- Karma is of two kinds: active and dormant; by performing Samyama on
them (is gained) knowledge of the time of death; also by (performing Samyama on)
portents.
Those who are familiar with the doctrine of Karma will recall that Karma is of
three kinds: Prarabdha, Samcita and Kriyamana. Samcita Karma is the total stock of
accumulated Karma, generated by an individual during the present and previous lives,
which has still to be worked out. Prarabdha is that portion of this total stock which
has to be worked out in the present incarnation. This portion is selected out of the total
stock at the beginning of each incarnation according to the opportunities provided by
the circumstances of the incarnation for the working out of particular types of Karma.
Kriyamana is the Karma which is generated from day to day. Some of this is exhausted
immediately while the remainder goes to swell the accumulated stock.
It will be clear from what has been said above that Prarabdha Karma is distin-
guishable from Samcita Karma by its potentiality for finding expression in the present
life and it should be possible for anyone who can obtain a bird's-eye view of the whole
landscape of Samskaras to separate this active Prarabdha Karma from the dormant
Samcita Karma. If this can be done then the determination of the time of death should
be quite easy. It will be the moment when all the Karmas included in Prarabdha are
due to be exhausted. This is what Samyama on the Samcita and Prarabdha Karma
brings about. But this Siddhi implies the power to raise the consciousness to the plane
of the Karana Sarira. It is this body which is the repository of all Karmic Samskaras
and it is only when the Yogi can function consciously in this body that he can investi-
gate successfully the Karmic potentialities of his own life or those of others.