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SALLEKHANA
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purity, and help the soul to live a life of compassion. While fasting purifies the body, meditation and introspection assist the soul in its purification, elevation and realization. When the body is to perish due to any of the causes mentioned above, a course of planned death is preferable to a life of irreligion. Before accepting the vow, the monk or the house-holder must conquer all his passions. He should achieve complete detachment from all ties of affections and be free from prejudice and ill-will. Supreme forgiveness towards all must govern his attitude of mind after having begged for forgiveness from everyone else for himself. The mind should be full of joy and equanimity. The acceptance of the vow is thoroughly voluntary with no faltering or lapse of any kind in mind or conduct. Death by Sallekhauā according to scriptural rules is the victory of the soul over Karmas and other infirmities of the mind and body. It is an act of fulfilment and a fitting culmination to a life of piety and religion.
Inspite of its religious character and austerity, some western and eastern scholars have characterised Sallekhanā as suicide or a form of suicide. Such a view overlooks the sociological and psychological distinctions that exist between the characteristics of Sallekhana and of suicide. The psychology of a person committing suicide is marked by one or more of the following characteristics : 1) Ambivalence or a desire to die which simultaneously creates a conflict in the mind. 2) A feeling of hopelessness or helplessness, with inability to handle the problem on hand. 3) A physical or psychological feeling of exhaustion, frustration or both. 4) The mind is full of anxiety, tension, depression, anger, or guilt or some of them. 5) There are feelings of chaos and exhaustion in the mind with inability to restore order or calm. 6) The mind is unable to see any solution to the situation causing the agitati 7) There may be loss of interest or fear of life, with excitement, frustration or extreme depression, 8) In suicide, death is brought about secretly and suddenly by means of offence : hanging, cutting, poisoning, shooting etc..
A monk or a house-holder adopting the vow of Sallekhanā has none of these infirmities of the mind or emotional excitement,
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