Pratigyaan Dharma (प्रतिज्ञान धर्म, Pratijñāna Dharma) is the fourth of the five dharmas of Siddha Dharma. The tradition glosses it with two words, saṅkalpa (संकल्प), the vow, and haṭha (हठ), force of will.
Pratijñā is a pledge, a solemn undertaking, and pratijñāna is the same word at greater length: a promise given. The dharma is the way of living by it.
Section 01
What this dharma is
Pratigyaan Dharma is the path of discipline, resolve and unwavering commitment. The seeker takes a vow, a saṅkalpa. He keeps it. What he meets on the way, and he will meet a great deal, he overcomes by sheer determination, and Siddha Dharma describes the essence of this dharma as strength of will and steadfastness in the pursuit of spiritual goals.
The haṭha in the name is not the haṭha of postures. In the tradition's own gloss it is the haṭha of the person who has decided, the persistence that does not let go of the vow when the vow becomes difficult, and it does become difficult. The seeker of this dharma may not be the most learned. He may not be the most devoted. He is the one who said he would, and did.
Section 02
Its place among the five
Pratigyaan Dharma is the one of the five that makes the saṅkalpa itself the path.
It sits beside Yujya Dharma, and the contrast tells something about both. The saṃyogī keeps three practices in balance. The follower of Pratigyaan Dharma keeps a vow, and keeps it absolutely, in the way a mountain path is kept by walking it every day whether or not anyone is watching. One is the dharma of proportion, the other of steadfastness. The tradition wanted both on the list.
Section 03
What its people hold
- A vow, once taken, is kept. Adherence to the saṅkalpa is the practice.
- Obstacles are part of the path, and the response to them is resolve, haṭha, the determination that does not let go.
- Strength of will and steadfastness are the essence of this road, and they are what carry the seeker toward the goal.
Section 04
Its granthas and Siddhas
Reserved for a future entry from the tradition's record.
Section 05
Its practices
Reserved for a future entry from the tradition's record.
Section 06
Pratigyaan Dharma in a modern frame
Anyone who has watched a friend keep a vow too long will put the objection plainly: will is the least reliable of the human faculties, a vow can become an instrument of self-harm, and a dharma that makes persistence a virtue risks producing the ascetic who breaks himself to prove a point.
Two things in the tradition's own account answer that. Pratigyaan Dharma is placed under Sthiti Dharma like the other four, and Sthiti Dharma says that no path is incomplete and no path invalid, so the vow-keeper is never asked to prove that his road is the only one, or to outdo anyone on it. And saṅkalpa, commitment, is named by Siddha Dharma among the virtues every seeker is to cultivate, beside letting go of ego and the growth of awareness. A vow kept in the company of those two is a different thing from stubbornness. It is a word kept. There is a great deal of quiet dignity in that.