Pratikramana Full Version

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Mahavideh Foundation

Page 50

[3] These Are Not Lord Mahavir's Pratikramans
37
Cash Pratikraman is Shoot-on-Sight
Otherwise, the Lord has said to continue doing pratikraman.
Seeker: For endless lifetimes, one has been doing pratikraman but he has not attained liberation.
Dadashri: That is because his pratikraman has not been real. Liberation is possible only when true pratikraman and true pratyakhyan are done. Pratikraman should be 'shoot-on-sight.' Now if I happen to utter even one negative word, there should be instant pratikraman within; it should be done right away, in the moment. Here nothing should remain pending; it is not acceptable. This pratikraman cannot be allowed to sit stagnant. That is why there has to be 'shoot-on-sight' pratikraman. What kind of pratikraman do you do? Is it the 'instant cash' of 'shoot-on-sight' pratikraman or do you let them stagnate?
Seeker: For what circumstances and how should one do the 'cash-shoot-on-sight' pratikraman?
Dadashri: Have you ever done 'cash-pratikraman'? Seeker: No. I have not. But I do read pratikraman every day.
Pratikraman without Repentance Dadashri: Do you recite the Navkar Mantra? Seeker: Yes, I do recite the Navkar Mantra....
Dadashri: And you still have worries?
Seeker: I do four to five samayiks (samayik of Jain tradition is different from the one prescribed by Dadashri) every day. (36)
Dadashri: Wow! You do four to five samayiks? Seeker: And I do pratikraman both morning and night.
38
Pratikraman
Dadashri: Pratikraman means to repent. What does one have to repent for?
Seeker: I am not really able to repent. I just keep doing the rituals.
Dadashri: Pratikraman is to retrace one's steps. Pratikraman means to repent for the anger and wrong actions you have done.
Seeker: We cram all the sutras (concise statement that usually requires a commentary for understanding) that are written in it.
Dadashri: What is the point of cramming it? Even a radio memorizes, does it not? This radio keeps talking the whole day long, every day.
Crude and Hollow Pratikramans
Seeker: All these activities....
Dadashri: Now why are you attacking someone else? You do not attack the real culprit but you attack some third person. You attack whoever is a handy target. Why do you not catch the main culprit?
Seeker: The main culprit is not anyone on the outside, is it? One, himself, is the main culprit, is he not?
Dadashri: This is not pratikraman for sure. This pratikraman is in a crude form, and then to wait for a year and to claim, 'We have done all our pratikraman,' is even cruder.
What is considered real pratikraman? If one were to do pratikraman for twelve months, then all his mistakes will be reduced. Whereas all these people have been doing pratikraman all their lives; these ascetics (sadhus), these monks (sanyasis) who are sixty, seventy, eighty years old and not a single mistake of theirs has diminished. On the contrary, they have increased!