What Is the power of forgiveness? Why is forgiveness important?

Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan says that, “The world has arisen out of atikraman, and pratikraman will bring an end to it. That is the law of nature.”

In every religion, upon recognizing the power of forgiveness, importance has been given to asking for forgiveness, whether it is Islam, Christianity, or Jainism. Each has established the practice of seeking forgiveness after a mistake is made. However, by merely asking for forgiveness, demerit karma becomes lighter. Whereas, by doing alochana, pratikraman, and pratyakhyan in a systematic manner in the presence of a guru, demerit karma gets completely cleared, the greatest advantage of forgiveness. Disclosing one’s faults is alochana. Thereafter, repenting by acknowledging that it was wrong is pratikraman, and resolving that “I will not do this again” is pratyakhyan.

As many faults as one is able to see, that many pratikraman should be done, then it is considered that much spiritual earning. By doing pratikraman, an intense peace arises, one that has never been experienced before.

However, pratikraman should be done truly, with proper understanding. If one merely performs pratikraman as a mechanical action, like a parrot reciting, without genuine repentance in the heart, then the result gained is equivalent to two cents a year. But if one does true pratikraman, then the result is like sixteen cents in just twenty-four hours”; and that too, for all three hundred and sixty-five days of the year.

Param Pujya Dadashri says that, “If a person repents any of his actions, that person will one day become pure (shuddha); that is certain.” Such is the power of forgiveness. For those for whom we do pratikraman, if they have any ill feelings toward us, those feelings get released. No matter how much vengeance there may be, that too gets dissolved right in this very life, one of the biggest benefits of forgiveness!

Pratikraman gives freedom from demerit karma

Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan says that in this era, such terrible karma is being bound through the kashays like anger, pride, deceit, and greed, that human beings will go from five-sensed beings to four-sensed beings, from four to three, from three to two, and continuing in this way, will eventually become one-sensed beings. Atikraman will regress one towards a lower life-form, whereas pratikraman will make one ascend towards a higher life-form, marking the power of forgiveness. Until one becomes free from karma and reaches liberation, pratikraman alone will be helpful.

Freedom from demerit karma can happen in two ways. First, if one understands how demerit karma is bound, what the risks are and what the consequences are, then a person stops engaging in wrongdoing. Second, by recognizing one’s own faults and taking repentance for the demerit karma, all demerit karma gets washed away, and one can become free from it.

If someone is hurt by our thoughts, speech, or conduct, it is called atikraman. For that, pratikraman should be done. Not only that but if someone speaks harshly to us or becomes angry with us, we should still do pratikraman, thinking, “I must have made some mistake due to which this occasion has arisen for them to speak to me this way.” If someone abuses us, harms us, or even beats us, and yet we do not see faults in them, then the worldly life dissolves; otherwise, it does not. If negative inner intent arises toward someone and then we do pratikraman for it, demerit karma is not bound; because bhaav (worldly intent) is the mother of karma. Through pratikraman, our bhaav becomes purified. Such is the importance of forgiveness!

There is no way to become free in this world except through asking for forgiveness. By doing pratikraman, the blows of karma reduce and the ultimate closure comes sooner. Just as we wash our hands before and after eating, in the same way, if due to one’s prakruti (the non-Self complex) a hurtful interaction occurs with someone, one should immediately ask for forgiveness, this habit should be cultivated. Whenever we get free time, we should do pratikraman again and again for those close to us who may have been hurt by us. If the other person is humble and simple, we may ask forgiveness verbally; or we may ask forgiveness within, either way, the account becomes clean.

Param Pujya Dadashri says that, “How can you consider it a dharma (religion; rightful action) when it cannot destroy karma which creates further bondage? When can new karma stop? They can stop with pratikraman.” Anger, pride, deceit, and greed are the four kashays. Not engaging in kashays is dharma. Yet, if according to past karma the kashays occur, then doing pratikraman for them is also dharma.

The Self-realized Gnani Purush Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan has himself walked this very path and shows us too how to walk on that same path. He says that, “Alochana-pratikraman-pratyakhyan verily is the path to moksha. This is what I have done for countless lives. For so many lives I have done alochana, pratikraman and pratyakhyan and these efforts have brought me this far.”

Faults reduce through pratikraman

Pratikraman is the greatest weapon for becoming free from faults, another benefit emphasizing the power of forgiveness.

