"Michhami Dukkadam"
It is celebrated by the Jains throughout out the world
The most important festival of Jainism i.e. "PARYUSHAN ". One custom to be followed on the last day of Paryushan (Samvatsari) is that of saying "Michhami Dukkadam". On Samvatsari day the ritual of "Pratikraman" is performed. Since "Samvatsari" is an annual event so is the Samvatsari Pratikraman. Under Samvatsari Pratikraman there comes the retrospection of all bad deeds and mistakes committed in the past year. We are critical of the bad deeds and resolve not to let them happen in the future. We also request forgiveness from all the living beings (including non-human, plants) in the world if we might have knowingly or unknowingly caused harm to them. Thus, after the Pratikraman it is customary to request forgiveness from everyone we know and meet by saying "Michhami Dukkadam". The idea behind it being that - "After requesting forgiveness from all living beings in general as part of Pratikraman, I do so one-to-one with you." We become more specific and personal by doing so. In addition to requesting forgiveness, one has to grant forgiveness too. Thus by forgiving everyone and requesting forgiveness from all we lighten ourselves and our mind from past year's misdeeds. "Michhhami (Mithya) means fruitless / forgiven and Dukkadam (Dushkrit) means bad deeds. Therefore the meaning of Michhami Dukkadam is 'My bad deeds be fruitless'. So the idea behind conveying Michhami Dukkadam is that if I have caused any harm to you then may those bad deeds be forgiven, become fruitless.
KHAMEMI SAVVE JIVA:- I forgive all the living beings
SAVVE JIVA KHAMANTU :- ME I seek pardon from all the living beings
MITTI ME SAVVA BHUTESU :- I am friendly towards all the living beings
VERAM MAJJHAM NA KENVI :- And seek enmity with none.
MICHHAMI DUKKADAM! Forgive me for my ignorance! Self-Realization: I am pure soul. I am not body. Concentrate on three spiritual jewels: Right Knowledge, Right Vision and Right Conduct. While meditating, exhale and inhale through the process, drawing our energy from the naval to head. Concentrate on endless virtues and attributes of our soul. The practice of meditation helps us to purify our mental state, to control our emotions of hatred, greed, etc., and feel eternal happiness and serenity.
So many people who have been abused, neglected, and or
hurt in many other ways have great difficulty getting to true
forgiveness. The way to get stuck and block yourself from
forgiveness is to mistakenly believe that by holding on to
your anger, rage, and hate that you are getting revenge
upon the person you choose not to forgive. Nothing could
be further from the truth.
Forgiveness is NOT about justifying any one's wrong
behaviour, ever. Forgiveness is not about forgetting.
Forgiveness does not mean that you have to reconnect
or have the person you want forgive involved in your life.
Forgiveness is remembering and making a choice to let
go. The letting go is for you. Forgiveness is a gift that you
can give to yourself. If you continue to hold the hurt, anger,
and hate, you only hurt yourself. You are not hurting the
person or persons that hurt you.
In order for forgiveness to be possible it is necessary to
stop blaming. No matter how much we may have suffered
as children we will stay stuck in our pain as long as we
continue to blame our abusers for all that has gone asunder
in our lives.
When we own our own issues, and when we realize that most
of the things we are not pleased about in our lives are a
direct result of our own choices, only this kind of ownership
of our issues will enable us to move forward and to forgive.
Forgiveness is Freedom.
forgiveness. The way to get stuck and block yourself from
forgiveness is to mistakenly believe that by holding on to
your anger, rage, and hate that you are getting revenge
upon the person you choose not to forgive. Nothing could
be further from the truth.
Forgiveness is NOT about justifying any one's wrong
behaviour, ever. Forgiveness is not about forgetting.
Forgiveness does not mean that you have to reconnect
or have the person you want forgive involved in your life.
Forgiveness is remembering and making a choice to let
go. The letting go is for you. Forgiveness is a gift that you
can give to yourself. If you continue to hold the hurt, anger,
and hate, you only hurt yourself. You are not hurting the
person or persons that hurt you.
In order for forgiveness to be possible it is necessary to
stop blaming. No matter how much we may have suffered
as children we will stay stuck in our pain as long as we
continue to blame our abusers for all that has gone asunder
in our lives.
When we own our own issues, and when we realize that most
of the things we are not pleased about in our lives are a
direct result of our own choices, only this kind of ownership
of our issues will enable us to move forward and to forgive.
Forgiveness is Freedom.
Disclaimer:: I would like to provide the credit for the text provided by the website https://sites.google.com/site/abafna/universalforgivenessweak. I do not take any credit for it.
