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Preface
A most common and profound word in Jainism is 'Pratikraman'.
Literally it means "To turn back.'
The word Pratikraman can be broken down into 'Prati' and 'Akraman'. Akraman meaning attack. Attack denotes action/pursuit, which In relation to the soul and the external world is made in two ways.
1. attack of mind towards exterior objects and
2. attack of exterior emotions towards the soul.
Man falsely believe that true happiness lies in the material world. Instead of achieving everlasting happiness to the soul, this wrong pursuit of imaginary happiness in the outside world has led to a huge burden of karmas piling up over the soul. It becomes virtually impossible to get rid of the karmas.
Just As the birds return back to their nests in the evening, a child playing whole day sleeps soundly in the loving lap of his mother, similarly when the soul freed of karmas, returns back to it's original self.
Pratikramana is quite opposite to akramana. Meaning of akramana is gamana [going out] from the soul into the material world and meaning of pratikramana is punaragamana [returning back] of a man from the external world into the soul.
Rai Pratikraman - The morning Pratikraman for the atonement of minor violations of vows incurred during the night.
Devasiya Pratikraman - the evening Pratikraman for the minor violation of vows of the day.
Pakkhi Pratikraman Pratikraman for every fortnight (Pakkhi),
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