Param Pujya Dadashri goes so far as to say that, “If he takes pleasure in the killing, then if his sentence, karma effect, were to be for a year, it would become three years. And when he regrets and repents his actions, his one year sentence would be reduced to six months. The karma liability of any wrong actions will increase threefold if you take pleasure in it. But if you repent for them, your liability will be reduced. And if you rejoice after doing a good deed, then others will get increased benefit.” What it means is that the punishment for a grave wrongdoing will manifest outwardly, and it will have to be suffered. But by repenting within, a safe side for the next life gets established.

When pratikraman is done, the karma gets washed away, and the other person no longer remains stung by it. Otherwise, when we meet again, those differences between us continue to increase. Through pratikraman, our faults get uprooted immediately and the accounts of past lives get cleared. When all accounts become clean, we become free. Even if the violence of any living being has occurred knowingly or unknowingly, if we take repentance for it and do its pratikraman, then all the liability gets dissolved.

Param Pujya Dadashri says that, “If you were to write a letter to a relative of yours when you are in an angry mood, and you even curse him in the letter over and over again, your letter will offend him. But if, in the closing, you write a footnote with an apology and explain your angry frame of mind, because you had a quarrel with your wife, would he not be considerate and forgiving even though he has read the curses and insults from you? Likewise, all mistakes committed in life so far are erased, if pratikraman is done before leaving this body. You should ask for forgiveness from whomever you consider as your God.”

Param Pujya Dadashri says that, “To become free from the ties of the worldly life, it is the only greatest weapon. The worldly life has arisen due to atikraman and pratikraman will bring it to an end.”

Here, He shows us the way to be free from faults in this world.

Dadashri: ‘Chandulal’must do pratikraman for his countless previous lives in which he had committed mistakes related to attachment (raag), abhorrence (dwesh) and sexuality (vishay). Taking one person at a time, the pratikraman must be done in the way I have shown you. After that, with the same focused awareness (upayog), pratikraman must be done for the neighbors too. After doing this, your burden will lessen. Your burden will not lessen any other way. This is how ‘we’ removed all our mistakes with the entire world, and it is how ‘we’ became free. As long as you see mistakes in ‘us,’ I do not have peace. So whenever ‘we’ do pratikraman in this manner, everything over there gets erased.

Pratikraman makes the accounts clean

As we continue to do pratikraman for atikraman, our mind and speech gradually become purified, highlighting the power of forgiveness at a subtle level.

Param Pujya Dadashri says that, “Once a wrong karma – anything that hurts others through thoughts, speech or action – occurs, repentance should follow immediately. Repentance should be done wholeheartedly and with sincerity.”

He explains the science behind this that faults are like the layers of an onion. The bigger the knot, the more layers it has. By doing pratikraman, one layer of the fault gets removed; the entire onion does not get finished at once. Therefore, it may seem as though the faults are not reducing, but the knots of karma keep becoming lighter. One who repents from the heart gets all of their karmas washed away. If we do not do pratikraman, demerit karma gets bound and its punishment is very severe. Even one’s human life-form can be lost, and even if one comes again as a human, many kinds of obstacles arise in life, obstacles related to food and drink as well. Moreover, one may never receive respect or honour; only insults keep coming constantly. Therefore, one should improve oneself by taking repentance. If pratikraman is done, the course of the next life improves, no suffering comes, obstacles do not arise, and vengeance does not get bound. Pratikraman is helpful in both ways: for attaining worldly happiness as well as for becoming free from karma and reaching liberation. For example, if a hundred court cases are filed against us and we do not settle them, what happens? The cases remain pending. Similarly, until we do pratikraman, the “cases” of karma remain pending.

Param Pujya Dadashri says that all bodily ailments arise due to atikraman, and they all go away through pratikraman, revealing how extraordinary the power of forgiveness is! Not only that, if we do pratikraman, the mind remains bonded with us; otherwise, it slips away. Through pratikraman, chit-shuddhi i.e. purification of the inner faculty of knowledge and vision, takes place. For example, by stealing, the chit becomes impure, and then through repentance, that very chit becomes pure again. Due to impurity, the tendencies of the chit keep wandering outward. As pratikraman continues to be done for them, the chit will stop wandering.

Through pratikraman,nikaachit (dense) karmas become lighter

The theory of karma is such that after a wrong action has occurred, if the inner intent changes within, then new karma that is bound is light. But if after doing a wrong act, we feel pleased from within, thinking, “This is exactly how it should be done”, then the new karma becomes dense; it becomes nikaachit (so strong that there is no option but to bear it). Nikaachit karma means that it can be released only after its fruit is definitely suffered. However, if we repeatedly take repentance for nikaachit karma, it becomes lighter. Its intensity can be diluted.

