10-03-2006, 03:26 AM
Looks like Jains were being split away again from the Hindus.
From Pioneer, 2 Oct., 2006
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> Sallekhana and suicide
Sandhya Jain
Jains who have compromised their spiritual honour by demanding minority status must explain why 'fellow minorities' did not support 'Jain personal law' when two women recently undertook 'sallekhana', one of whom is alive at the time of writing this piece. Regular readers are aware I place Jains within the Indic fold, as Jains cannot explain their civilisational ethos or history in non-Hindu categories. Jains are a spiritual eminence within the Hindu tradition; they can be equated with the Himalayan peaks but can hardly be detached from the mountain range itself.
I am convinced the current media bias against the Jain custom of proactively embracing death is driven by vested interests seeking to fragment Hindu society by motivating various groups to break away; while simultaneously unleashing motivated propaganda against time-honoured practices in order to annihilate all Indic traditions from this land. Contrary to popular belief, although sallekhana (also called santara) continues in contemporary Jain society, the graceful departure from life is an old Indic tradition.
Greeks accompanying Alexander to India noted with stunned admiration the Hindu custom of surrendering the living body to fire. Childless women accompanied dead husbands on the final journey (sati), and sages bowed out at the first intimations of mortality. Onesicritus has immortalised Kalanos, the philosopher who followed Alexander to Europe before ending his life at Sousiana. Then around 73 years old, Kalanos fell prey to a painful disease and decided to take leave from life "as one who had received the full measure of happiness alike from nature and from fortune". As the entire army assembled to witness this unprecedented event, Kalanos calmly ascended the great pyre prepared for him and wordlessly met the flames. Some Greeks thought it madness, others vanity, but many, including the king, admired his valour and contempt of death.
In the medieval era, Hindu women again took recourse to release by fire to save their honour from molestation by Islamic armies (jauhar). This period also saw widowed women with children opting for sati, which must legitimately be perceived as a social response to the stress of protecting single women in a tumultuous era. <b>The contemporary attempt to redefine socio-historical tragedies as suicide or murder must be firmly discouraged, or even prosecuted, for viciously maligning ancient religions and hurting religious sentiments. The NGO-friendly UPA chairperson, Ms Sonia Gandhi, would do well to advise these professional Hindu-baiters to desist from meddling in the intimate spiritual affairs of India's native communities.
This media-NGO spotlight on Jains has intensified over the past few years as the political decision to grant the community minority status in certain states has facilitated conversions among the lower rungs. Community 'thekedars' have ignored the warning bells in the race to reap financial benefits from running minority institutions, successfully enticing some munis with the lure of a Pope/Maulana type of status among the faithful. It is, of course, a grand folly.</b>
The spiritual goal of exiting the endless cycle of rebirth is common to all Indic traditions. Hindu saints still practice samadhi (death in meditation), but what distinguishes Jains is that even the laity accept life's ebbing with unrivalled equanimity. In 1994, my father's eldest brother, though in good health, heeded an inner voice and departed peacefully after 10 days without food or water. Eleven years later, his wife developed stomach cancer. Asked if she wished to take sallekhana when her end became imminent, she said she was not up to it, and subsisted on milk and water for a few months before passing away.
Sallekhana (literally, thinning one's body and passions) is an ideal way of leaving the mortal coil, but cannot be invoked without an inner call, itself the fruition of a long karmic trajectory. Usually permission is taken from a senior monk to ensure that the concerned individual has the necessary level of spiritual attainment (accumulated over past lives), or is dying from old age or an incurable disease. Permission is denied to those with worldly responsibilities. Sallekhana is not suicide, which is a secret act committed by those driven by mortal anxiety or mental instability.
That is why sallekhana involves a public declaration to society. It is for those who have led an exemplary life, earned the right to die in peace, in full possession of their faculties, freely renouncing worldly ties, including those of attachment to the body. The individual allows life to ebb away, neither desiring to prolong it artificially, nor unduly anticipating his demise.
Enlightened Hindus would do well to view the attack upon the Jain tradition as an assault on themselves, as Jains and Hindus share common civilisational roots. Jain tradition holds that 22 Tirthankaras hailed from the Iksvaku dynasty of Lord Rama; two were from the Hari clan of Lord Krishna. Little wonder that the attack on the Jains has extended to Lord Rama, who surrendered his mortal frame to a river before returning to Vaikunth, but is now accused of committing suicide!
<b>What we are witnessing here is the promotion of Western (Christian) norms as the only legitimate way of thinking and living.</b> Hindus respect life and death and view them as a continuum without end, until the yuga ends or the soul succeeds in merging with the divine. Indeed, all ancient non-monotheistic traditions have had immense respect for death and a desire to give it meaning and honour. The Pharoahs protected their honour with asp bites; the Romans slit their stomachs wide open.
Christianity, however, demeans death by perpetuating life at all costs, as evidenced in the shameful episode of Terri Shiavo, a brain dead accident victim kept alive artificially for 15 years in America, till her husband succeeded in closing the chapter. This monstrous saga repulsed even devout Christians, who feel that lack of respect for death is the reverse side of disrespect for the dignity of life. Indeed, euthanasia is the Western world's attempt to overcome its ancient mania for eternal human life, evidenced in the mythologies of Fedora and Dracula.
