Karma & Krambaddhparyay

Thanks for sharing the story.

Two observations:

  • Lord Mahavir answered in such a manner because the question was asked in that way. The question was in the form of a possibility, and so is the answer. Words like ‘suppose’, ‘in case’, ‘in the event’ etc. indicate that King Shrenik was curious to know about the possible future events and not the future events as they were destined to be. It was a conditional statement having the form of ‘if…then’ which need not correspond to the facts.

  • Had the question been something like this - What will happen to Rajarshi after this birth ? The answer from Lord Mahavira would have been - ‘there won’t be any births after this, he would soon attain liberation’.


I agree with this much. It is about the latter part that I am not sure.

The future is decided and thus the omniscient being is able to know it as it is. That the omnsicient knows everything (and does not predict something to be the case) is a very common phenomenon for us (Tattvarth Sutra: 1/29)

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