Kṛtya-akaraṇa — Omitting What Must Be Done
Kṛtya-akaraṇa — the failure to perform what śāstra prescribes — is the complementary transgression to akṛtya-karaṇa (doing what is prohibited). Together they exhaust the two ways a soul can deviate from the dharmic path: either by doing what should not be done, or by leaving undone what should be done.
The kṛtyas (what must be done) fall into two main categories. Nitya karma are daily obligations — the Sandhyāvandana (morning, noon, and evening prayers), the daily Tiruvārādhanam (home worship of Bhagavān), the Pañcamahāyajña (five great sacrifices of Vedic life). These are not optional enhancements but structural obligations whose omission constitutes a sin of omission (pāpa). Naimittika karma are occasion-specific obligations — śrāddha (ancestral rites), seasonal vratas (fasts), and the specific observances triggered by life events.
The Mīmāṃsā and Vedānta traditions treat the omission of nitya karma as a direct cause of dharma-kṣaya (erosion of dharmic foundation) in a person's life. The Dharmaśāstra texts list specific prāyaścittas (expiations) for neglecting various nitya and naimittika karmas — acknowledging that while they must be performed, failures can be corrected through sincere acknowledgment and renewed practice.
In the Śrī Vaiṣṇava context, kṛtya-akaraṇa includes not just śāstric duties but also the specific obligations of a prapanna: maintaining proper Tiruvārādhanam, observing the Dvādaśī (fast day preceding Ekādaśī breaking), honoring Bhāgavata satsaṅga, studying the Divya Prabandham, and maintaining kṛtajñatā toward the Āchārya. Neglecting these is a form of kṛtya-akaraṇa specific to the prapanna's station.
The Āchāryas counsel: both akṛtya-karaṇa and kṛtya-akaraṇa are to be avoided; but when they occur, the remedy is the same — not despair, but returning to Bhagavān with renewed humility and the recognition that one is incapable of walking this path alone without His constant support.