The Ratna Karanda Sravakachara (Part VI)
SALLEKHANA PART VI
उपसर्गे दुर्भिक्षे जरसि रुजायां च निःप्रतीकारे।
धर्माय तनुविमोचनमाहुः सल्लेखनामार्याः।।१२२।।
The most excellent of men describe the giving up of the body (ghost) on the arrival of unavoidable calamity, distress, senescence and disease, with a view of increase of spiritual merit, as sallekhana.
Explanation – Sallekhana – 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 certainly.
In such cases, when life may be said to confess judgment to the claim of death, the adoption of the sallekhana attitude is calculated to directly strengthen has soul and to prevent its future re-birth in any but the very best surroundings.
Those who adopt the sallekhana vow immediately become self-reliant, self-composed and self-centred; they cease to be agitated by personal consideration and suffering and rise above the cravings and longings of the world.
The effect of the terribly resolute attitude of mind implied in this 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 endeavours to avoid the unavoidable, is nowhere compared with him who, realising the hopelessness of the endeavour to save his life, earnestly applies himself to control his destiny.
The result is that, while the latter attains to deva-birth in the highest, heavens, the former only finds himself in painful and unenviable circumstances and surroundings.
अन्तक्रियाघिकरणं तपः फलं सकलदर्शिनः स्तुवते।
तस्माद्यावद्विभवं समाधिमरणे प्रयतितव्यं।।१२३।।
To be able to control one’s conduct at the moment of death is the fruit (culmination) of asceticism; all systems are at one as to this; therefore, one should apply oneself to attain sallekhana death to the extent of one’s power.
Explanation – As the mental attitude prevailing at the last moment of life considerably affects the future destiny of the soul there can be doubting the fact that those who give up the ghost according to the method of sallekhana attain to the very best conditions of life in the hereafter.
स्नेहं वैरं सङगं परिग्रहं चापहाय शुद्धमनाः।
स्वजनं परिजनमपि च क्षांत्वक्षमयेत्प्रियैर्वचनैः।।१२४।।
Giving up love, hatred, attachment and possession, with a pure mind, one should obtain, with sweet speech, forgiveness from one’s kinsmen and attendants, and should also forgive them oneself.
आलोच्य सर्वमेनः कृतकारितमनुमतं च निव्र्याजं।
आरोपयेन्महाव्रतमामरणस्थायि निःशेषं।।१२५।।
Renouncing duplicity and reflecting on the sins committed in any of the three ways, krita, karita and anumodana, one should take all the great vows of asceticism for the rest of one’s days.
शोकं भयमवसादं क्लेदं कालुष्यमरतिमपि हित्वा।
सत्वोत्साहमुदीर्य च मनः प्रसाद्य श्रुतैरमृतैः।।१२६।।
Banishing grief, fear, anguish, attachment, wickedness and hatred and bringing into manifestation energy and enthusiasm, one should extinguish the fire of passion with the nectar of the Word of God i.e. Scripture.
आहारं परिहाय्य क्रमशः स्निग्धं विवद्र्ध त्पानम्।
स्निग्धं च हापयित्वा खरपानं पूरयेत्क्रमशः।।१२७।।
Giving up solid food by degrees, one should take to milk and whey, then giving then up, to hot or spiced water.
खरपानहापानामपि कृत्वा कृत्वोपवासमपि शक्त्या।
पचनमस्कारमनास्तनुं त्यजेत्सर्वयत्नेन।।१२८।।
Subsequently giving up hot water also, and observing fasting with full determination, he should give up his body, trying in every possible way to keep in mind the give-fold obeisance mantra (holy formula).
