Meaning

atonement
The action of making amends for a wrong or injury.
reparation
The action of repairing something.
penance
Punishment inflicted on oneself as an outward expression of repentance for wrongdoing.

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Interpretation

“Prāyaścitta”Expiation, Amends, Atonement/ “samān pāpa” (atonement) ” is atonement. It is the realisation of the consequences of ones actions in the cycle of births and deaths. Why should I atone? How can repentance help outdo the karma that has already been committed?

The story of Indra mentioned in Brahmavaivarta Puraana is very apt.

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Story

Indra, the king of the Gods, has won a great vicotry and in celebration decides to build a magnificent palace. He commissions Vishvakarman, the divine architect, to begin the construction. Vishvakarman builds and builds, but nothing satisfies Indra’s ambition. Finally, Vishwakarman grows weary and goes to Brahmaa for help, who himself approaches Vishnu.

The next day a brahmin boy appears at the gates of Indra’s palace. Indra ushers him inside, and the boy begins to question him abou the building. How long will it take to finish? How much more will Vishwakarman be asked to build? Indras asks why the boy is so curious, and the boy tells him that no previous Indra has ever succeeded in completing such a palace. The boy goes on to instruct him about the cosmic cycles of creation and dissolution. Suddenly the boy looks down and smiles as he sees a line of ants crawling across the palace floor. Indra is puzzled and asks him why. The boys says each of the ants has been an Indra in a previous life, and each one has fallen down through the cycle of death and rebirth and been born as an ant.

The story goes on to describe the appearance of a holy man, a manifestation of the God Shiva, who tempts Indra to leave his palace and take up the life of a wandering sage. On his chest lies a circular cluster of hairs, intact at the circumference but with a gap in the middle. Shiva reveals that each of these chest hairs corresponds to the life of one Indra. Each time a hair falls, one Indra dies and another replaces him.

No longer interested in wealth and honor, Indra rewards Vishvakarman and releases him from any further work on the palace. Indra himself decides to leave his life of luxury to become a hermit and seek wisdom. Horrified, Indra’s wife Shuchi asks Sage Brihaspati to change her husband’s mind. He teaches Indra to see the virtues of both the spiritual life and the worldly life. Thus, at the end of the story, Indra learns how to pursue wisdom while still fulfilling his kingly duties.

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On the gameboard

Atonement is first about realisation of the purpose and effect of ones actions. Re-alignment of one’s intent towards “paramārtha”, exactly 6 places ahead on the game board, is the goal of prāyaścitta.

To the player, prāyaścitta, may seem like an activity that has to be done for each individual karma that had a “wrong side to it”.

Atonement, however, must be performed as a “cleansing of the whole”. Through atonement, the player expresses and calms her inner turmoil. Atonement gives the player inner peace and prepares her to accept and understand the path of dharma. Without, inner peace, one cannot understand or appreciate the path of dharma.

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