Philosophy of Sallekhanā

Summary

Dr. Rajjan Kumar’s article explores the Jain practice known as Sallekhanā, an ascetic vow of voluntary death undertaken when normal religious life can no longer be sustained. He explains that this self‑mortification, also called santhārā, samādhimaraṇa, sakāma‑maraṇa and paṇḍita‑maraṇa, is regarded by Jains as a Right Conduct rather than suicide because it is motivated by spiritual aspiration and non‑violence. Drawing on classical texts such as the Ratnakaraṇḍaka‑śrāvakācāra, Kumar describes how practitioners either adopt the vow for the remainder of their lives under adverse conditions or for a limited time when death is inevitable. Sallekhanā involves renouncing food, possessions and passions while cultivating meditation and equanimity. The article examines the Jain doctrine of karma in detail, treating karmas as material particles attached to the soul that obscure knowledge, perception and happiness. Kumar enumerates eight categories of karma (knowledge‑obscuring, perception‑obscuring, feeling, deluding, life‑span, body‑determining, status‑determining and obstructive), explains how they operate through their effect, duration, intensity and quantity, and differentiates between destructive (ghātiyā) and non‑destructive (aghātiyā) karmas. He links Sallekhanā to the dual processes of saṃvara—stopping the influx of new karmic particles—and nirjarā—shedding accumulated karmas—situating the vow within the broader Jain cosmology of jīva, ajīva, āsrava, bandha, saṃvara, nirjarā and mokṣa. Ultimately, Kumar argues that Sallekhanā is a disciplined spiritual practice designed to purify the soul and cross the ocean of worldly existence, not an act of despair. Through gradual fasting and self‑control the practitioner seeks to achieve detachment, destroy past karmas and attain liberation.