Process of coming back home (soul)! We get so engrossed in the daily chores and work that we knowingly or unknowingly hurt others (including humans, and animals). This leads to accumulation of karmas obstructing us from experiencing real happiness in us! Pratikraman is an opportunity to shed those karmas and thus get rid of these ‘obstructions’.

 

Chaumasi Pratikraman is done once in every four months for the sins committed during that period. 

 

Why Chaumasi Pratikraman? Why not just Samvatsari Pratikraman?
You wore a new dress or suit or a beautiful outfit to attend a dinner party. While having dinner,  something spilled and caused a stain on your new and beautiful outfit.

 You can clean it up at different times with varying level of effort and effectiveness.
1. If you immediately try to clean that stain, it will be washed off immediately with very little efforts.
2. If you leave it as is and decide to wash it after going home, it might take some additional efforts to clean it as the stain had more time to settle in.
3. If you wait until the next laundry load is done, may be a few days away, the stain may settle and it might take more than one load to clean it.
4. Or you don’t clean it at all and stain will be there forever.

In the same context, Pratikraman is considered due as soon as a sin occurs. The sooner we atone for our sins, the minimal would be the bondage of the karma on our soul.