Book Title: World of Philosophy
Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan
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SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF 'FORGIVENESS' AS DEPICTED IN THE PRATIKRAMAŅ A SUTRA
- Dr.Raksha J.Shah INTRODUCTION
"To err is human, but to realize one's faults, repent, confess, rectify and be determined not to repeat the same again is superhuman!" The whole idea of forgiving and getting forgiven has several implications in this world and hereafter.
It is for this reason that most of the world's religions promulgate and identify periodic atonements. Call it 'Confession of the Christians, the 'Vedic Sandhya', the 'Namaaz' of the Muslims, 'Upasana' of the Buddhists, 'Khordeha Avesta' of the Parsis or 'Pratikraman?a' of the Jains. The basic purpose of these observances on the face of it is to purify one's soul and bring it back from unrighteousness to the righteous path.
Could this highest virtue- ks?am? -forgiveness prove to be useful in all walks of life? Could efforts put in to bring about social consciousness with this non-violent tool help to solve the present day problems? An inquiry into these questions is the purpose of this paper.
Let us first look into the problems that lie before us, the difficulties that we have been facing.
THE PRESENT SCENARIO
We are living in a tumultuous situation wherein the gravity of problems that we face today, has never been seen before.
History stands testimony to the fact that most wars in the past and even today are waged for just trivial matters. Why talk about wars alone? Even at home, at the office, workplace and all other associations there are bound to be differences in opinions, disagreement in understanding issues, deviation in finding solutions to some of the small and the so-called big problems. The outcome of all of this disagreement ends up in nothing but quarrels, fights, battles and even wars!
We need to realize, that these small and big incidences leave their reminiscences behind. There are some occasions where the incident is supposed to have been forgotten by forgiving the person. At times the issue is settled by the consent of both the parties. On the other hand, if the resentment is too deep it may appear to have been temporarily wiped off from the minds of the person in question. In several instances although one feels that things are settled, it is seen that unless and until, efforts are made to wipe off the bitterness - the scars, these impressions, are carried along with the
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