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5.7
Sam dhimara a (Sa th r/Sallekhan) Justice N. K. Jain
Sallekhan, sa y sa, sam dhi, nirup dhi and v riyamara a are all synonyms of Sallekhan.
According to religious texts, it is an eternal law that an entity, which is born, has to die also. One can die prematurely also due to the activation of inauspicious karmas (p pa karma).
One can earn auspicious or meritorious karmas by practicing religious austerities intelligently and die peacefully when one is faced with incurable diseases or old age makes it clear that the end is approaching fast. If one does not practice religious austerities, then he/she earns inauspicious karmas. In this way death is inevitable in both situations and according to the philosophy of rebirth, he/she has to enjoy the fruits accordingly in their next birth/s.
All living beings know that body and soul are different and distinct but from eternity the belief that body and soul are one has taken root. He is busy enjoying the subjects of five senses and four passions (anger, deceit, greed and pride) and hence could never understand the real nature of the soul /self. Until one understands the true nature of self i.e. intuition, knowledge and bliss; he will continue to be deluded in attachments and aversions with other living and non living beings and hence keep on accumulating karmas resulting in the endless cycle of birth-death. Until one experiences the true nature of pure soul, he cannot eliminate the attachment and aversion with other living and non-living beings. By eliminating attachment and aversion, we will have neither enemies nor friends and a state of equanimity will develop instead. Equanimity will result in dissociation of accumulated karmas and further bondage will be stopped. But it is not easy to suppress or destroy desire. Until we acquire complete knowledge about the nature of self, we cannot understand this fact / reality. By taking a vow not to indulge in sinful and ill activities along with repenting upon the wrong deeds done, and contemplating on the nature of the self; developing belief in it (nature of self) and practicing right conduct can stop influx and bondage of new karmas; penance /austerities will then dissociate all existing karmas resulting in attaining the pure state of the self. This knowledge of the true nature of self is possible only in the company and with the blessings of the monks and holy teachers.
Here I will like to emphasize that till recently, knowledge of yoga, pr y ma, meditation etc was available to a privileged few even though these were explained in details in the holy texts of various Indian philosophies. But now the situation has changed. Yoga, its practice and such techniques had been taught to common persons for whom the credit goes to our s dhus, c ryas and teachers. As a result a number of people tried to understand Yoga and then started practicing it to maintain good health, concentrate their mind on useful and productive activities and move forward on the spiritual path of purification. Hence it is important to know correct and specific spiritual purification activities.
Till now, even I was ignorant about Sallekhan and Sa thr. Now after some efforts, I have found detailed and crisp description of these two doctrines and techniques in Jain literature. Keeping these in mind, I am making a humble attempt of writing this paper to arouse interest of others also on the subject.
Jain philosophy has detailed discussion on the doctrine and practice of Sallekhan. True and eternal nature of the self is knowledge and perception (jn t -d). By accepting body and self as same, one cannot understand the true nature of self. But he is an intelligent one who understands body, sensual organs as distinct from the self /soul. By suppressing the desires, the soul gets purified easily. Virtues (dharma) can exist in a pure soul only and it helps in making the self purer. Soul, which is free from the k rmika bondage, is called param tm. Once the soul achieves this pure state, it stays happy in all lives to come.
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STUDY NOTES version 4.0
