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Verse 122
fasting etc. so as to conserve the wealth of virtues (dharma) accrued in the present life. Without this, all that has been accrued goes waste. क्रमेण पक्त्वा फलवत् स्वयमेव पतिष्यति । देहे प्रीत्या महासत्त्वः कुर्यात्सल्लेखनाविधिम् ॥८-१२ ॥ As a fruit falls off the tree by itself on ripening, in the same way, when the body, due to passage of time and without any extraneous reasons, reaches the stage of dissolution, the wise householder should placidly embrace sallekhanā in the prescribed manner. धर्माय व्याधिदुर्भिक्षजरादौ निष्प्रतिक्रिये। त्यक्तुं वपुः स्वपाकेन तच्च्युतौ चाशनं त्यजेत् ॥८-२१॥ When confronted with unavoidable causes of death - like intractable disease, famine, dilapidation and calamity - then, with a view to carry the wealth of dharma earned in this life to the next, food should be abandoned while discarding the body. The same should be done on the approach of death due to expiration of life-span.
Pandit Kailashchandra Shastri (Ed.) (1978), "Panditapravara Āsādhara Viracita Dharmāmrta (Sāgāra)", p. 311-318. (English translation by the author in consultation with Jain, Jaipat Singh, 415 Oncrest Terrace, Cliffside Park, NJ 07010,
United States of America) Jain, Champat Rai elucidates thus:
Sallekkanā-death must be distinguished from suicide. It is undertaken only when the body is no longer capable of serving its owner as an instrument of dharma and when the inevitability 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
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