P r a t i k r a m a n
Gnani
Purush Dadashri Dadashri:
To speak and act exactly according to the thoughts in his mind. If you utter
pleasant words, but harbor negative thoughts in your mind, then you must do
pratikraman (ask for
forgiveness). You should do the
pratikraman with Dada Bhagwan as your witness. This body that you see in front
of you is not Dada Bhagwan. This body is called A.M.
Patel of Bhadaran (a town in Gujarat, India). Dada Bhagwan is the omniscient
one, the Lord of the universe, manifest within this body. Pratikraman should
be done in his name as follows: “Dear
Dada Bhagwan, this mind has had negative thoughts, for which I ask for your
forgiveness. Please forgive me!”
I too do pratikraman recalling his name.
(Main book in Gujarati. Pg.1.) To
do good deeds, is dharma, and to do bad deeds is adharma. Atma dharma
(religion of the Self) is to go beyond both. If you do good karmas, you will
earn merits (punya) in your karmic account, the benefits of which you will
have to experience in the next life. For your bad
karmas (paap) you will incur debt, which you will have to suffer in the next
life. A person can attain the Self, when he has cleared all
debits and credits from his karmic account. Questioner:
In life, doing karma is
inevitable. What should one do when one does negative karma either knowingly
or unknowingly? Dadashri:
If that happens, there is a remedy for it. Once a misdeed has been
committed, repentance should follow
immediately. You must repent wholeheartedly and with sincerity. Even after
repentance, should you repeat the mistake, there is no need to worry: just
repent again. You are not aware of the science behind all this, so you may
feel that despite your repentance, the negative deeds do not stop.
Why they do not stop, is also a science in itself. You must simply
carry on repenting. If you repent for your misdeeds wholeheartedly, all your
bad karma will be washed away. If you hurt someone, then you absolutely must
repent. Dadashri:
Yes of course! Until you become Self-Realized, if you fail to repent, you will
continue to bind more karmas. The tangled knots of karmas will loosen through
repentance with a view to undoing wrong deeds. If not, the result from sins
you bind will be so horrendous that you may even forfeit human birth in your
next life. And if you manage to attain human life again, it
will be full of suffering and misery: You will be deprived of food and respect
and suffer constant insults. That is why repentance along with other rituals
become necessary. This is called indirect devotion, not
directed to wards the Self. Until you attain Self-Realization, such acts are
necessary. Now,
who should be a witness to your repentance? It must be done in the presence of
the God you believe in, whether it is Lord Krishna, Dada Bhagwan or any other
God. There is a cure for everything in this world. First the cure is born, and
then the problem or affliction arises.
(P. 3) How
has the world come into existence? It is because of atikraman (aggression in
thoughts, speech and acts). Kraman (neutral
deeds - deeds which do not have any good or bad implications) alone does not
cause any problems. For example, if we damage someone’s property and
compensate him for the damage, it is not considered atikraman and so
pratikraman is not needed. But to blame him for the damage to his property is
atikraman. Atikraman is always taking place, so you have to do pratikraman.
Any activity that takes place as a normal activity is simply kraman and there
is no problem with that. Dadashri:
You will know and so will the other person. You will perceive it from
the expression on his face and you will feel it too. It
will affect you both. That is why pratikraman must be done.
(Pg.4) Anger,
pride, attachment and greed are all considered atikraman, so if you do
pratikraman, they will diminish. If you do pratikraman immediately after
atikraman, your anger, pride, attachment and greed will disappear. The worldly
life is created by atikraman and destroyed by pratikraman.
(P.5) Dadashri:
If a person insults you, you should understand who
the real culprit is behind the insult. Is it the one who insults or is it the
one who feels insulted? This should be determined first. You must understand
that the person who insults you is not at fault, even in the slightest degree.