In modern India, both Maharishi Ramana and Sri Aurobindo refused to use their spiritual powers to heal their bodies of cancer, pointing out that if they did so, the cost to humanity would be unbearable. This is the common heritage of Hindus and Jains; separatism is civilisational genocide<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
From Pioneer, 2 Oct., 2006
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> Sallekhana and suicide
Sandhya Jain
Jains who have compromised their spiritual honour by demanding minority status must explain why 'fellow minorities' did not support 'Jain personal law' when two women recently undertook 'sallekhana', one of whom is alive at the time of writing this piece. Regular readers are aware I place Jains within the Indic fold, as Jains cannot explain their civilisational ethos or history in non-Hindu categories. Jains are a spiritual eminence within the Hindu tradition; they can be equated with the Himalayan peaks but can hardly be detached from the mountain range itself.
I am convinced the current media bias against the Jain custom of proactively embracing death is driven by vested interests seeking to fragment Hindu society by motivating various groups to break away; while simultaneously unleashing motivated propaganda against time-honoured practices in order to annihilate all Indic traditions from this land. Contrary to popular belief, although sallekhana (also called santara) continues in contemporary Jain society, the graceful departure from life is an old Indic tradition.
Greeks accompanying Alexander to India noted with stunned admiration the Hindu custom of surrendering the living body to fire. Childless women accompanied dead husbands on the final journey (sati), and sages bowed out at the first intimations of mortality. Onesicritus has immortalised Kalanos, the philosopher who followed Alexander to Europe before ending his life at Sousiana. Then around 73 years old, Kalanos fell prey to a painful disease and decided to take leave from life "as one who had received the full measure of happiness alike from nature and from fortune". As the entire army assembled to witness this unprecedented event, Kalanos calmly ascended the great pyre prepared for him and wordlessly met the flames. Some Greeks thought it madness, others vanity, but many, including the king, admired his valour and contempt of death.
In the medieval era, Hindu women again took recourse to release by fire to save their honour from molestation by Islamic armies (jauhar). This period also saw widowed women with children opting for sati, which must legitimately be perceived as a social response to the stress of protecting single women in a tumultuous era. <b>The contemporary attempt to redefine socio-historical tragedies as suicide or murder must be firmly discouraged, or even prosecuted, for viciously maligning ancient religions and hurting religious sentiments. The NGO-friendly UPA chairperson, Ms Sonia Gandhi, would do well to advise these professional Hindu-baiters to desist from meddling in the intimate spiritual affairs of India's native communities.
This media-NGO spotlight on Jains has intensified over the past few years as the political decision to grant the community minority status in certain states has facilitated conversions among the lower rungs. Community 'thekedars' have ignored the warning bells in the race to reap financial benefits from running minority institutions, successfully enticing some munis with the lure of a Pope/Maulana type of status among the faithful. It is, of course, a grand folly.</b>
The spiritual goal of exiting the endless cycle of rebirth is common to all Indic traditions. Hindu saints still practice samadhi (death in meditation), but what distinguishes Jains is that even the laity accept life's ebbing with unrivalled equanimity. In 1994, my father's eldest brother, though in good health, heeded an inner voice and departed peacefully after 10 days without food or water. Eleven years later, his wife developed stomach cancer. Asked if she wished to take sallekhana when her end became imminent, she said she was not up to it, and subsisted on milk and water for a few months before passing away.
Sallekhana (literally, thinning one's body and passions) is an ideal way of leaving the mortal coil, but cannot be invoked without an inner call, itself the fruition of a long karmic trajectory. Usually permission is taken from a senior monk to ensure that the concerned individual has the necessary level of spiritual attainment (accumulated over past lives), or is dying from old age or an incurable disease. Permission is denied to those with worldly responsibilities. Sallekhana is not suicide, which is a secret act committed by those driven by mortal anxiety or mental instability.
That is why sallekhana involves a public declaration to society. It is for those who have led an exemplary life, earned the right to die in peace, in full possession of their faculties, freely renouncing worldly ties, including those of attachment to the body. The individual allows life to ebb away, neither desiring to prolong it artificially, nor unduly anticipating his demise.
Enlightened Hindus would do well to view the attack upon the Jain tradition as an assault on themselves, as Jains and Hindus share common civilisational roots. Jain tradition holds that 22 Tirthankaras hailed from the Iksvaku dynasty of Lord Rama; two were from the Hari clan of Lord Krishna. Little wonder that the attack on the Jains has extended to Lord Rama, who surrendered his mortal frame to a river before returning to Vaikunth, but is now accused of committing suicide!
<b>What we are witnessing here is the promotion of Western (Christian) norms as the only legitimate way of thinking and living.</b> Hindus respect life and death and view them as a continuum without end, until the yuga ends or the soul succeeds in merging with the divine. Indeed, all ancient non-monotheistic traditions have had immense respect for death and a desire to give it meaning and honour. The Pharoahs protected their honour with asp bites; the Romans slit their stomachs wide open.
Christianity, however, demeans death by perpetuating life at all costs, as evidenced in the shameful episode of Terri Shiavo, a brain dead accident victim kept alive artificially for 15 years in America, till her husband succeeded in closing the chapter. This monstrous saga repulsed even devout Christians, who feel that lack of respect for death is the reverse side of disrespect for the dignity of life. Indeed, euthanasia is the Western world's attempt to overcome its ancient mania for eternal human life, evidenced in the mythologies of Fedora and Dracula.
In modern India, both Maharishi Ramana and Sri Aurobindo refused to use their spiritual powers to heal their bodies of cancer, pointing out that if they did so, the cost to humanity would be unbearable. This is the common heritage of Hindus and Jains; separatism is civilisational genocide<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->