Samvatsari Pratikramana

Author(s): Ila Mehta
Publisher: Ila Mehta

Page 57

Oh! Guru Maharaj, please voluntarily give me permission to apologize and repent (to do Pratikraman) for the sins that I may have committed while moving around. (Now Guru Maharaj will say, ‘Please do so.') I accept your permission. Now, I want to apologize and repent by doing Pratikraman. While walking, I may have trampled upon living beings, seeds, green vegetation, dew, ant colonies, moss, wet soil, and spider webs. I may have hurt one-sensed, two-sensed, three-sensed, four-sensed, or five-sensed living beings by kicking them, covering them with dirt, trampling them, colliding them with each other, or touching them. I may have distressed them, frightened them, displaced them, or killed them. I repent and apologize for all sins that I may have committed.
This sutra is the Forgiveness Verse of Sämäyika. It is very important that we ask for forgiveness and repent for the sins committed by us either knowingly or unknowingly before we perform Sämäyika, Pratikraman, and Chaitya Vandan (praying to the Tirthankars at the temple) rituals. By recitation of this sutra a person enumerates the sins that may have been committed by him/her in ordinary day-to-day life while moving around. He/she repents, apologizes, and asks for forgiveness for those sins.
જતા-આવતા જીવોની વિરાધનાની વિશેષ માફી Tassa uttari-karanenam, päyachchhitta-karanenam, Visohi-karanenam, visalli-karanenam,
Pävänam kammänam, Nigghäyanatthäe, thämi käussaggam. (1)
I now want to absolve all my sins committed (as mentioned in the Iriyavahiya Sutra) by repenting. To purify my soul and to make it free of pain (caused by practicing religion without right faith or practicing to impress others or for worldly gains) and to completely destroy all my sins, I shall now perform Käyotsarga. (1)
After requesting forgiveness from all living beings of the universe, the next step is to discipline one-self in order to avoid future sins. This is done via Käyotsarga or käussagga (meditation for certain duration in a motionless meditative posture). By reciting "Tassa Uttari Sutra', one declares the intention of meditation in motionless posture. It also helps