philosophy
What is prarabdha karma versus sanchita and agami karma?
What the tradition says
Vedanta often splits karma into three parts to explain how cause and effect work over many lifetimes. Sanchita is the big stored-up pile, the sum of all actions from the past that have not yet borne fruit. Prarabdha is the slice of that store that has already begun to ripen, the part shaping the life you are living now. Tradition compares it to an arrow already shot from the bow, which must run its course. Agami, also called kriyamana, is the fresh karma you create through your actions today, which adds to the store for the future. This threefold idea appears in texts linked to Vedanta thought, such as the Vivekachudamani.
A way to picture it
A common image is a granary of seeds. Sanchita is the whole granary. Prarabdha is the handful of seeds taken out and planted, now growing into the plant of this life. Agami is the new seeds you gather as you act each day. The three are not separate karmas but stages: stored, sprouting, and freshly made.
Can karma be erased or must it be lived out?
Here the tradition offers different views. A widely held idea is that even a jnani, one who has realized the true self, still lives out prarabdha karma until the body falls away, because that arrow is already in flight. Knowledge is said to burn up the stored sanchita and stop new agami from binding, but the part already ripening plays out. Other teachers read this more loosely, and some devotional paths add that grace or surrender can ease the load. So whether all karma must always be experienced is debated within the tradition itself.
Why people find it useful
Many people use this framework to make sense of why life feels partly set and partly open. Prarabdha can be seen as the hand you were dealt, while agami is what you do with it now. It offers meaning and a sense of agency rather than a fixed fate. It is a philosophical idea, held in different ways across teachers and schools, not a claim that can be measured or proven.