by Sudhir Kakar
Meditation
Because meditation cultivates detachment, it helps to annihilate karmas, aiming at the realization of the self (moksha). Detaching the mind leads to a ‘drier’ soul. A ‘dry’ (i.e. detached) soul is not so easily polluted by karmas. Karmic matter is however easily attracted to the ‘moist’ souls, which are souls with desires. To illustrate this: karmic particles of a ‘dry’ soul can be easily shaken off like dust from a shawl, while karmic particles of a ‘moist’ soul will stick like a stain to the shawl. The root cause of suffering is thus not the physical body, which is only an instrument in Jainism, but the karma-body, the coded record of our deeds. Since karmic matter constantly flows in (and out) of the soul, one of the central themes in Jain soteriology is the eradication of the karmic body or—to use a Buddhist metaphor—to stop the axle of the wheel of life. The main weapons to eradicate karma are meditation (‘thinning out the passions’) and fasting (‘thinning out the body’)—its most radical tool, the practice of santhara. In other words, practising detachment by ‘conquering’ body and mind, allows progressively to scrub every speck of karma from the soul and thus approach liberation. Let me elaborate what is meant by meditation:
There are, of course, many different practices of meditation, but in general, meditation (dhyana) means concentration on the self, inner discipline and calmness of the mind. It is a mental practice where one withdraws the self step by step and remains in a state of equanimity, also called samayika.34 In the Sutrakritanga Sutra this state of mind is described with the image of a tortoise: ‘As a tortoise draws its limbs into its own body, so a wise man should cover … his sins35 with his own meditation. He should draw in … his hands and feet, his mind and five organs of sense, the effect of his bad karma, and every bad use of language.’36
Samayika is regarded as the most important practice in Jainism, since the whole framework of the Jain religious practice (sadhana) has been built on the foundation of meditation.37 It is the realization of the true nature of the self, a state where one is completely free of attachment and aversion.38 No penance, no matter how hard and no material sacrifice, no matter how generous, helps to attain liberation, unless one attains a stable, undisturbed mind, and thus equanimity. However, as we have seen, mind and body are causally connected in Jainism. They evolve and control each other interdependently. A disciplined body is a necessity for mental equanimity (meditation), and meditation in turn is a requirement to be able to control the body. Here, the practice of fasting, as the most important weapon to discipline the body, comes into play.
Fasting
Fasting starts with food, and as for anorexics,39 almost everything about food is problematic in Jainism. For the lay community there is admittedly not a single set of rules regarding diet regulations, except for a strict vegetarianism. However, apart from meat and eggs, there are many other ‘forbidden foods’ that ascetics have to avoid and laypeople may exclude from their menus: root-foods, like carrots and potatoes, because they destroy the plant; onions and garlic, because they heat the sexual passions, fermented food, because the fermentation process destroys living beings, any food eaten after sunset, because one cannot see properly what is in it, etc., etc. Sometimes ascetics go as far as only eating fruit that have fallen from a tree, since plucking them means violating the tree.
Fasting is not only a central austerity for Jain monks and nuns, it is also a very common religious practice among the Jain laypeople, especially during festival times and in the monsoon.40 Although there are many modern Jains today, who hardly ever observe fasts or diet regulations (except vegetarianism), every Jain family intensifies its religious observances and fasts during the Paryushan festival.41
Indeed, fasting is the most widely practised religious vow.42 As one might already guess here, fasting is not just about not eating, instead, there are many different ways of fasting. Or, to put it another way, fasting in Jainsim is often a specific form of eating. To list a few apart from complete fasting: anodar (partial fasting), varsitap (eating on alternate days), vruti sankshepa (giving up certain food items, such as salt or certain vegetables) and rasa parityaga (giving up one’s favourite foods). There are many subtypes of fasting, such as not eating after sunrise, giving up food and water for a particular day in the week or a certain time-period of the day or a for number of days, etc., etc. The so-called ‘great fasts’, such as fasting for six to twelve months, are usually only done by ascetics. Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, is said to have done such a great fast and has been a role model for modern monks and nuns such as Hira Ratan Manek or Shri Sahaj Muni Maharaj, who took on vows of months-long fasts in the past years.43 These ‘great fasts’ usually refer to varsitap, eating one meal every alternate day to sustain the body, and fasting the rest of the time.
Fasting is considered a public affair, to be celebrated by the family and community and is always undertaken with a prior vow, which is a formal statement of intent.
Intention in Jainism (similar as in Buddhism) is more important than the result. To take up a fast without a vow or with a wrong mindset or intention (for example, in order to lose weight), would be considered pointless. For the laity, taking vows of fasting is nevertheless often connected to their concern with future and good fortune.
For an ascetic, however, fasting is a practice of detachment, it is seen as a form of tapas (tapas = austerities, deriving from the Sanskrit root for heat)—to accumulate the heat that burns karma from the soul.
