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What is Sailekhanā ?
the death of an individual who has right faith but who does not possess self-control. The second kind of death is that which a house-holder who has reached the fifth stage of his spiritual progress, who is unable to abstain from the himsā of one-sensed beings but has abstained from the himsă of twosensed beings and is still in a state of indecision in the matter of self-restraint, may adopt. Pandita marana is the death of an ascetic who has attained pure knowledge about his own self. The death of Tīrthankaras, of the Gañadharas who have attained pure knowledge and of the ascetic who has obtained pure knowledge is called Pandita-pandita-marana. The author then describes what status and sufferings which persons dying with perverted attitudes etc. attain after death. He does not however describe the procedure which should be followed by an ascetic who adopts the vow of Sallekhana. He has described very efficiently the path to liberation. In crossing an ocean, a good boat, a skilled boatsman and knowledge of winds is necessary. In crossing the ocean of Samsāra, Right Knowledge is the boatsman as such knowledge enables to find out what is good or bad for himself; Right Conduct is the boat; dhyāna or meditation is the wind. An ascetic can cross the ocean in his boat of Right Conduct, with the skill of his Right Knowledge and by regulating the progress with his power of meditation.
Since liberation of the soul from the bondage of Karma is the ideal to be realized, the various vows and austerities are intended to subserve the main object. We are now in a position to indicate in a nutshell what the characteristics of this vow are (1) It is the basic conception of Jainism that the body is different from the soul. (2) While the body is the result of one's own Karmas, the soul is pure and perfect, with inherent qualities of infinite Faith, Knowledge, Bliss and Power. It is the Karma that creates a veil and causes numerous limitations on the exercise of those powers, besides being the cause of births and deathe. (3) The various vows prescribed by the religion for observance in daily life are intended to
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| SR No. | 001568 |
| Book Title | Sallekhana is Not Suicide |
| 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 |