JnanaMarga and Sastraic Path

Sri Ramana Maharshi

18-11-1946

Question: If such rites as the annual ceremony performed by descendants are able to do away with the karma of the dead, it seems to strike at the root of the theory of karma. For then a man may escape the evil consequences of his bad acts through the help of the rites performed by his sons, etc. 

Answer: Such rites only help the deceased to a small extent. It is on the same principle that prayaschittam and good deeds are said to mitigate the evil consequences of one’s bad actions. 

After the visitor went away I asked Bhagavan, “Till three years ago, I was under the impression that doing annual ceremonies to the dead would confer benefit on them so long as they are not reborn.” Bhagavan intervened with the remark, “They will receive benefit though they are reborn several times and there is an agency to look after all this. Of course, Jnana marga does not say all this.” 

After a while I said, “Bhagavan used to say that if one believes in the existence of this world, one should also believe in the existence of other worlds.” Bhagavan said that it was so. 

I asked, “The jnani transcends all stages and he is not bound by any karma (vidhi or nisheda). The ajnani should do his own dharma prescribed by sastras till he gets jnana. But while he is attempting to reach jnana, will he be held responsible for the consequences of not doing the ordinary karma or will he be presumed to have done all this karma, just as a person reading in a higher class is presumed to have finished the lower classes?” 

Bhagavan said, “It depends on the superiority of the path one pursues. Unless a person has finished (in this or previous births) the other paths, he will not pursue the jnana path; and he need not bother himself that he has not done the various karmas prescribed by sastras. But he should not wilfully transgress the sastraic injunctions by doing things prohibited by them.”