In reflecting upon fasting as a religious activity for ascetics and laity, it is interesting to observe that the activity of not eating is actually a deed of non-action. In other words, the non-action of fasting not only reduces the inflow of new karmas, but is also connected to the idea of non-violence, because nothing is done.
Despite the ‘non-action’ of the body, it becomes a direct object of attention—an instrument through which to work on the soul, as James Laidlaw remarks. In other words, Jain religion and penance consists of acts performed on and through the body. ‘All these forms of austerity, fasting, repentance, observing silence, and so on—are ways of using the body in order to effect some kind of inner transformation.’44
According to Acharya Mahaprajna, the head of the Shvetambara Terapanth sect, eating constitutes the greatest obstacle to selfcontrol; it gives rise to indolence. The well-respected monk goes on that the urge to live, the urge to consume food, the sexual urge and the urge to fight are the fundamental urges, found in all living beings and asks: ‘If we cannot regulate them, how can we control other complex urges, founded upon these?’45
Controlling the body through the mind (fasting, vows of silence, etc.) leads to actions with the right attitude (or bhav), which mainly refers to actions without specific intentions or meaning. Someone who is controlling his body through fasting, but is thinking of food or having a desire to eat, is not fasting, since he is violating himself. Punishing only the body without mastering the passions through meditation, is foolish, since body mortification alone, cannot control the passions. True fasting in Jain philosophy is thus linked to the mental state of equanimity, as we have seen above, which requires many years of practice in meditation.
For most laypeople, the body is an obstacle for liberation and not—as it is for the ascetic—an instrument for progress (at times even a weapon). Laypeople do not possess the same skills to control the basic needs of the body, but feel encouraged to keep moral conduct, and as their lives allow, some vows of fasting and penance. In relation to the vow of santhara, often practised by pious elderly laypeople on the verge of dying, one thus has to question if they are truly prepared to take such a severe vow as fasting themselves to death. As one of my interview partners, a self-appointed spiritual leader in north-east Delhi remarked:
Most people today take santhara out of fear or lust to get a better life (next birth). They want either to avoid naraka (hell), or reach heaven. For some it is not coming from inside, they are pressured (into it). Only very few people carry the flame
of santhara … Yes, people do this today (santhara), now it has become a fashion. But the essence, the real feeling of that inner happiness is not there. The amount of people (taking santhara) is growing, but the depth is losing.46
There is no divine grace, but the soul or self has the capacity of self-liberation. As we have seen, in Jainism, body, mind, soul (or self) are ‘substantially linked’.47 In opposition to the modern Western perception of the self as an autobiographical self that gives great importance to the individual and that ends with death, the Jain belief of a triadic interdependence of body, mind and soul throughout many lifetimes, changes the rationale and perception towards the religious austerity of fasting (and in particular towards fasting oneself to death). With the tools of meditation and fasting, the self effects the transformation of its own consciousness. In other words, the practices of fasting and meditation are a necessity of the self to liberate itself.
From this perspective, it can be considered ‘natural’ for an ‘advanced soul’, having practised meditation and fasting throughout his life, to stop eating, once his life is coming to an end. For such a person to take the vow of santhara (or fasting to death) is not just the intention to prepare for death, but rather to pursue death before it can overtake him.
The Anthropology of Santhara
The Practice of Santhara
The Practice of Santhara Today
Although in Jainism it is agreed upon that life should continue as long as possible, fasting oneself to death is a possibility if there are unavoidable calamities, old age or incurable diseases. However, one cannot take the vow of santhara without the permission of the guru (religious teacher), and in case a layperson is planning to take santhara, the family has to agree as well. When taking the vow of santhara, five transgressions have to be avoided: (1) Wishing for procrastination of death, (2) Wishing for a hasty death, (3) Having fear of death, (4) Remembering friends and family, and (5) Wishing for particular rewards.48 In other words, a person taking the vow of santhara is supposed to be detached, ideally in a state of equanimity, where he is indifferent towards worldly attachments such as family bonds, and in a fully conscious state of mind.49
Praying, meditating, fasting and then gradually giving up, first, solid foods, confining oneself to a bed and finally rejecting liquids, is the usual process of santhara.50 The dying person is never alone but surrounded by monks and nuns, who attend to the needs of the dying person and, at times, speak mantras or sing hymns. In case a layperson is fasting to death, his family will be with him. Friends, neighbours and strangers come to get the darshan of the dying person, often getting just a glimpse through the open door. Once the person has died, he will be bathed, dressed and brought to the cremation ground in a public procession. Most people taking the vow of santhara today are devoted believers; they are old and terminally ill.