In the incarnation of Triprushta Vasudev, Lord Mahavir, in a state of anger, had molten lead poured into the ears of a gatekeeper. There was no repentance for it; on the contrary, there were inner intents such as, “The one who disturbed my sleep deserves punishment.” As a result, such nikaachit karma was bound that in the incarnation of Lord Mahavir, his ears were pierced with wooden sticks. Not only that, the soul of that gatekeeper came as a cowherd, and through him the vengeance was exacted.

If we knowingly kill any living being or commit violence and then feel pleased about it, heavy karma gets bound. But how can that nikaachit karma be washed away? Through alochana, pratikraman, and pratyakhyan. For that, one has to do pratikraman continuously; then the karma gradually becomes lighter, another striking advantage of forgiveness.

The intensity with which atikraman has occurred should be matched with the same intensity of pratikraman. Certain faults that are very deep-rooted and occur repeatedly should be met with repeated pratikraman, so that they gradually become thinner and weaker. Once pratikraman is done, it gets washed away. If we do not do pratikraman, then mistakes keep increasing.

Instant dharmadhyan through pratikraman

If any hurt is caused to another living being, it is called raudradhyan (adverse internal state of being/meditation that hurts the self and others). The result of intense raudradhyan is a narkgati (life-form in hell). Whereas, when no hurt is caused to others but one continues to suffer within, it is called aartadhyan (adverse internal state of being that hurts the self). The result of aartadhyan is tiryanch gati (the life-form that includes all one to five sensed living beings except humans). King Shrenik once killed a female deer during hunting. There was a fawn in her womb. The king became pleased that he had killed two living beings with one arrow. In that joy, there was no repentance at all, and a life-form in hell was bound. Later, in the future, King Shrenik met a Tirthankar, attained kshayak samkit, and even bound Tirthankar gotra, yet he could not escape the life-form in hell.

By practicing repentance, even raudradhyan becomes aartadhyan. By practicing repentance, narkgati is prevented and turns into tiryanch gati. And if one repents even more, then dharmadhyan gets bound. If we practice repentance even for the gravest mistake, such a strong safe side can be created for us that degeneration is stopped, and one may come into manushya gati (human life-form) or even go into dev gati (celestial life-from), highlighting the power of forgiveness in its most miraculous form. The action remains the same, yet there are changes in the result. Aartadhyan and raudradhyan do indeed occur, but because one does pratikraman for it, it is said that one has returned again to dharmadhyan. Therefore, as many times as aartadhyan or raudradhyan occur, that many times pratikraman should be done.

The magical effect of pratikraman

Here, Param Pujya Dadashri explains to us what effect it has on the other person when we do pratikraman.

Questioner: When I do pratikraman, does it reach the other person?

Dadashri: Yes, it reaches him. He will start to soften from within, whether he is aware of it or not. His attitude towards you will improve. Our pratikraman is very effective. There is tremendous energy and power in pratikraman. If you do pratikraman for just one hour, you will see the changes in the other person. But that will only occur if the pratikramans are done exactly and sincerely. When you do pratikraman for the other person, not only will he not see your faults, but he will also begin to respect you.

If someone has been hurt because of us, and we do pratikraman twenty-five to fifty times, the other person does not bind vengeance. On the contrary, when we meet them the next day, their face will not appear upset; instead, it will look pleasant. For example, suppose a rope is tied to our hand and its other end is tied to another person’s hand. Then, if we pull from this side, it affects the other person. But if we let go of the rope of our faults, the other person will not be pulled, nor will there be any effect on them. By doing pratikraman, the rope tied to our hand gets released.

Therefore, in one’s free time, one should remember all the people who may have been hurt because of us and keep doing pratikraman for them. Pratikraman is extremely effective. But after doing pratikraman, there is no need to go and check whether the other person has improved or not. One should do pratikraman not to correct the other person, but to untie the knot of the rope of the kashays (inner enemies of anger, pride, deceit and greed) and become free.

The science is such that if we have any negative opinion toward someone, then the effect of that negative belief will influence us toward them and them toward us. If we maintain only pure intent, its reflection will be positive. When the other person keeps attacking us, if we also attack in return, the other person does not tire. But if we do pratikraman for the other person, then a change takes place in the people within our home and around us, such is the magical power of forgiveness or pratikraman!