He is merely an ‘instrument’, and it is because of your own karma,
which is unfolding, that you are brought together with him. The fault is your
own and you must do pratikraman if you harbor any negative feelings towards
him. You do not have to do pratikraman if you have no ill feelings towards him
or if you feel a sense of obligation to him for being instrumental in the
discharge of your karma. When
a person is unpleasant or abusive towards you, you should look upon the
incident as being your own account and see him as an ‘instrument’. Even a
pickpocket would be an instrument to settle your karmic account. All disputes
arise because people blame the instrument. Atikraman is to walk on the wrong
path and pratikraman is to retrace your footsteps.
(P.6) Where
there is fighting there is no pratikraman and where there is pratikraman,
there is no fighting. You
have no right to physically punish your child. You only have the right to
explain things to him. If you spank your child and fail to
do pratikraman, you will bind negative karma. Pratikraman is necessary here.
(P.7)
It is atikraman even to say, "I
am Chandubhai”, but it is acceptable for the ease of worldly and social
interactions. If you do not hurt anyone
it is not called atikraman. If during the course of your day you hurt
someone, it would be atikraman for which you must do pratikraman.
This
is the science of the Vitarag. Atikraman takes you to a birth in the lower
life forms, namely the animal kingdom or even hell, and pratikraman transports
you to a higher life form. Only pratikraman will help you until you attain
final liberation. Who
does not need to do pratikraman? The one who has not done atikraman.
(P.8) Questioner:
When I see injustice in daily life, it upsets me, what should I do if this
affects the way I interact with others? How should I repent
if there is any injustice on my part? Dadashri:
You should do alochana (confession), pratikraman (repentance) and pratyakhyan
(resolve never to repeat the mistake). This should be done
in the presence of whichever God you believe in. Which God do you believe in? Questioner:
Lord Shiva. Dadashri:
So Lord Shiva should be your witness when you repent. Your alochana should be
that having recognized your fault, you do not wish to repeat it. You must
repeatedly repent. If you err, you must repent. In so doing, your wrong deeds
will decrease. You may cause injustice although you may not wish to. This can
be attributed to the faults of prakruti (inborn nature), and the fault in your
prakruti stems from your previous life, not from this life. Today you want to
improve, but because of your previous causes, these faults continue to occur
and they will not leave without harassing you. For this, you must continuously
do alochana, pratikraman and pratyakhyan.
(P.10) Questioner:
What is the solution when one has to tolerate and endure a lot of things?
Dadashri:
You should tolerate and not complain either. Tolerate with equanimity,
without cursing the other person in your mind. In fact you
should consider the other person as obliging you for releasing you from the
bonds of your previous karma and thank him. You should feel an obligation
towards him. No one suffers without a reason. Your suffering is the result of
your own past karmas. Questioner:
Is pratikraman only to be done for seeing faults in others? Dadashri:
Not just for that, but also for telling lies, for insulting or hurting
someone. Pratikraman should be done if any violence through
thoughts, speech and acts to any living being. Pratikraman should also be done
for violating any of the five mahavratas (the five supreme vows of: ahimsa-
non-violence, satya- truth, achoriya - not stealing, aparigraha - non-greed,
and bhramcharya – celibacy).< (P.11) 2.
Every Religion Mentions Pratikraman God
has said that alochana, pratikraman and pratyakhyan,is the essence of relative
religion. These have to be done instantaneously; you should not keep anything
pending. If you hurt someone, keep a mental note of it and then do your
alochana, pratikraman and pratyakhyan.
This instant, shoot-on-sight pratikraman is only possible when one is
Self-realized, and is therefore able to see his own faults. However, if a
person who has not attained the Self were to apply the principle of alochana,
pratikraman and pratyakhyan in his daily life, it would still be beneficial
for him, even though he does not understand it. Self-Realization
will eventually come to him. One
is bound to attain Self-Realization if one's alochana, pratikraman and
pratyakhyan are done with sincerity.
(P.12) Questioner:
Pratikraman would be to repent. Is pratyakhyan to resolve never to repeat
the mistake? Dadashri:
Yes. Sincere repentance is called pratikraman. Once pratikraman is done,
the atikraman will not occur again. To vow, ‘I will never do that again. I
promise that I shall not repeat the mistake again’, is called pratyakhyan.
