Jaina Gazette 1928

Author(s): Ajitprasad, C S Mallinath
Publisher: Jaina Gazettee Office

Page 24

SOME MISCONCEPTIONS REGARDING JAINISM 11 pleasure when it appears burdensome or not to hold any charm worth living for. The true idea of sallekhana is only this that when death does appear at last one should know how to die, that is one should die like a man, not like a beast, bellowing and panting and making vain efforts to avoid the unavoidable ! Had A. S. P. read anything of the true science of Religion he would have known that the soul is a simple substance and as such immortal. Death is only for compounds, whose dissolution is termed disintegration, and death, when it has reference to a living organism, that is a compound of spirit and matter. By dying in the proper way will is developed, and it is a great asset for the future life of the soul, which, as a simple substance, will survive the bodily dissolution and death. If A. S. P. had taken the trouble to enquire into the nature of the numerous samadhis (small shrines) which are still to be found in different parts of the country, he would have discovered that all kinds of sadhus have tried to attain to the higher form of death. In Hinduism, too, the injunction is clearly given in the Manu Smriti where one may read-:
“On the appearance of some incurable disease and the like, facing north-east and maintaining himself only on water and air, and established firmly in yogic contemplation, he should move steadily onwards till the body falls down. This mode of dying termed mahaprasthana, is the one enjoined in the scripture. Therefore, it is forbidden to die in contravention of the prescribed form !"
I will now take up only one further point. A. S. P. thus expresses himself towards the end of his article :
“Although the teachings of Jainism appear to aim at great perfection, it can very aptly be called 'the pathos of an empty heart.""
No doubt to a man who will not take the trouble of studying the subject on which he is going to discourse or write, Jainism might appear as the 'pathos of an empty heart,' but A. S. P. should be charitable enough to accord me the privilege of saying that to the Jainas his article appears more as the tragedy
of an empty head than anything else! If A. S. P. would only Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat