stored as sanchit karma. The same happens with the second, third, fourth and fifth turn.
But if I am not attached to the act, I am drashta and sakshi — the observer and the witness. I am not the one who acts. No reaction arises, the act disappears, and nothing is stored. No karma bhog arises.
The story of Babaji Mahavatar
Let us recall the story of Babaji Mahavatar and his disciples. They were direct disciples of Babaji Mahavatar, and so they had to be at least on the level of Jesus Christ. Yet Babaji burned one of them with fire three times.
The disciple was destined to die in a fire in three lifetimes. Babaji softened his karma by only burning his hand. The prarabdh was thus completed, yet he had to be burned. Babaji then healed the disciple. Only a fully realised master can do that.
When I tell you: "Do this, don't do that," it concerns only kriyaman karma — it is about not getting caught in a trap of your own making.
Attachment holds us in the past
Whatever has already happened is the past. If I am attached to it, I will keep dwelling in the past. This is how we have arranged our whole life, our culture and our society, and that is why we cannot step out of this cycle.
We look at photographs of how we looked at six months old, at one year, or at twelve months. We keep living in the past this way.
In 1984 I won the Rockmans World Cup and received a huge trophy. It stood in the living room; I cleaned and polished it regularly. Every time I saw it, I felt good and took pleasure in it.
One day I realised how deeply I was attached to my trophy, and that it had become an obstacle on my further path. I broke it into small pieces and put them into a bag. I gave the bag to a student with the words: "Once I am no longer here and you still are, you can take glue and put it back together."
For seven days I felt very sorry about it, and inside I wept. But on the eighth day everything vanished. It was gone, and it was over. The ability to detach from things this way came through long practice.
I have also never travelled with a camera. The photographs from karate that I have were given to me by other people from various countries. At competitions at home and abroad I received many large commemorative items and gifts. And yet in my house you will not find a single trace that I ever practised karate, apart from a kimono or gi.
I used to be in the national newspapers often, sometimes even on half a page. At first I would cut out and keep the articles. A large collection built up out of it, but today it lies somewhere in the rubbish in the attic. I don't even know if it is still there. It is gone, because I am no longer attached to it. If I had remained attached, I could not have moved forward.
When, of course, you take photographs for the website or create content, that is your work. It is kriyaman karma to which you are not personally attached. I am not saying you should not take photographs. I am only saying that you should not become attached to your photographs.
Admonishment as duty
Why else would I admonish others and earn their displeasure or resentment? I could stay pleasant and praise everyone. But by doing so I would be committing an injustice against myself.
I know that I can wound a person deeply with my words. When I recently admonished Andrea, I knew that inside she was very sad and deeply hurt, even though she herself said she was not. I can say: "I'm sorry," but I will continue admonishing. If I did not do it, I would create an attached kriyaman karma for myself by not carrying out my work properly. Once I carry it out, it is done. I am free and I am not attached.
My wife often scolds me for admonishing everyone around me. She tells me that I put people off and that they leave because of me. I answer her that this is their problem; my task is to carry out my work.
Some people leave and return after twenty years with the words: "I'm sorry, I should have followed you." They ask how they can begin again, but I tell them it is already too late.
During (an unclear word in the transcript) sadhana I can come across as harsh. I say jokingly that if I had a remote-controlled AK-47, I would shoot at the participants even over Zoom. People are sometimes afraid, yet they stay all the same. I tell them to leave, and they want to come back, because they come to realise certain things. Some beg to be accepted back, even if they were late by a single day. Sometimes I say no, other times I finally agree.
We ourselves create both pain and happiness
The essence is simple: sanchit, prarabdh and kriyaman karma. Whatever happens in our life — pain, agony, problems as well as happiness — we create it ourselves. No one else.
When Paramahansa Yogananda was preparing to leave for America, his guru Sri Yukteswar Giri told him: "When you go to the Western world, do not wound anyone's ego. When you strike a person's ego, they will throw you out."
Yogananda therefore, throughout his life in the United States, never wounded anyone on their ego. Even when someone did something foolish, he said: "God, forgive him." In the true sense of the word, according to Sensei, not one of his disciples became a real disciple in this way.
I proceed the opposite way: I strike the ego first. If a person withstands this shock, they remain inside. If not, they leave. From the standpoint of my own kriyaman karma, I am thus on the safe side.