When you do pratyakhyan in this way, in your mind, one layer of karma will
be shed. And if the same atikraman should occur again, it is because of
another layer of karma, so you should not panic but continue with your
pratikramans.
(P.13) Questioner:
What is alochana? Dadashri:
Alochana is to confess your misdeed as it is and exactly the way it
happened to your guru or to a Gnani.
The amount of pratikraman one needs to do depends on the amount of
atikraman one does. Atikraman includes deeds that are not
acceptable in society, deeds that are condemned, and deeds that inflict pain
on others. If any of this applies, pratikraman is necessary.
(P.14)
You have to understand who binds the karmas. What is your name? Questioner:
My name is Chandulal. Dadashri:
Then the one who says, ‘I am Chandulal’ is the entity that binds
karma. Karma are bound even during sleep, throughout the night.
What is the reason behind this? It is because of the false accusation
of who you are (You are really pure Self, but you say you are Chandulal) that
karma are being charged. In reality you are not Chandulal, and yet you claim
that you are. ‘I am Chandulal’ is a false accusation and with this belief
you are continuously charging karma. With your conviction of ‘I am Chandulal’
comes a series of other wrong beliefs, ‘I am her husband; his uncle; her
father; their boss, etc.’ Even in sleep you bind karma, which cannot be
avoided, but if you purify your ego of its conviction of ‘I am Chandulal’,
you will not bind as many karmas.
Even after the ego becomes somewhat pure you will still have to perform
some rituals. If your daughter-in-law breaks something expensive and you shout
at her, you will have to do pratikraman for hurting her feelings. The hurt you
cause is atikraman and if you do pratikraman immediately, the karma will
become lighter. Whenever you do atikraman, you must erase it with pratikraman.
It should be a shoot-on-sight, instantaneous pratikraman,
and not the kind, which is done only once a year. Only then will it lighten
this burden of suffering. If you conduct yourself according to the ways
prescribed by the Vitarag, your suffering will depart. (P.16) Questioner:
How does one do pratikraman? Dadashri:
If you have attained Self-Realization, you will become aware of the Self
within the other person. It is precisely the Self within that person that you
must address. Otherwise, you can direct your pratikraman towards God by
saying, "O Lord! I repent for my mistake. I ask for
your forgiveness and resolve never to repeat it." That
is all. Questioner:
Do the bad deeds get washed away? Dadashri:
Yes, yes of course they will! After pratikraman, the fault will not remain.
Even a massive karma will appear as though it were a burnt rope with
its cinders intact, which crumble and disperse at the slightest touch. Questioner:
And how should one repent? Should it be done outwardly so that it is visible
to others or from within, in one’s mind? Dadashri:
In your mind! You should remember Dadaji, apologize for your mistake, and make
a resolve never to do it again. In so doing, the pain will be erased and the
mistake destroyed. If you fail to do this, your mistakes will accumulate.
Akram Vignan is the only path of its kind that allows you to see your
own faults and shoot them as they appear, destroying them completely.
(P.17) Questioner:
On one hand you commit aggression and on the other you repent. It is a
never-ending thing. Dadashri:
It is not like that. If a person commits a bad deed and he repents, he can
never feign repentance. When he repents, that repentance is
sincere and with that, a layer of karma is removed. The onion still appears
whole although one layer is gone. Another layer will be removed the next time.
Repentance never goes to waste.
1
(P18) Questioner:
Should we not ask for forgiveness with a sincere heart? Dadashri:
A person who apologizes, does so with his heart. It will even suffice to
apologize insincerely, as long as the apology is made. Questioner:
Then it will just become a habit. Dadashri:
Even if it does become a habit, it is fine as long as an apology is made. Just
realize that if you do not repent, you will have to pay for it.
If someone is an alcoholic and asks for forgiveness, I tell him to keep
asking for forgiveness and to make a firm resolution that he wants to quit his
bad habit, even as he continues to drink. One day he will be free of his
addiction. I give you this absolute guarantee through my Science. This
Science is bound to grow and proliferate, yielding immediate results.
