From The Mountain Path 1982, p. 23:, Ramana Maharshi says
A man might have performed many karmas in his previous births. A few
of them alone will be chosen for this birth and he will have to enjoy
the fruits in this birth. It is something like a slide show where the
projectionist picks a few slides to be exhibited at a performance, the
remaining slides being reserved for another performance.
Individuals have to suffer their karmas but Iswara manages to make the
best of their karmas for his purpose. God manipulates the fruits of
karma but he does not add or take away from it. The subconscious of
man is a warehouse of good and bad karma. Iswara chooses from this
warehouse what he sees will best suit the spiritual evolution … of
each man, whether pleasant or painful. Thus, there is nothing
arbitrary.
Talks with Ramana Maharshi 115
As long as you feel yourself the doer of action so long you are bound
to enjoy its fruits. But if you find out whose karma it is, you will
see that you are not the doer. Then you will be free.
“Action without motive does not bind. Even a Jnani acts and there can
be no action without effort and without sankalpas — motives. Therefore
there are sankalpas for everyone. But these are of two kinds, the
binding (bandha-hetu) and the liberating (mukti-hetu). The former must
be given up and the latter cultivated.”
Thus, new karma is created if we do action with sankalpa and these are binding karmas.
Talks with Ramana Maharshi 193
Free-will and destiny are ever existent. Destiny is the result of past
action; it concerns the body. Let the body act as may suit it: why are
you concerned with it? Why do you pay attention to it? Free-will and
destiny last as long as the body lasts. But jnana transcends them
both.”
That destiny is God-given and immutable, but that does not mean that one has to identify with the body that is performing and undergoing its various destined actions. Destiny pertains to the body and not to Brahman. Thus, Self-realisation, is realising that one is the underlying substratum, Brahman, not the temporary and ultimately unreal appearances (the world, the jiva and God) that appear and disappear within it.
Elsewhere, Ramana Maharshi says
The only true freedom we have in this life is you can identify with
whatever the body is doing and suffer the consequences of that
identification and also create new karma, or you can transcend
identification with the body, abide as the Self, and then be a mere
witness to the body as it performs its destined activities.
Thus if you continue to do actions with the idea that you are the body and perform actions, you will create new karma.
