Page 2 - February-2026

Self-effort often conquers difficulties fashioned by destiny, and
therefore, self-effort is vital in life. However, it is also a fact that
there are occasions when even our best efforts fail. Indeed, not all
situations in life are under our complete control.

In the context of puruñärtha overcoming prärabdha, Vedänta speaks
of three types of prärabdha: manda (weak), madhyama (mediocre), and
tévra (strong). Manda-prärabdha, being weak in nature, is overcome
by minimal self-effort; madhyama-prärabdha can be conquered
by strong self-effort alone; and tévra-prärabdha is rarely overcome by
self-effort.
But then comes the question: How does one know whether
the prärabdha is ‘weak’ or ‘mediocre’ or ‘strong’? Indeed, there is
no way to know that beforehand until we engage our prärabdha
with our puruñärtha. That which can be easily overcome is ‘manda’,
that which is overcome by diligent effort is ‘madhyama’, and that
which remains unconquered despite our persistent self-efforts is
‘tévra’.
This complete philosophy of prärabdha and puruñärtha has often
been explained by Gurudev in his talks as well as writings. And
all this made sense to me as a student at Sandeepany. But when
I tried to see this prärabdha-puruñärtha theory in relation to the
Vedäntic concept of Éçvara, I had difficulties in comprehension, for
when I tried to harmonize the concepts of prärabdha-puruñärtha
and Éçvara, there arose a stumbling block.
Vedänta envisages Éçvara, the Lord, the Creator of the world, as
omniscient and omnipotent, that is ‘sarvajïa’ and ‘sarvaçaktimän’
respectively. But, if it is the individual’s prärabdha and puruñärtha
that governs his life, how can Éçvara be conceived of as
omnipotent? Well, one may argue that it is Éçvara alone who
has set the governing rule that man’s life will depend upon his
prärabdha and puruñärtha, and thus logically substantiate Éçvara’s
omnipotence. However I tried, I could not reconcile Éçvara’s
omniscience with the concept of individual will and self-effort.
For months, I strove for clarity but made no headway.
Discussions with my fellow Brahmacärins did not solve my question.
For all my doubts, our wise Äcärya was the solution. But when

Tapovan Prasad 37 February 2026