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washes his soul shedding Kammas attached to it since time immoral. When the kammic dirt is washed off, the virtues latent in the soul appear themselves spontaneously. The soul of the practitioner shines like pure jewel and becomes purified. In this state the spiritual practitioner becomes free of attachment and fear of death. He remains engaged continuously in ascetic austerities and meditation till he completely uproots all the karmas that malign the soul.
While practicing austerities, if the physical body becomes weak and the agedetermining Kama is almost at its end, the spiritual practitioner prepares himself for discarding the body in the manner defined in the ascetic code. The lay men feel frightened at the time of death. They weap and cry. They go to doctors, medical practitioners, physicians in order to avoid death. They also take medicines as far as possible. But no treatment can save them from claws of death in case their agedetermining Kamas is at its fag end.
The spiritual practitioner also faces the stage of death. But at that time he does not have even an iota of fear in his heart and face. It is because his entire life is embodiment of spiritual practice.
Medium of Samlekhane
Samlekhane is the worthy procedure of festival of death. The spiritual practitioner normally practices it daily at sunrise and sunset. After discovering the fear and its causes, he has made it ineffective. When the causes of fear are eliminated, he does not commit sin.
The spiritual practitioner attends to his death like a festival. His death is not an end of life. It is rather called the festival of death. The happiness appearing at every event in life remains evident on his face and in his heart even at the time of death. The demon of death can take away the worldly man but the spiritual practitioner passes through death in a state of samlekhana. Samlekhane is the grand procedure of the festival of death. Normally a spiritual practitioner daily at both the end points namely sunset and sunrise examines his faults and repents for them to cleanse them. But through samlekhana at the fag end of his life, he discriminately looks into the faults and digression committed during the entire life and through intropection and selfcriticism he washes them away. So it is called the final samlekhane at the end of the life-spam 'Apashchim marnantik samlekhane'.
Pashchim means the end. Apashchim means such an end after which no end occurs again. It means such a death after which one does not have to die again.
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Avashyak Sutra
षष्ठ अध्ययन : प्रत्याख्यान
