Pratikramana Freedom Through Apology and Repentance

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Dada Bhagwan Foundation

Page 23

Pratikraman
Pratikraman
You have no right to see faults in others. If you do, you must do pratikraman. Chandulal is adept at seeing faults of others. It is nothing new. This habit does not break very easily, but through pratikraman it does eventually cease. When you see faults in others, you must immediately do pratikraman. That means shooton-sight pratikraman.
Questioner: I am not yet able to do the kind of pratikraman that are called for.
Dadashri: You must make the firm resolution of what you really want to accomplish.
Questioner: Would that not involve the ego of doership? What is meant by this firm resolution?
Dadashri: This is merely the use of words. The resolution is internal.
pratikraman.
If it is not possible to do it immediately, do it after a couple of hours or even at night. You can also do pratikraman after a week for all the faults committed throughout the week. Just do them collectively all at once.
Questioner: But it should be done immediately, right?
Dadashri: There is nothing better than immediate pratikraman. Most of our mahatmas do shoot-on-sight pratikraman. (P.120)
Questioner: Sometimes, even while I contemplate Dada, or do aarti, my mind wanders and I lose track of my thoughts for a while and I begin to sing something entirely different, but eventually I do come back to the present.
Dadashri: When that happens, you must do pratikraman. When you have thoughts, it matters little as long as you are able to recognize that they belong to 'Chandulal'. If you can perceive this, then you and Chandulal become two separate entities. Your mind wanders because your awareness becomes a little dim.
Questioner: I am not at all aware during such a time.
Dadashri: Then you must do pratikraman for your loss of awareness. 'Dada Bhagwan forgive me'.
Questioner: Sometimes I realize very late that I have to do pratikraman, and that I have to do pratikraman for certain people.
Dadashri: But you do eventually remember do you not? You need to spend more time in satsang and ask about everything in detail. This is a science and it requires your full comprehension.
Questioner: Many of the mahatmas are under the impression that they do not have to do a thing, including making resolution.
Dadashri: No, if they were to ask me, I would tell them that resolution means a firm decision. It means that when you undertake something, you do it in precisely a certain way and no other. This is the case with pratikraman.
(P.119) Questioner: I am unable to do shoot-on-sight pratikraman when I am under stress, and sometimes it is not until the evening that I realize that I had made a mistake. Can those mistakes be erased even though pratikraman is done much later? Would that still resolve everything?
Dadashri: Yes even if it occurs to you later on, you must do pratikraman. If you do something wrong, you must do