I always explain to my wife why I do this, but she is not usually convinced by it. Sometimes she then admonishes me. When I ask her why, she answers: "For the same reason as you."
Karma bhog and sound during sadhana
During sadhana, karma bhog resides in the space between the kutastha and the sahasrara. Also the letters, words and sounds that we produce — Sanskrit vowels such as "a", "i", "u" and "e", and consonants such as "ka", "kha", "ga", "cha", "ta", "da" and "pa" — arise out of the spine.
The individual sounds are connected with different places: for example "sa" with the muladhara, another sound with the crown chakra, and the sound "mmm" with the sahasrara. The sound "om" too contains "mmm" within it.
When this vibration is present between the kutastha and the sahasrara, it removes karma bhog and creates harmony. It is the action of sound in the region stretching from the sahasrara down to the muladhara.
The choice is ours, the consequences are not
You have the freedom to do as you please. You can decide whether to have one bottle, or ten. You have control over that choice. But over its consequences you have no control at all. They will come.
Someone lives a wild life, changing many women, partners and companies. It seems to them that they are leading a beautiful life. But one day their karma bhog arrives — the day of reckoning. We alone bear responsibility for everything, no one else.
Confession and not repeating the same mistake
That is why, according to Sensei, Jesus gave Christianity a very good technique: confession. When you confess in the presence of someone else, you are no longer the only one who knows about your act. You must suppress the ego, show humility, and ask for forgiveness.
Someone may come and say: "Father, I killed four people. Please forgive me. God, forgive me." Then they leave, commit five more murders, and come back again.
Genuine confession, however, means that we no longer repeat the same mistake.
That is why we must be very careful in what we do. In kriyaman karma, in this present moment, we must be precisely aware of our own actions. We must know what we are doing.
When I see a mistake, I warn you immediately: "Look at this." The ego may not like such a warning. But for your further path it is very good indeed.
A lesson to close on
We cannot rewrite the past, and over the consequences already set in motion we do not have full control. The space for change lies in the present moment — in what we are doing right now, with what awareness we act, and whether we become attached to our deeds and their results.
The point, therefore, is not to stop acting, to avoid duties, or to forbid ourselves an ordinary life. What matters is knowing what we are doing, accepting responsibility for our choices, and not consciously repeating the same mistake. It is precisely mindful action free of personal attachment that, according to this talk, keeps further karma from being added to the deposits of the past.
Which karma we can influence ourselves, and which Gurudev can
The division of responsibility is clear in the talk: we ourselves can directly influence kriyaman karma, if we consciously remain in the present moment and in the stance of the observer. We cleanse sanchit karma through our own sadhana, but Gurudev can help with its very intense part. Prarabdh karma that has already begun to act we cannot change ourselves — its course can be corrected, its impact fundamentally softened, or — if he so wishes — removed entirely, only by Gurudev.
For each of the three kinds of karma, this means:
Sanchit karma is the accumulated karma of the past. A person removes it through their own sadhana. But if some stored karma bhog is so intense that they cannot remove it themselves, Gurudev can help. According to the example given in the talk, he removes roughly ninety-five per cent and leaves the remaining five per cent for the person to complete through their own sadhana.
Prarabdh karma is the part of past karma that has already begun to act. This is precisely the karma that only a fully realised master — Gurudev — can correct. He can reverse its course and reduce its impact to an absolute minimum, and if he so chooses, remove it completely. A consequence that was meant to lead to death can thus manifest instead as only a time-limited pain or illness.
Kriyaman karma arises from what we are doing right now. This one we hold under our own direct control, but only when we consciously attend to our actions and remain in the present moment. We are meant to be drashta and sakshi — the observer and the witness — and not to cling either to the act or to its result. If we act without attachment, no reaction and no further karma bhog arises, and the act is not stored as new sanchit karma. Gurudev does not carry out our present actions for us, but through his instructions, admonishments and warnings he helps us avoid getting caught in a new karmic trap.
Zero balance, therefore, is not the result of human will alone. It combines remaining in the present moment, the stance of the observer, conscious action free of attachment, one's own sadhana, and Gurudev's help. A person is responsible for their own kriyaman karma and for their own practice; Gurudev can help with intense sanchit karma, and he alone can correct, fundamentally soften, or — if he chooses — completely remove the impact of prarabdh karma that has already begun to act.