Pratikraman: Freedom Through Apology & Repentance (Abr.) (In English) Pratikraman: Freedom Through Apology & Repentence | Page 31

18
Pratikraman
Dadashri: That will never happen. Which penance brings
about a discharge of karmas? It is not the penance that is visible
to the eye, and heard by the ears. This is all external penance.
Only internal penance, can lead to discharge of karmas. That is
the kind of penance these mahatmas ‘do’. Any penance, which
is visible to others, will result in punya. The penance that remains
unseen will lead to liberation.
These sadhavijis (Jain nuns) know that they experience
internal kashays (anger, pride, attachment, and greed) throughout
their day, so what should they do? Every evening they should
mentally recall the day’s events during which they experienced
even the slightest negative inner feelings towards others. For
each and every incident where such a feeling arose, they must
do pratikraman and pratyakhyan, for forty-eight minutes. If they
do this then they are on the path of liberation. But the poor
things, they do not do any such thing, so what can one do? If
they were to understand the path to moksha, they would be on
it, but first they need to understand it.
Questioner: Until they can confess and repent on a one
on one basis, they will still harbor a grudge from within. So do
they need to ask for forgiveness in person?
Dadashri: There is no need to ask for forgiveness directly
from the person with whom the fault is committed. The Lord
has forbidden this. You can only ask someone’s forgiveness
directly, if that person is well meaning and noble. However, if
you attempt to do this with a weak person, he will only throw
it back in your face. The weak person will become weaker. The
entire world is weak, and unless the person whose forgiveness
you seek is good-natured, you must not attempt to apologize to
him personally. A weak person will always retaliate by saying:
“See, I knew all along that you were wrong, but you did not
understand. Now you realize that you were wrong.” The foolish