No Karmas for Jnanis

(From Annamalai Swami's Diary Extracts)

In August 1939 I asked Bhagavan (B) a question about karma: 'Bhagavan says that when one attains jnana all the three karmas (sanchita, prarabdha and agamya karmas) cease to be. But in Kaivalya Navaneetam it is stated that the jnani will experience only prarabdha karma. Why does it say this?

B replied, "Prarabdha is the rule prior to the attainment of jnana. As such, even after the attainment of jnana, a jnani appears to be experiencing prarabdha in the sight of onlookers. There are several examples which are commonly used to explain this: an electric fan goes on spinning for sometime even after it is switched off; a burnt rope looks like a rope but it cannot be used to tie anything; a a tree that has been felled looks just like a living tree but it is no longer alive; peas which are roasted still look like peas but they cannot sprout.

The prarabdha of a jnani can be compared to examples such as these. When other people look at a jnani it seems to them that he is experiencing prarabdha but from the jnani's own point of view there is n prarabdha at all."

Two months earlier I had asked B a similar question: 

In the sastras it is stated that even the jivanmukta will behave according to his prarabdha. Why is B telling that a jnani has no prarabdha?

On that occasion B had replied, "For the jnani there is neither sastra nor prarabdha. Questions like this have no relevance for the jnani. All these rules in the sastras were created only for the ajnanis (those who are not jnanis). Let me give you an example. Let us say that a man has three wives. When the man dies who will agree with us if we say that only two of his former wives are widows. Is it not correct that all three of them are widows? Likewise for the jnani all the three kinds of karma are non-existent. prarabdha is only for those who see this problem and ask questions about it.