What is the meaning of prarabdha in Hinduism?

Prarabdha, also known as past karma, is all of our actions that have been committed in previous lives. It includes all of our thoughts, words and deeds. These actions are stored in a database called “the subtle body” or “the astral body” which is located above the physical body.

The prarabdha karma can be very beneficial or very harmful depending on how you use your free will to deal with them. For example, if you are born into a rich family and have no desire to work hard at all then you will most likely be born into another rich family because your mind set is that it should just come effortlessly to you. If on the other hand you were born into an extremely poor family then you would most likely be born into another poor family because your mind set was that hard work pays off in life whereas laziness doesn’t.

The law of karma says that whatever we do will come back to us at some point in time either now or in future lives but it also says that if we improve ourselves spiritually then we can reduce or even nullify our prarabhdha

Justice C 13

Prarabdha Karma is the karma that we have done in our past lives. The karma that we are experiencing now is called Samskara. Samskaras are the impressions left on our mind and body due to our past actions. Prarabdha Karma is the karma that was created by us in our previous life and it will be experienced in this present life. For example, if we were born with a disability or if someone abused us when we were young, then these things are prarabdha karma.

Prarabdha karmas are made up of three types:

Karma Maya : This type of prarabdha karma comes from previous births and affects your mind and body, but does not affect other people or their minds and bodies.

Vidhi Maya : This type of prarabdha karma comes from previous births and affects other people's minds and bodies, but does not affect your own mind or body.

Anubhava Maya : This type of prarabdha karma comes from previous births and affects both your own mind and body as well as other people's minds and bodies

Preslez C 662

I have written about the three types of karma in details in my vedanta for beginners blogs. If you wish to read, here is the link. https://os.me/short-stories/karma-the-action/ Thank you. Jai Shri Hari ! 🙏

Dr. Va... 25K

Prarabhda Karma = In my simplistic understanding these are the karma that are ripe to manifest in your life. We are born with some ripe karma which is called our prarabdha and this will manifest in our life so that we can work it out. 

Here are some videos from Swami Ji on this topic: 

https://youtu.be/yODZg4kotsQ

https://youtu.be/eiSDyms660Q

Sorry I do not know of this study that you speak of, however it sure would be an interesting watch / read. 

Deepa 4.3K

I was going to post a response, but Dr. Varsha's article provides a comprehensive explanation on the three types of karma's, I highly recommend it.

Prahalad 122.2K