‘This is the cash bank of Divine Solution’. The only 'cash bank'.
Such a bank has not appeared in the last one million
years. It offers liberation within just two hours. I am
ready to grant you whatever you ask of me.
(P.19)
Nature forgives a man who repents after he steals. If he repents, even
God does not regard it as a sin. People on the other hand will punish him and
he will have to suffer the consequences in this life. If
one repents heartily his faults would eventually disappear, but they speak
superficially. Although you may commit a terrible mistake, if you sincerely
regret it, it will not happen again. If it occurs again, it does not matter as
long as you continue to repent.
(P.21) Questioner:
What is the difference between pratikraman and praschyatap? Dadashri:
Praschyatap is repentance and is general and for a whole bunch of faults and
not specific to any particular fault. The Christians do a general confession
of their faults every Sunday. Whereas pratikraman is specific to a fault, it
is the one who commits the atikraman, who does pratikraman. Pratikraman is
done instantly the moment atikraman takes place. Shoot-on-sight pratikraman
should be done so that fault is erased.
(P.28) Alochana,
pratikraman and pratyakhyan, is the essence of Lord Mahavir's teachings.
And in this path of Akram Vignan, the Gnani Purush is the essence of
all teaching. You must simply understand that the Gnani's Agna (five cardinal
instructions after Gnan) is your religion and penance. But alas! From time
immemorial, people have had a tendency to interfere and not follow
instructions.
(P.29) 3.
These Are Not Lord Mahavir’s Pratikramans Questioner:
For endless lifetimes, one has been doing pratikraman but has not attained
liberation. Dadashri:
That is because one’s pratikraman has not been real. Liberation is possible
only when true pratikramans and true pratyakhyans are done. Pratikraman should
be shoot-on-sight pratikraman. If I utter a word to cause you even the
slightest hurt, I should do pratikraman spontaneously, without hesitating even
for a second. You cannot afford to let things sit and stagnate.
(P.30) Pratikraman
means regret, repentance. What does one have to repent for?
Question:
We are not really able to repent. We just keep doing all these rituals. Dadashri:
Pratikraman is to retrace one's steps. To repent for the anger and sins you
have done, is pratikraman.
(p.31) What
is pratikraman? You can only call it pratikraman when your faults decrease.
How can it be called pratikraman if your faults increase? God has said to do
pratikraman in a language that can be understood. Do pratikraman in your own
language; otherwise you will not reap any benefits from it. The
pratikraman rituals are being done in the Magdhi (ancient) language. Now what
good does it do for people who do not even understand Gujarati to be doing
pratikraman in Magdhi? Even the sadhus and acharyas do not understand it
themselves, which explains why their own faults do not decrease. Such is the
state of things of today. The
Lord(Mahavir) has instructed that only the Navkar Mantra be spoken in the
Magdhi language and that too, with complete understanding. Only the Navkar
Mantra was worth retaining in the Magdhi language because they are the
Lord’s words. You must first understand the true meaning of pratikraman and
understand for whom you are doing it. Realize that you are
doing it for your self, who committed the mistake and is now facing the
atikramans in the form of insults received or given to others. Pratikraman
means to destroy inner enemies of anger, false pride, greed and illusionary
conduct.
(P.33) Nowadays,
when people perform their pratikraman rituals, they do them once a year. They
wear new clothes and gather. What sort of pratikraman do you call this? Is
this some sort of a wedding ceremony? Pratikraman means to be remorseful and
repentant. What is the relevance of wearing fancy clothes? Is
someone getting married? Not only this, but they do 'rayshi'
(early morning pratikraman) and 'devshi' (late evening pratikraman). How is it
possible to recall each fault committed throughout the day when it is
difficult for them to even remember what they ate for breakfast?
