Pratikramana Freedom Through Apology and Repentance

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

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Pratikraman
as a knower when the fault was happening.
Questioner: In my office, I have three to four secretaries. Despite multiple instructions on repeated occasions, they continue to make the same mistake. This results in my getting very angry and frustrated with them. What should I do?
Dadashri: You are now the pure Self, so how can you become angry? It is 'Chandulal' who feels the anger, so you should tell him, 'You have met Dada now. What reason is there for you to become so angry?'
Questioner: But my secretary does not improve at all. Unless I say something to her, she will not change.
Dadashri: You can tell 'Chandulal' that he can scold his secretary with equanimity. He should scold her in a make-believe manner. He can even tell her that if she continues to be inefficient, she risks losing her job.
Questioner: If I say that, she would feel hurt and you have said that we should not hurt anyone.
Dadashri: She would not feel hurt if you speak to her in a make-believe manner. In doing so, you do not consider the relative as real. Hence there is no ego involved in your words. She will become aware of her mistake and she will resolve to change. You can only hurt her if your intention is to hurt. (P.221)
If you remain the Knower and the Seer of the rage that occurs, it will leave without charging new causes. The atoms of rage will become cleansed and dissipate. You are obligated to do at least this much.
Questioner: Is the pratikraman we do after becoming angry, called purushaarth or parakram (heroic deed or great
Pratikraman
achievement)?
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Dadashri: That is called purushaarth. It cannot be called
parakram.
Questioner: Then what is parakram?
Dadashri: Parakram is higher than purushaarth. This is certainly not parakram How can you call this parakram when you are nursing a burn with a healing ointment? You can say that it is parakram when you are the 'Knower' of it all, and also the knower of all that is happening within. Doing pratikraman is purushaarth. With continued pratikraman your verbal conflicts will decrease. Everything will decrease naturally. The ego is the first to go and then everything else will follow. Everything will fall into place and you will experience stillness from within. (P.222)
Pratikraman for those who are Self-realized, completely erases all karma because of the absence of the doer. When the doer is absent, only the effects of past karma are felt. People, who have not received the knowledge of the Self, suffer the effect because of the presence of the doer (ego). Their karmas may weaken a little by doing pratikraman, but they are not erased completely and they will have to suffer the consequences of the causal karmas, whereas for you, the karmas are destroyed altogether.
When you no longer see faults in anyone, know that you have attained the state of the state of stillness, the state of the Self even amidst the din of worldly life. This state in Akram Vignan is very different. Even while enjoying life's pleasures, one sees the world as flawless. (P231)
Those who have no trace of any abhorrence will be liberated in one more lifetime. If elements of abhorrence remain then it may