Param Pujya Dadashri goes so far as to say that if you do pratikraman even for a tiger, then the tiger too forgets its violent intent. Our fear toward the tiger goes away. Explaining the science behind this, He says that, “There is no difference between a tiger and a human. The difference is in the vibrations you emit. It is your vibrations that will affect the tiger. As long as you believe in your mind that a tiger is a violent animal, the tiger will remain violent. If you are aware that the tiger is the Soul, then it will have no violence with you. Everything is possible.” When a Tirthankara Bhagwan gives a discourse, in His assembly even a tiger and a goat sit together. The tiger forgets its violent nature, and the goat forgets its fear.

If both individuals do pratikraman toward each other, the account gets settled quickly. But even if the other person does not do it, we should do double pratikraman and become free from the account. The rule is that the one at whose feet we fall to ask for forgiveness, until that person’s ego comes down, there is no escape. We may make a thousand efforts to empty the ego, yet it does not empty. Instead, if we go face-to-face and place our head at the feet of the person who has been hurt because of us, everything gets cleared in a single instant! It is the stubbornness of ego that does not allow us to ask for forgiveness.

​Attainment of the Self through pratikraman

One whose ‘alochana-pratikraman-pratyakhyan’ are true, cannot remain without attaining the Self. True pratikraman means that the fault never occurs again, or else, the fault gradually gets completely exhausted. Moreover, if someone learns alochana-pratikraman-pratyakhyan from a Gnani Purush (One who has realized the Self and is able to do the same for others), that itself is more than enough. It will be very beneficial. One becomes free from wrongdoing.

Param Pujya Dadashri says that if someone abuses you and it affects you, then to keep feeling within that it is my own fault, and to keep doing pratikraman, this is the greatest knowledge of God. This alone takes one to moksha (liberation)! This is the power of forgiveness at its peak!

The scientific result of pratikraman

On one side, wrong actions keep happening, and on the other side, one must continue repenting. One might question that could this be misused, allowing someone to continue doing faults by relying on repentance? But Param Pujya Dadashri explains that a person who commits wrongdoing and then repents cannot do artificial repentance. Repentance never goes to waste. The repentance is always genuine, and through it, one layer of the fault gets removed. There is no crime in making a mistake; the crime lies in not doing pratikraman and pratyakhyan after the mistake occurs.

Through repentance, the seed gets roasted. As the fruit of the seeds sown in the past, we have to suffer the effects of demerit karma today; and the fruit of the seeds sown today will be suffered tomorrow. By asking forgiveness for one’s faults, the root of demerit karma gets burnt, so it does not sprout again and the punishment reduces, but its result still has to be suffered. Even Lord Krishna was struck by an arrow in the foot; therefore, even God has to experience the fruits of karma. Pratikraman destroys the causes; it does not destroy the results. For example, suppose someone has suffered a loss because of us. Now, the intent we had to cause that loss is the “cause.” Now when we do pratikraman, that ‘intent’ to cause loss breaks within us. In this way, pratikraman breaks the causes. Whatever has already happened is the “result”. This is the scientific discovery of Param Pujya Dadashri!

Outwardly, we may say, “Welcome, welcome,” yet within the mind we may feel, “Why have they come here right now?” this extra mistake we are erasing through pratikraman. Just as when a pencil mark gets made by mistake, we rub it with an eraser and it gets wiped away, leaving it clean again. Just as if there is glue between an envelope and a postage stamp, the stamp remains stuck to the envelope; but if the glue dissolves, the stamp will come off. Without having to shun people away, without changing them, and without trying to correct them, pratikraman is the method to empty out our raag (attachment) and dwesh (abhorrence).

Many times we say, “Even though I did not want to say it, harsh words slipped out.” This means that against our own wish, such a storm arises within the prakruti (the non-Self complex). At such times, we may feel, “Even after doing pratikraman, the prakruti does not improve, so let it be!” But it is not like that. The prakruti plays its role, and we have to play our role. When many pratikraman are done, that prakruti begins to stop! We must keep correcting ourselves from within, again and again.

Explaining the scientific effect of pratikraman, Param Pujya Dadashri says that when karma is very sticky and the knot is big, a person makes a mistake and ends up committing a fault. Then, when we repent for it, it becomes loosened in such a way that it can be washed off in the next life. Through pratikraman, the fault may remain, but it becomes thinner and weaker. It is like a burnt cotton thread: its design and twists may still look like a thread, but if we touch it, the ash crumbles away. In the same way, the knot may still appear to remain, but in the next life, it will crumble away simply by being touched. Therefore, after every action, one should recognize one’s mistake and repent for it.