What is the religion of the Vitarag? In it five hundred or more
pratikramans happen everyday. The religion of the Jain can be found everywhere
but not the religion of the Vitarag. How can one do pratikraman just once a
year and call oneself a Jain? Nevertheless it is better to
do it even once a year than not to do it at all.
(P.37) Although
I make this statement, I have already done pratikraman before speaking in this
manner. You however must not speak in such a harsh manner. Although I am
saying such harsh things and pointing out mistakes, I speak out of compassion
and I see everyone as faultless. Someone has to enlighten this world . People
need to understand the reality as it is.
(P.40)
Knowledge of the Self is the path of liberation. Pratikramans after
Self-relalization puts you on the path to liberation. All other ways of
seeking will become beneficial after Self realization. Questioner:
Can pratikramans become the cause of Atma Gnan(
Self-Realization)? Dadashri:
No. This is because one does pratikraman for past mistakes, but at the same
time news atikraman are taking place because of one’s ignorance of the Self.
This ignorance and illusion is unrelenting. It never
stops. This illusion, to take that which appears in worldly view as real is
the cause of new karma. One is perpetually creating new
karma as one destroys one’s old karma through pratikraman. Old karma is an
effect and one is doing pratikramans for the effects. When people do
pratikraman, they bind punya (good karma).
(P.44) In
the worldly life, people generally do pratikraman and if they have the
awareness, they do pratikramans in the morning and at the end of the day. By
doing this, they will decrease many faults, but as long as they remain
ignorant of their real Self, they will not attain liberation, and their faults
will continue to occur. The faults one does pratikraman for will be erased.
(P.45) But
today, let alone shoot-on-sight pratikraman, people cannot even manage to do
pratikraman at the end of the day, once a week or even once a month. It is
done once a year and even then, without any understanding. They just make a
fashion parade out of it. No one actually does the real pratikraman and so his
or her faults keep increasing. One can only call it pratikraman if one’s
faults decrease.
(P.48)
If ever this lady (Self-realized), sitting here has
a negative thought, she would not allow you to notice it. While she manages to
smile, she is doing pratikraman simultaneously. She does more than five
hundred pratikramans each day. A single negative thought is atikraman. People
are not aware of how much atikraman they do throughout their day.
(P.50) Questioner:
That is all bhaav-pratikraman(intent and feelings). One
cannot do kriya-pratikraman (pratikraman through
action) right? Dadashri:
No, there is no pratikraman through action. Pratikraman is an internal
process. There is no action-oriented pratikraman. Questioner:
Can you explain what dravya(effect)-pratikraman is and what
bhaav(cause)-pratikraman is? Dadashri:
Your inner intentions should be: ‘This should not be so.’ That would be
called bhaav-pratikraman. In dravya-pratikraman, you actually have to utter
each and every written word. It becomes a ritual. It is an effect.
(P.52) Today's
pratikramans as they are done, would find everyone in jail if the Lord were to
be present here. Pratikraman is to ask for forgiveness for each and every
fault and to clear that fault, thoroughly removing even the smallest of
stains, leaving everything as clean as before. Today all you see is soiled,
dingy, stained cloths. People
have not done pratikraman for even a single fault and so now there are
countless warehouses of faults.
How is it possible for this young lady here (Self-realized, sitting
near me), to possess such high, noble and distinguished thoughts? It is
because she does countless pratikramans on a daily basis, while these people
have not done even a single one.
(P.54) There
is always a veil of ignorance in any act of doership. One’s faults become
concealed once the veil appears. The fault is only visible when this veils of
ignorance of doership is destroyed. Only a Gnani Purush can clear this sense
doership, you cannot do it on your own. The Gnani Purush will fracture and
cast off all the sense of doership.
