Sallekhana is Not Suicide

SR No.: 001568
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T K Tukol
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1976
Total Pages: 124
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Religion
File Size: 8 MB

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Sallekhana is not Suicide
tailed in their account lay down that the devotee, whether male or female, faced death with joy and engrossed in deep meditation. He makes no distinction between such death and of " persons borne to the banks of the Ganges to die.. suffocated with the holy soil." He proceeds: "In the case of persons too weak to perform the requirements of the vow, the proper ritual is recited within their hearing, and this is done I am told but do not vouchsafe for the truth of it, even for the domestic cattle and other animals at the time of their decease."1 Nothing can be more misleading or perverted than placing reliance on hearsay garbled versions. The conclusions are bound to be unreal and far from truth.
Mrs. Sinclair Stevenson has made very satirical remarks on the subject: "The Sadhu climbs some sacred hill such as Parasanatha, Girnär, or Satrunjaya; and there, in order to do nothing that may lead to karma, he does absolutely nothing at all, but awaits death without moving hand or foot, head or body. The influence of a negative religion is then worked out to its irresistible conclusion, and with all the sorrows and ills of the world awaiting to be relieved, the soldier deserts his post in order to free his own soul from suffering. It is strange that a religious system which begins with the most minute regulations against the taking of the lowest insect life should end by encouraging human suicide."15 It is impossible to find support for such versions from the scriptures. There is no injunction for simply lying down like a dead log of wood doing "absolutely nothing at all." There is no question of "soldier deserving his post" because the vow has to be adopted only when the ascetic who has preached and practised religion all along, is convinced that his end is near or that there is any circumstance of the type mentioned in the scriptures which sanction the adoption of the vow. Besides, there is no question of sudden stopping of food or lying down like a dead person. The ascetic has to conquer all his
14. Epigraphia Carnatica by B. Rice, Vol. II, Introduction.
15. Heart of Jainism by Mrs. Sinclair, pp. 163-68.
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