“Samvatsari” is the last day of Paryushan for us Shwetambar Jains. The Samvatasarik Pratikraman – a 3 to 4 hour event is a big deal for Jains all over the world. And even those who hardly follow any Jain stuff, will try to do this Pratikraman.

This Pratikraman is an event where formal forgiveness is asked for the various harms caused to life of all forms and kinds during the course of our life. The traditional way, is to do this pratikraman with a group. Doing alone is difficult because there are many long scriptures to be read. Usually a monk/nun will preside and speak the scriptures. If no monk or nun is available then any other Jains who have learnt to recite the scriptures properly can conduct the event. Others will simply listen to them. Some chanting and other ritual actions are there which need to be followed as needed.

What Do The Pratikraman Scriptures Actually Say?

As usual, the typical Jains haven’t delved deep into the scriptures. So while a lot of stuff is being spoken in the scriptures, they remain (blissfully?) ignorant of it. It is said that the fundamental premise of the Pratikraman is that all of us agree to apologize and seek forgiveness for a lot of stuff. Harming any life is one part of it.

But when I actually delved into the scripture there is a lot of other stuff too.

Explicitly, it is mentioned that believing / giving importance to “other Gods” like Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh is paramount to negating Jain supremacy. And thus, Michchami Dukkadam. Taking another Guru outside the religion is also similarly a mistake. Indulging in festivals of other Gods and religions is also explicitly mentioned. They are not of Jainism. Thus, also counts as negating Jain supremacy.

Now, I have earlier written about Steadfastness to the ONE path we are following. There is some importance of that. So for proper Jains this pratikraman is fine where they are being coaxed to stick to the ONE path.

For me, as you can know from this blog, I greatly value a lot of Indic stuff including that which is not “Jain”. In fact, my fundamental spiritual path hasn’t come from my traditional Jain understanding. In fact, it is the other way around. My understanding of Jainism comes from my spiritual framework established by SadhguruJV. Thus, I cannot ask forgiveness for the above.

Once I read the actual scriptures of the traditional Jain text. I realised that I cannot be a part of this pratikraman vidhi.

Bhaav Pratikraman

But then, this Michchami Dukkadam ritual is more of cultivating the proper bhaav. The bhaav of asking for forgiveness and of forgiving others. A lot of the new age Jain paths – ashrams which are based on Jain tenets like Dada Bhagwan Foundation or Srimad Rajchandra – have introduced a bhaav pratikraman ritual.

Both these have a variation of the traditional Jain pratikraman. Which is largely about evoking this bhaav of forgiveness in us.

So, this Samvatsari 2020, I did the Samvatsari Alochana from Srimad Rajchandra ashram. It was really beautiful. There is no clash at the bhaav level at all.

So, if you have been having doubts or not sure of the traditional Jain pratikraman. First, I suggest you delve into the scriptures yourself. And understand them, if needed, with help from a monk / nun / wise Jain in your area. Second, you can try a bhaav pratikraman.