(p. 55) Questioner:
How can one do true pratikraman? When is the pratikraman considered pure? Dadashri:
True pratikraman begins after Self-Realization. Once you attain the
enlightened vision and replace your illusion with the right vision, only then
will you be able to do real pratikraman. Until then, one can still decrease
one’s faults with pratikraman and repentance. If one does not attain this
enlightened vision, but still does pratikraman after having done something
wrong, one binds less karma. Do you understand that? Karma is shed with
pratikraman and repentance. Why do
we quickly attempt to remove spilt coffee from our clothing? Questioner:
To remove the stain. Dadashri:
Likewise, you must wash away internal stains. These people here immediately
wash away their internal stains; the arising of the reactions of anger, greed,
false pride and illusionary behavior, so everything remains spotless and
meticulous. When it is done only once a year, are you able to clean all your
clothes? My
pratikraman is the shoot-on-sight pratikraman. What you
consider as pratikraman is not pratikraman at all, because the stains are not
removed, while mine are spotless and clean. Pratikraman is when all the stains
(atikraman) are washed and are immaculately clean. Clothes
must be laundered every single day. Each individual clothing item needs
washing. What do the Jains do? They accumulate a year's worth of dirty laundry
and then attempt to wash it all at once. The Lord certainly does not allow it.
Each clothing item needs to be washed separately with great care. When you
manage to wash at least five hundred a day, you will be making progress. However
many of your faults you are able to see, that many faults will decrease. This
lady here is able to see five hundred of her faults a day, so what prevents
others from seeing their own? Something is still lacking, surely it is not
because they have become completely faultless that they cannot see their
faults?
(P.63) The
Lord has emphasized the need to do pratikraman daily. People do it once a year
during Paryushan (Jain religious event of eight days). The Lord said that a
true merchant is the one who keeps an account in his record book for the
entire day, tallying his ledger in the evening. If he were to log everything
just once a year, how would he manage to remember all his accounts and set his
books straight? The Lord has stressed the importance of keeping a logbook for
the entire day, as a true merchant would do. If an entry is made incorrectly,
that is if a misdeed occurs, it must be erased through pratikraman.
(P.64) 4.
The Gnani Purush’s Awareness Everyone
in this world is faultless. And yet look how my speech comes out. I have seen
everyone as faultless. I do not see anyone as faulty at all. How can I speak
in this manner? Is it necessary for me to say this? I should not speak this
way about anyone. I do pratikraman immediately after I say it. This is because
I fall short by four degrees (360 degrees is Absolute Enlightenment, Dadashri
is at 356 degrees) and therefore I do pratikraman. I have to do pratikraman. Although
I deliberately use stern words, this is an error towards nature. Therefore I
make the one who has done atikraman (A.M.Patel), do pratikraman. Each mistake
has its pratikraman. My intention however is not to harm anyone.
(P.64)
I cannot say that it is not so, when it is so and vice versa, which is
why some people feel hurt by what I say. If I say something exists when it
does not, you will be deluded and if I say it like it is, people will wonder
why I am saying it. For all this I have to do pratikraman because no matter
what, no one should be hurt. If someone believed that there was a ghost in the
banyan tree, and if I told him that no such thing existed, I may hurt his
feelings by disagreeing with him. So I must do pratikraman. I always have to.
(P.65) Questioner:
If someone misinterprets something, what should we do? Dadashri:
All these so-called truths that you come across are all relative truths. They
are all false. They may be right according to the way of the world, but from
the real viewpoint, they are all wrong. Pratikraman must be done for each and
every viewpoint. You must even do pratikraman for saying, "I am a
spiritual teacher", because this is a wrong belief. In reality you are
pure Self. All other beliefs are wrong beliefs. Do you
understand this? Questioner:
Yes I do indeed. Dadashri:
Everything is false. Because people do not understand, they proclaim that they
are telling the truth. If it were indeed the truth, it would not offend
anyone.
(P.67) The
instant I utter a word, I am simultaneously doing pratikraman with fervor. Questioner:
But if you tell the truth about something, then why is it necessary to do
pratikraman? Dadashri:
No, I still have to do pratikraman. Why did I see someone’s fault? Why did I
see his fault even though he is faultless? Despite his faultlessness, was he
not criticized? Any
truth that hurts the other is not considered truth and must not be uttered. If
uttered, this truth becomes a fault. It represents violence.
