Sallekhanā is not suicide
Late Shri Champat Rai Jain
The soul is a simple substance and as such immortal. Death is only for compounds, whose dissolution is termed disintegration, and death, when it has reference to a living organism, that is a compound of spirit and matter. By dying in the proper way will is developed, and it is a great asset for the future life of the soul, which, as a simple substance, will survive the bodily dissolution and death.
The Jaina sallekhanā leaves ample time for further reconsideration of the situation, as the process, which is primarily intended to elevate the will, is extended over a number of days, and is not brought to an end at once.
It is written in bold letters and clear language in one of the Jaina Shastras (Sacred Books) that : —
“Bhaktapratyakhyana-marana (sallekhanā) is not proper for him who has many years of saintly life before him, who has no fear of starvation from a great famine, who is not afflicted by an incurable disease, and who is not faced by any sudden cause of death. Whoever desires to put an end to his life while still able, with his body, to observe the rules of the dharma and of the order properly falls from the true path!” (See the Bhagwati Aradhana).
There is no question hereof a recommendation to commit suicide or of putting an end to one’s life, at one’s sweet will and pleasure, when it appears burdensome, or not to hold any charm worth living for.
The true idea of sallekhanā is only this that when death does appear at last, one should know how to die, that is, one should die like a monk, not like a beast, bellowing and panting and making vain efforts to avoid, the unavoidable.
In Hinduism, too, the injunction is clearly given in the Manu Smriti, where one may read: “On the appearance of some incurable disease and the like, facing north-east and maintaining himself only on water and air, and established firmly in yogic contemplation, lie should move steadily onwards till the body falls down. This mode of dying termed mahaprasthana, is the one enjoined in the scripture. Therefore, it is forbidden to die in contravention of the prescribed form”
