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mind that amount to an unhinging of the mental balance and imply a fit of temporary insanity characteristic of a suicide's mind. On the other hand, it is characterised by the utmost degree of mental clarity and urged by the pious ambition to control one's destiny, and through it, ultimately, death itself. As said in the Householder's Dharma :
"Sallekhanā death must be distinguished from suicide. It is undertaken only when the body is no longer capable of serving its owner as an instrument for the observance of Dhamma, and when the inevitabiliy of death is a matter of undisputed certainty. In such cases, when life may be said to confess judgment to the claim of death, the adoption of the sallekhanā attitude is calculated to directly strengthen the soul and to prevent its future rebirth in any but the best surroundings. Those who adopt the sallekhanā vow, immediately become self-composed and self centred; they cease to be agilated by personal considerations and suffering and rise above the cravings and "longings of the world. The result of the terribly resolute frame of mind implied in the sallekhanā vow on the departing soul is simply wonderful and immediately raises its rhythm, lifting it out of the slough of despond and negativity. The man who wanders or tosses about, hither and thither, weeping and crying, in the closing moments of life, and spends the little time at his disposal in making vain efforts to avoid the unavoidable, is nowhere compared with him who, realizing the hopelessness of the
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DEFENSE