The way to liberation is through alochana, pratikraman and pratyakhyan.
What do our mahatmas (people who are Self-Realized) do? They do alochana,
pratikraman and pratyakhyan throughout the entire day. If
you were to ask them to do rituals and practice austerity such as fasting and
other penance, they will tell you that they have no need for such austerities
because they have no worries and are content. They remain constantly at peace
with themselves and free from all woes and anxieties, undeterred by the
external world. So why would they want to complicate their lives by
introducing chaos in the form of fasting etc? People who
are confused do all these complicated penances and other rituals. People, who
do rituals, enjoy doing them and need to do them. That is
why I say that penance is for those who derive pleasure from it. Those who
have a passion for the worldly life do penance.
Questioner:
People believe that in doing penance, karmas are being dispelled. Dadashri:
That will never happen. Which penance brings about a discharge of karmas?
It is not the penance that is visible to the eye, and heard by the
ears. This is all external penance. Only internal penance, can lead to
discharge of karmas. That is the kind of penance these mahatmas ‘do’. Any
penance, which is visible to others, will result in punya. The penance that
remains unseen will lead to lead to liberation.
(P.75) These
sadhavijis (Jain nuns) know that they experience internal negativities
throughout their day, so what should they do? Every evening they should
mentally recall, the day’s events during which they experienced even the
slightest negative inner feelings for others. Recalling each and every
incident where such a feeling arose, they must do pratikraman and pratyakhyan
for each one, for forty-eight minutes. If they do this then they are on the
path of liberation. But the poor things, they do not do any such thing, so
what can one do? If they were to understand the path to
moksha, they would be on it, but first they need to understand it.
Questioner:
Until they can confess and repent on a one on one basis, they will still
harbor a grudge (internal negativity). So do they need to ask for forgiveness
in person? Dadashri:
There is no need to ask for forgiveness directly from the person with whom the
fault is committed. The Lord has forbidden this. You can only ask someone’s
forgiveness directly, if that person is well meaning and noble. However, if
you attempt to do this with a weak person, he will only throw it back in your
face. The weak person will become weaker. And the entire world is weak. Unless
the person whose forgiveness you seek is good-natured, you must not attempt to
apologize to him personally. A weak person will always retaliate by saying:
“See, I knew all along that you were wrong, but you did not understand. Now
you realize that you were wrong.” – The foolish man! He does not realize
that he is the one at fault and that he is the wretched one in need of
improvement.
(P.76)
The path to liberation does not have any rituals. Rituals are
only present in the worldly life. The worldly life is for those who want
material and physical comforts. For them, rituals are appropriate; but they
are not needed for liberation. What is the path for liberation? It is alochana,
pratikraman and pratyakhyan. These will fuel your vehicle en route to moksha.
This is what I myself have done for countless lives. For so many lives I have
done alochana, pratikraman and pratyakhyan and my efforts have brought me thus
far. (P.77) There
are two religious doctrines. One is not to do any kashays (anger, false pride,
greed and illusionary conduct) and the other is to do pratikraman.
If kashays happen as a result of your past karmas, you must do
pratikraman. That is dharma(relative religion) and nothing else. It is
precisely these two things that people have eliminated.
If you say something hurtful to anyone, you must do pratikraman. He in
turn must do pratikraman also. What pratikraman should he do? His pratikraman
should be; “I must have erred somewhere in the past which has given this
person the occasion to insult me.” He must do pratikraman for his previous
life’s karma and you must do pratikraman for the present. Only through such
pratikramans-being done at least five hundred times a day- can one attain
liberation It
will be enough to do just this and nothing more. You need not seek any other religion.
I am giving you my guarantee and blessing you for liberation. I will be with
you the entire way, giving you my full support. All that is required of you is
your readiness. If you were to apply any of this in your daily life, it would
be enough.
(P.78) What
does The Science of Akram say? : If a
person has a habit of stealing and I were to ask him in a kind and gentle
manner, whether he steals, he would confess everything to me. I would tell him
that I do not have an objection with his stealing, but that he must regret his
acts and do pratikraman for it.