Explanation – The pancha – namaskara (five-fold obeisance) mantra is as follows :-
Namo Arhantanam (I bow to Arhants) ;1
Namo Siddhanam (I bow to Siddhas) ; 2
Namo Aiyaryanam (I bow to Acharyas) ;3
Namo Uvajjhayanam (I bow to Upadhyas) ; 1
Namo Loe sarva sahunam (I bow to all Sadhus) ; 6
जीवितमरणाशंसे भयमित्रास्मृतिनिदाननामानः।
सल्लेखनातिचाराः प´च जिनेन्द्रैः समादिष्टाः।१२९।।
Entertaining a desire to live, wishing for speedy death displaying fear, desiring to see or to be remembered to friends, looking forward to future sense-enjoyment in the life to come these have been described as the transgressions of sallekhana by the Jinendra (Lord of Conquerors).
निःश्रेयसभ्युदयं निस्तीरं दुस्तरं सुखाम्बुनिधिम्।
निःपिबति पीतधर्मा सवैर्दुःखैरनालीढः।।१३०।।
He who has quaffed the nectar of dharma such an observer of the sallekhana vow becomes freed from all kinds of pain and drinks from the endless, unsurpassed and exalted ‘ocean’ of blissfulness of moksha.
1.Arhanta means a Perfect Being while still living in the world of men.
2.Siddha is a Perfect Soul in Nirvana
3.Acharya signifies the Head of an order of holy Asceties.
4.Upadhya is the Preceptor of less advanced Asceties.
5.Sadhu means an ascetic.
Explanation – The soul who successfully observes the sallekhana vow escapes from the pain and misery of samsara and speedily attains to moksha than which no status is more exalted in the three worlds He then enjoys, for all time to come, unabating unending and unsurpassed happiness which is the very nature of his soul.
जन्मजरामयमरणैः कैर्दुःखैर्भयैश्च परिमुक्तम्।
निर्वाणं शुद्धसुखं निःश्रेयसमिष्यते नित्यम्।।१३१।।
The which is free from birth, old age, disease, death, grief, pain and fear which is eternal, blissful and of the nature of pure delight is called nirvana.
विद्याादर्शन शक्तिस्वास्थ्य प्रहलादतृप्तिशुद्धियुजः।
निरतिशया निरवधयो निःश्रेयसमावसन्ति सुखम्।।१३२।।
Those who perform sallekhana dwell unexcelled for all eternity, in the joy of final beatitude, endowed with infinite wisdom, faith, energy renunciation, bliss, satisfaction and purity.
काले कल्पशतेऽपि च गते शिवानां न विक्रिया लक्ष्या।
उत्पातोऽपि यदि स्यात् विलोकसभ्रान्तिकरणपटुः।।१३३।।
And even if there be a cosmic disturbance, violent enough to destroy the three worlds, still no change is observable in the condition of the Perfect Souls even of the lapse hundreds of kalas (cycles of Time).
Explanation – One can think of a cosmic disturbance capable of destroying the three worlds, but it is absolutely inconceivable that there can be any change in the divine attributes of the Perfect Ones.
निःश्रेयसमधि पन्नास्न्नैलोक्य शिखामणिश्रियं दधते।
निष्किट्टिकालिकाच्छविचामीकरभासुरात्मानः।।१३४।।
They who attain nirvana possess the lustre of pure unalloyed gold; they shine with effulgence [which is] the crest jewel of the three worlds.
Explanation – The glory of the siddhatman is unsurpassed in the three worlds.
पूर्जार्थाज्ञैशवर्यैर्बल परिजन कामभोग भूयिष्टैः।
अतिशयितभुवनमद्भूतमम्युदयं फलति सद्धर्मः।।१३५।।
The merit acquired by the practising of dharma (religion or virtue) enables one to obtain high status, wealth, dominion, authority, power, attendants and the objects of enjoyment in abundance, also unsurpassed and prodigious good fortune.
Explanation – This verse describes the effects of adopting the vows, sallekhana and others, from the point of view of material prosperity, and shows that those who practise self-control, in the true sense of the word, rise to the most enviable positions in the world and become heir to unexcelled good fortune.
Thus ends the sixth part, descriptive of sallekhana, of the Ratna Karanda Sravakachara, composed by Sri Samantabhadra Swami.