Sallekhanā

(as expounded in Puruşārthasiddhyupāya)

175. The householder should court voluntary death (sallekhanā) at the end of his life, always thinking fervently that only this (sallekhanā) will enable him to carry with him his wealth of piety.

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176. “I shall certainly, at the approach of death, observe sallekhanā in the proper manner.” Meditating persistently in this manner, the observance of the vow of sallekhanā starts much before the approach of death.

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177. When death is imminent, the vow of sallekhanā is observed by progressively slenderizing the body and the passions. Since the person observing sallekhanā is devoid of all passions like attachment, it is not suicide.

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178. When a man, actuated by passions, puts an end to his life by means of stopping breath, or by water, fire, poison, or weapon, he is certainly guilty of suicide.

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179. In the observance of sallekhanā, since passions, the instrumental cause of himsā (injury), are subdued, sallekhanā is said to be leading to ahimsa.

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180. The man who incessantly observes all the supplementary vows and sallekhanā (together, these are called śeelas) for the sake of safeguarding his vows (vratas), gets fervently garlanded (a gesture to indicate her choice for a husband) by the maiden called ‘liberation’.

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Excerpted from: Jain, Vijay K. (Ed.) (2012), “Shri Amritchandra Suri’s Puruşārthasiddhyupāya — with Hindi and English Translation”, Vikalp Printers, Dehradun. (Non-Copyright)