Agami Karma - The Karma That Arrives From Today’s Actions

When we speak of karma, we often imagine a heavy past dragging us along, or a present destiny we cannot escape. But Vedanta adds another subtle category, one that points forward: agami (āgāmi), the karma that is not yet here but is being generated moment by moment. The word itself means “arriving.” Unlike sanchita—the vast backlog of accumulated deeds—or prarabdha—the portion already fructifying in this life—agami is the fresh imprint of today’s actions. Every decision, every word, every thought that arises with the sense of “I am the doer” becomes a seed that may ripen into tomorrow’s experience.

In this sense, agami represents our most immediate freedom and our most immediate bondage. Freedom, because right now I can choose how to act, how to respond, and whether to align with dharma or with impulse. Bondage, because if those actions spring from ignorance and self-centeredness, they weave new threads in the net of samsara. The present is not a clean slate; it is a loom, and every movement of mind and hand weaves another pattern that will either bind or release.

Yet the Vedantic teaching does not leave us in despair at this endless production of karmic fabric. It shifts the focus from the action to the actor. For the ordinary person, karma is inescapable: the doer acts, the results accrue, and agami piles on. But for the one who has seen the truth of the Self, no agami arises. Why? Because action itself is not the problem; it is the sense of doership. When the ego dissolves in the light of knowledge, the burnt rope of action may still move, but it cannot bind. From the standpoint of the jnani (one with Self-knowledge), there is no one left to accumulate karma—no account in which to deposit new seeds.

This is why the scriptures often say: sanchita destroyed, agami neutralized, prarabdha alone remains. The liberated one lives out the unfolding prarabdha of the body but does so untouched, like the sun reflecting in a puddle yet never wet. For such a person, there is no “future karma” to be feared, because the very machinery of karma has lost its fuel.

For seekers, the concept of agami is both a warning and an invitation. It warns us that every careless act sows a seed we will eventually harvest. But it invites us, too, to live deliberately: to align each choice with dharma, to cultivate sattva, to let our daily life become a field of purification rather than entanglement. More than anything, it invites us to question the root assumption—“I am the doer”—and see through it. Because the true Self does not act, does not enjoy, and does not bind.

In that vision, the very category of agami collapses. What could possibly arrive for that which is timeless?

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Root & Meaning

The word āgāmi comes from the Sanskrit root gam (“to go”), with the prefix ā- (“towards, approaching”). Thus agami means “that which is coming” or “arriving.” In Vedantic terminology, agami karma refers to the “arriving karma,” i.e., the new karmas generated in the present life that will bear fruit in the future .

Scriptural References

• Bhagavad Gita 4.37–38 (commentaries): Krishna speaks of how the fire of knowledge burns up accumulated karmas; commentators clarify that while sanchita and agami karmas are destroyed by knowledge, prarabdha must be lived out.

• Yoga Vasishtha: Defines agami as the results of present actions that will be added to one’s store of karmas.

• Advaita Vedanta teachers: Swami Tejomayananda, Swami Paramarthananda, and others consistently explain agami as the karmic “income” that gets added to the karmic “capital” of sanchita.

• Sri Ramana Maharshi: Accepted the working of agami at the empirical level, but taught that once the ego dissolves in Self-realization, there is no doer left to generate new karma.

Traditional View

The threefold division of karma is often explained through analogy:

• Sanchita = accumulated karmas (capital account)

• Prarabdha = portion of karmas currently fructifying (spending account)

• Agami = newly created karmas in this life (income account)

Agami karma arises whenever action is performed with a sense of doership (kartritva) and ownership (bhoktritva). The results may fructify in the current life or remain in seed form to join the storehouse of sanchita.

Vedantic Analysis

Advaita Vedanta clarifies that karma itself does not bind; rather, identification with the ego-doer binds. For the ajnani (ignorant one), every action done with ego creates Agami. For the jnani (knower of the Self), there is no longer a doer, and thus no new agami accrues.

Shankara and later teachers emphasize that self-knowledge (atma-jnana) burns sanchita, neutralizes agami, and allows prarabdha alone to play out until the body falls. Hence the jivanmukta is free of future birth, as no fresh karmic seeds are being sown.

Common Misunderstandings

• “Agami means future suffering only.” Not so. Agami is simply the future karmic result of present actions, whether pleasant (punya) or painful (papa).

• “All agami must be experienced immediately.” Some agami does fructify in this very life, but much of it is deferred, feeding into the reservoir of sanchita.

• “Agami continues even after realization.” From the standpoint of non-duality, the jnani is not a doer; hence no new karma is generated. Post-realization actions are like the movement of a burnt rope—appearing real, but powerless to bind.

Vedantic Resolution

Agami highlights the dynamic aspect of karma: as long as one functions as a doer, the cycle perpetuates itself, and rebirth becomes inevitable. Vedanta resolves this by pointing to the falsity of the doer itself. When the ego is sublated through self-knowledge, no one remains to generate new karmas. In this way, agami—like the other forms of karma—belongs only to the empirical realm of ignorance and has no standing in the vision of the Self.