(P.80)
I
would teach him to do pratikraman in Dada’s name and repent by saying, ‘It
is wrong to steal and I will never steal again.’ Whatever pratikraman he
does will erase the consequences of the stealing(cause karma). he has done in
the past. By doing pratikraman his opinion about stealing will change.
His opinion will not support the act of stealing. He
should continue this pratikraman even if he continues to steal. Only I
understand what happens when one utters such pratikraman. Akram Vignan teaches
us that whatever has occurred cannot be undone, but there is a way to make
things better for the life to come.
(P.81)
Every religion says that you are the ‘doer’ of penance and
renunciations. They tell you to renounce. If you do not,
they say that you are not doing it. To say that ‘you are
not doing it’ is the same as saying that you are the ‘doer’. By saying
this they accept ‘doer-ship’. Even when someone says
that he is not able to renounce anything, it is tantamount to claiming
‘doership’. Any path that accepts or believes in ‘doership’ is the
path of worldly wanderings. In Akram, we do not accept ‘doership’.
None of the literature of Akram prescribes ‘doership’ of any sort. Nowadays,
people are being told to ‘do’ things that are irrelevant and what really
needs to be done is altogether overlooked. Moreover, they are not even
successful in doing the things that they are not supposed to do. It is all a
sheer waste of time and energy. What they really need to do is something
completely different. Really all one needs ‘to do’, is ask for inner
strength (bhaavna). Everything that is taking place now is because of the
strength that was previously asked for.
(P.84)
Questioner:
Everything from our previous lifetime is in the form of this effect, is
it not? Dadashri:
Yes, everything that you have done in the past life has come into
effect in this life. So now ask for strength as a cause for
the next life. Just ask for the strength by saying the Nine Kalams( See at the
end of this book). If we were to write a hundred to two
hundred such kalams, it would incorporate all the scriptures. All
you really have to do is ask for strength and nothing more. If
you want to do something as a doer, then ask for strength. Questioner:
Is it simply a matter of asking for strength? Dadashri:
Yes, because not everyone will seek liberation. However, if
people want to be doers of anything, they should just ask for strength.
Questioner:
This applies only to those who have not acquired Gnan, right?
Dadashri:
Yes, this is applicable to them only. This is for the
people at large because at the moment the path they are taking is completely
wrong and they will never succeed in their endeavors.
(P.85) A
person may want to do something and yet he is prevented from doing so; what
can he do if the effect of his karma works against him? The Lord says that you
must remain in the present and be an observer of all that happens around you.
The Lord did not advocate doing anything, yet people are perpetually griping
about not being able to do something. They constantly complain about their
desire to do things, their efforts to do them and their inability to get
things done. Do you know what effect the constant contemplation of your
inability to do anything has on the relative self? It will turn the relative
self into a stone (without feelings). In spite of this, people carry on with
their rituals and austerities and simultaneously gripe about how difficult
they are to perform.
I tell
people that they should never say, ‘I can not do’, because within them,
they have infinite strength. I tell them to keep repeating the following: ‘I
have infinite strength.’ Until now you kept saying, ‘I
can’t do it’; did the infinite strength within abandon you?
(P.87) Man
is not capable of 'doing' anything. It is not in his nature to do anything.
The control of 'doership' is in the hands of another power. All these living
beings are simply the knowers. Therefore all that you must do is to be the
knower. When you understand this, your falsely held beliefs and opinions
disappear. The opinions you held before that there is no harm in telling lies,
will change. This is the real purushaarth (real knowledge based effort); no
other effort is needed. This is a profound message, which requires profound
thinking. Questioner:
Yes, it is very acceptable.
Questioner:
What is the most important thing a human being should do in this life?
Questioner:
When
we carry out our normal daily activities of the body, do we have to repent for
it?
Questioner:
How do we know if we have done atikraman?
Questioner:
So then what is pratikraman?
5.
The Way of Akram Vignan