[Advaita-l] pUrvajas' karma / pApa & our burden

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms
Hare Krishna

Last week I have attended an 'ashlesha bali' and sarpa saMskAra ritual  as 
a Ritvik. After pooja & hOma, during AshirvachanaM,  pradhAna AchArya has 
told the katru that due to pApa karma done by his pUrvaja-s (ancestors) he 
& his family were suffering from nAga dOsha,  now, after performing all 
these prAyaschitta karma-s (bali, saMskAra etc.) these sins have been 
cleared.  I asked that Acharya (ofcourse, after getting my saMbhAvane :-)) 
how can it be?? why he has to suffer without fault of his own??  why that 
sarpa reprimand this poor katru & his family  when he is noway related to 
his purvaja-s pApa kArya...IOW, how can one jeeva's karma phala can affect 
the other jeeva-s & made him/them to suffer..does it not lead to 'akruta 
abhyAgama'??  which shankara negates in sUtra bhAshya??  Since pradhAna 
Acharya was not a vedAnti, he could not clarify my doubt...Hence I am 
asking this doubt in this list ...Please clarify.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar