Jnana Burns Away Karma

Sri Tandavaraya Swami

Disciple:

If emancipation be the sole outcome of the realization of identity of the individual self with the universal Self, how then did some of the sages who were liberated here and now, exert themselves for the attainment of siddhis?

Master: 

Prarabdha spends itself only after bestowing its fruits that are experienced (as pain and pleasure). Therefore the siddhis gained by emancipated sages must be considered to be the results of prarabdha only.

Disciple:

O Master who so graciously answers all my questions with holy texts and reasoning, so that my mind may remain unshaken, I am now free from the delusions of the mind and remain pure and clear. There is certainly no harm in cleaning a mirror a little more even though it is already clean. O Lord who has removed my misery! Your words are like nectar and do not satiate. Can the scriptures say anything that is not absolutely true? Gracious Master, how can I reconcile the two statements: the karma of any person wears away only after bestowing its fruits; and the fire of pure wisdom burns away the karma which is waiting to bear fruits later on?

Master: 

My son, the jivas are unlimited, and their actions also are similarly unlimited. In three sections, the beneficent Vedas prescribe according to the aptitudes of seekers, with preliminary views succeeded by final conclusions, like flowers followed by fruits. Is it not true that sinners who must suffer in hells can yet be saved from them by means of pious gifts, mantras, austerities, yajna and the like? He who has faith in the saying of the Vedas, that the fire of jnana burns away all karma waiting to yield results, attains Liberation.

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From the Bhagavad Gita:

Even if you happen to be the worst of sinners, you will surely go across all sin by the raft of divine knowledge. Just as a well-kindled fire reduces a heap of fire-wood to ashes, so does the fire of divine knowledge reduce all sins to ashes.