Pratikramana Freedom Through Apology and Repentance

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

Page 40

Pratikraman
not associate with him, and if you do, there should not be any prejudice towards him. Just keep in mind that whatever happens is correct.
(P.257)
Questioner: What if we still have a negative opinion about
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him?
Dadashri: Then you should ask for forgiveness. You must ask for forgiveness from whomever you have a negative opinion about.
Questioner: Is it okay to have good opinions?
Dadashri: Do not give any opinions at all. If you do, you must erase them. You have the necessary infallible tools at your disposal: alochana, pratikraman and pratyakhyan. (P.258) Questioner: How do we get rid of our strong opinions?
Dadashri: They will begin to disappear from the very moment you decide you want to be rid of them. If they are very stubborn, you must work on them for several hours each day. They too will disappear. After you attain Self-realization, you come into purusharth dharma (your True religion - the religion of the Soul). This dharma gives you extraordinary strength to overcome the most difficult of obstructions. But first you must realize the cause behind the obstacles and then you must do pratikraman for (P.259)
it.
The most important thing is to guard against forming any new opinions. This is where you need to be most cautious. Nothing else matters. The awareness of the worldly life tends to formulate opinions, even before you see something or someone, and these must be destroyed before they take root. You must exercise extreme caution with regards to opinions. Nevertheless you will bind opinions, but they should be immediately destroyed. Prakruti
Pratikraman
creates opinions and pragna shakti (the light of Knowledge) destroys them. Prakruti will continue to bind opinions for some time, but you must keep erasing them. Opinions are the underlying cause of all unrest.
Questioner: How do we get rid of the opinions we have
bound?
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Dadashri: To eliminate them, you must tell yourself, or others that you have formed such an opinion about this person, and that the opinion is completely wrong and that you should not have any opinion about him. When you declare this to yourself, you will become free from it. (P.260)
Without pratikraman, your opinions will remain and you will stay bound to your faults.
Opinions have formed the mind. I never have any opinions about anyone. My initial thought about a person when I first meet him never changes. If I catch someone stealing, I do not jump to the conclusion that he is a thief, because I am aware that it is his circumstances that lead him to steal. People would immediately label him a thief if they caught him stealing. They would not take his circumstances into account. To them, it would be immaterial whether or not he has a history of stealing or whether his circumstances have forced him to steal. I would only call a person a thief, if he were a thief forever. My opinion about a person does not change, once it is made. Until now I have not changed my opinion about anyone. (P.262)
After you become self-realized, it is your obligation to make 'Chandulal' the relative self, pure. If the body complex could express its feelings it would say:
"I was always pure! It is you who have contaminated me