Pranjaparadha: Willful Mistakes

Dr. Shilpa Ramdas BAMS, MD

As per Ayurveda, Prajnaparadha is the main cause for many mental and physical disorders. Prajnaparadha in simple term means doing wrong things willfully.

Definition

धीधृतिस्मृतिविभ्रष्टः कर्मयत्कुरुते अशुभम्। प्रज्ञापराधं तं विद्यात् सर्वदोषप्रकोपणम्॥
dhīdhṛtismṛtivibhraṣṭaḥ karmayatkurute aśubham| prajñāparādhaṃ taṃ vidyāt sarvadoṣaprakopaṇam|| (Charaka Samhita . Sharira sthana. 1.102)

pra – Superior knowledge or intelligence. It means judgment, distinguishing capacity, discrimination etc.
aparadha – denote error, mistake, offense, etc.

Thus, the term ‘prajnaparadh ‘ means intellectual error or defective judgment. Intellectual error is considered as one of the fundamental causes of the disease.

Dhi vibhramsa

Dhi plays a crucial role in decision-making by processing information gathered through sensory organs.
It helps to integrates and evaluates data, cross-referencing it with stored memories to arrive at informed conclusions, particularly essential during conflicting situations

Dhriti Vibhramsa

Dhriti represents control over intellectual functions. It helps prevent the mind and sensory organs from engaging in harmful activities. In Dhritivibhramsa emotions will rule the intelligence, and person will be affected with addiction, anger, and depressed due to silly reasons.

Smriti vibhramsa

We are born with many inborn memories.  At the same time due course of growth, we are acquiring knowledge. Until we acquiring basic knowledge we are assisted by parents and elders. Positive emotions experienced by the persons are converted in to positive mental abilities like courage, confidence etc. Negative experience or emotions like fear, will be manifested as lack of courage, lack of self-esteem, etc. Excessive accumulation of negative emotions can mask the memory or adversely affect the quality of memory.
Due to this diminished memory person will be making repeated mistakes due to improper retrieval of past memory, person will behave like a child without expressing the maturity gain through the life. They may lose their will power, confidence that they gained from past experiences. they will start behaving unconsciously, may develop physical illness due to the unconsciousness past emotions.

Balancing Dhi, Dhriti, and Smriti ensures the equilibrium of mental and physical doshas, thereby promoting overall health.