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Re: REQUEST: How is suicide viewed in the Hindu religion?
Gururajan Ramachandran (guru@tyx.com) wrote:
: Hello,
: Here in the USA, a retired pathologist named Jack Kavorkian has been helping
: people end their lives. This has sparked a curiosity about my own religion.
: It is my understanding that suicide is considered a major sin in the Hindu
: religion. Is this true? If it is, can anybody tell me what the religious books
: say about the consequences? I am curious on how this compares with other
: religions.
Life is a sacred thing. That is the message of ahimsa. So,
culling of life (in the context of suicide) is not all that
desirable. That is one interpretation.
On the otherhand, we see several realized souls taking the
samadhi. In physical sense, that is commiting a suicide. So,
in that sense, there is a tradition which supports suicide.
Then we have the story of Sita, (form Uttarkand of Ramayana)
that she decides to commit suicide, because she was disgusted
with life after being sent to the forests. The sage Valmiki
stops her, and offers two reasons:
a) It is a sin to kill oneself.
b) It is an extremely henious sin to kill oneself, when
you are pregnant.
Finally, we also see that several people have actually urged
the Gods to take an avatar and kill them. We see it happening
in the case of Ravana. We also see that Bali, upon being stung
by an arrow from Rama asks Rama to pull out the arrow, and their-
by release him from pain, as well as life. There are several
such examples, where God incaranate is requested to end the
life of an individual. In that sense, what Kevorkian does has
a precedence in Hindu history.
However, the overarching message is not of killing or suicide
at random, and without purpose, (of from disgust, due to regular
physical and psychological trauma) but suicide/killing for a
purpose, a genuine purpose. So, if Kevorkian kills people,
or helps them to kill themselves, and if the patient has a
very strong opinion, that this serves a strong purpose, then
IMO is OK. But then, that is my opinion.
--
Nachiketa Tiwari
