Pratikramana Full Version

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Mahavideh Foundation

Page 64

[3] These Are Not Lord Mahavir's Pratikramans
65
Pratikraman
Questioner: Yes, but the food did not go in our stomach; it remained on the outside.
Dadashri: So with these pratikramans, if the Lord were here, he would put everyone in prison. You fool! Is this what you do? Pratikraman means to ask for forgiveness for one mistake and to purify that mistake. If there is one stain, you clean that stain until it is gone. You make that spot as clean as it was before; that is called pratikraman. Today we see nothing but stained cloths.
Here, one has not done pratikraman for even a single mistake and, on the contrary, he has accumulated warehouses of mistakes.
Why has Niruben's conduct and thinking become so elevated? The answer is because every day she does five hundred or so pratikraman whereas these people haven't done even one.
Rayshi-Devshi Pratikraman Pratikraman means to reduce fault. If the fault is not decreasing, then one is not doing real pratikraman but he is doing atikraman. On the contrary, he is increasing his faults. Instead, these two Kutchhi brothers. Rayshi and Devshi, are preferable (Kutch is the western part of Gujarat where names of men end with 'shi').
Questioner: *Rayshi-devshi' is some living being,' is just a figment of imagination according to Krupadudev.
Dadashri: But people understand that this is 'rayshi' and that is devshi,' do they not? So then this is Devshi's brother. So a man sat down to do pratikraman in Kutch. He did pratikraman of Rayshi. So another person hears that many people do pratikraman of Devshi, some do it of Rayshi; so then why don't they do pratikraman for our Khetshi? Are there not names like Rayshi and Devshi?
Now the pratikraman that they do, there is no energy in it. They do it without understanding.
And how do they do it? They do it in the Maagdhi language. They do not understand even a word of it. What do you accomplish by saying, "Pardon me, pardon me,' in English when you yourself don't understand English?
Having done so many pratikramans, if they had done just one real pratikraman! Instead, had they been explained to in Gujarati, to do pratikraman in this way, they would realize, 'I have wronged this person and that is why I am doing pratikraman for it.' But people do not understand it at all and they let all the faults accumulate for a year. Or they do rayshidevshi (nightly and daytime) pratikraman.
Then that other person will say, 'I did Premshi pratikraman!' He thinks that, "The other person did it in his name so I will do it in my name!
Here, people have ingested medicine meant for external use. So, now ingest medicine that was meant to be ingested, and rub the medicine that was meant to be rubbed. If one realizes his own mistakes, then he can become the absolute SelfParmatma.
There is always a veil that occurs in any act of doership.' Once the veil appears, it conceals the mistake; he will never be able to see his mistake. His mistake will only become visible when the veil is destroyed. Only the Gnani Purush can destroy the veils; one can never do it on his own. The Gnani Purush will fracture and cast off all veils of ignorance.
Ordinarily, one cannot remember all that occurred during the day. People forget. So they cannot afford rayshi-devshi (nightly and daytime). People are unaware, are they not?
It is like this: Those who do rayshi and devshi pratikraman, the Lord rewards with a quarter because they