Santhara - an idealistic death

Friday, September 29, 2006
Santhara - an idealistic death
I knew there existed a tradition of fasting-to-death voluntarily in Jain religion, not as a reaction to any extraneous reasons of poverty or disease, but for spiritual reasons. People commit suicide due to suffering or disappointment. But the fasting-to-death tradition in Jainism is different. I am reminded of the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita on what constitutes good and bad action – the answer being motive. In the case of Santhara (I am actually hearing this word for the first time, after the recent incident concerning a Jain lady), it is easy to see that it is part of the higher spiritual practice of the Jains and we must not ridicule it or see it as a crime. Of course, this practice can be misused and we might not know which the genuine cases are and which are being done with ulterior motives. But then the best of practices can be misused. So let us not call Santhara as suicides and instead see it in the larger context of a genuine and legitimate religious practice pursued by the sincerest of adherents to the path.

As for myself, I see it as one of the most idealistic of sanctions given by religion to motivate a pilgrim on the spiritual path - fancy giving up everything, finally food, all under the most stringent of self-determined tapas. He who is detached enough to watch death as it eats one away is verily the one who has transcended fear and known what truth is. The Jains indeed have the noblest of religions.

The message of Santhara is that there is nothing to fear. We all horde money to help us out of a difficult situation that may arise in the future. Our greatest fear is the suffering for want of food or medicine. But if we know that the perishing of the body cannot harm us, then where is the fear of the future? Thus we will cease being materialistic. We shall be fearless to pursue the spiritual path.

8:51:43 PM
Posted By VenuGopal Comment (0) Uncategorized