One might expect that santhara is a ritual practised mainly by Jain ascetics—namely nuns and monks who dedicated their lives to an austere and difficult path to liberate their souls, but this is not the case. More ordinary laypeople than ascetics take the vow of santhara, claims Indologist Jitendra Shah, and more women than men embrace the ritual of fasting to death.51 The allegation that more women and greater numbers of laypeople than monks or nuns embrace santhara has not been confirmed by the high-ranking Jain monks I have interviewed. However, I find the above claims convincing, because (a) there is a much larger ratio of laypeople than ascetics, (b) traditionally, all over India, women embrace fasting practices more often and more rigorously than men, and (c) Jainism hosts twice as many nuns than monks in its orders.52
The Practice of Santhara Documented in Texts and Inscriptions
In Sravanbelagola,53 one of the most important Jain pilgrimage places in south India (Karnataka), ‘where the crumbling walls of monasteries, temples and dharamsalas cluster around a grid of dusty, red earth roads’,54 Chandragupta Maurya,55 an impressive emperor of India in the 3rd century bce (and grandfather of the famous king Ashoka), took the vow of santhara and died through voluntary fasting. Though inscriptions of this early incidence of santhara can only be found in the 7th century ce, we can well assume that santhara has been part of the Jain religious life since its very beginnings.56 Jain philosophy has a detailed discussion on the doctrine and practice of santhara and there is a lot of proof in texts and in inscriptions all over India. In the old records it is seldom noted down why people chose santhara; sometimes one finds statements such as ‘little time remained for him to live’ or ‘his end was drawing near’.
The earliest textual description of santhara can be found in the Acaranga Sutra, one of the oldest Agamas57 of the Jains.58
In a translation by Hermann Jacobi we are informed that the wise one, knowing of the twofold obstacles (body and mind) will take the vow of santhara to get rid of karma:
He should not long for life, nor wish for death; he should yearn after neither, life or death … Become unattached internally and externally, he should strive after absolute purity … Without food he should lie down and bear the pains which attack him. He should not for too long time give way to worldly feelings which overcome him … When the bonds fall off, then he has accomplished his life.59
This text clearly emphasizes the importance of detachment, which we had looked into earlier. In the tenth Anga of the Shvetambara corpus, the Upasakadasha Sutra, the story of ten virtuous laypeople of the time of Mahavira is told. One of them, Anand Shravak, engages in fierce fasting and eventually takes the vow of santhara. He is said to have been reborn in a high heaven.60 Among the great poet-ascetics who wrote and reflected on santhara at great length are Sivakotyacarya (Prakrit) and Samantabhadracarya (Sanskrit), the latter giving a detailed description in the Bhagawati Sutra of the ascetic Scandakas taking the vow of santhara.61 Nearly all poet-saints who lived in and after the 10th century refer to santhara, whereas one of the most vivid textual description of santhara is provided by Bandhuvarma in the scripture Harivamsabhyudaya. According to Bandhuvarma, to die in the process of santhara means to become one (ekatra) with atman or jiva (the soul),62 which again refers to the high status that fasting oneself to death enjoyed.
Suicide versus Santhara
Forms of Death in Jainism
Jains—as well as Hindus and Buddhists—believe that the moment of death is decisive of how one will be reborn. A peaceful state of mind, where the dying person is in a mental state of equanimity, free of fear and attachment and indifferent towards bodily pain, will thus be of great benefit for the soul. Since death and the way of dying is such a central aspect in Jain soteriology, it is little surprising that there are classifications of seventeen types of death (marana).63 In one of its oldest canons (Uttarajjhaya), a distinction is made between ‘death of a wrongdoer’ or akamamarana (undesired death) and ‘death of the well-behaved’ or sakamamarana (desired death)64. Someone who has a desired death (sakamarana) has no fear of death, thus dies willingly (such as a person choosing the vow of santhara). Other expressions within the classification of akamarana and sakamarana are the terms ‘death of a wise man’ (pandhiyamarana) and, ‘death of a fool’ (balamarana)65—the latter including suicide.
Suicide
Emile Durkheim refers in his important empirical work Le suicide66 to the ritual of santhara as suicide. Also Radhakrishnan refers in his brilliant work Indian Philosophy to santhara as a form of suicide.67 And, as Axel Michaels pointed out, in India, ascetic suicide as a means of salvation has been an accepted form since centuries.68 Jains however, would emphatically reject the idea of santhara being classified as suicide. Suicide, in Hindi, is called atmaghata or atmahatya (atma = self; ghata/hatya = killing). In the old Hindu law texts, such as the Manusmrti or the Yajnavalkyassmrti, suicide is rejected.69 The same is true for Jain and Buddhist texts that reject suicide as a sinful and undesirable act. The (true) story of king Srenika (better known as Bimbisara), is brought up in several Jain texts: king Srenika was a contemporary of Mahavira, who killed himself and—according to Jain
texts—landed in hell for this sinful act. Jain texts use the word atmavadhadosa (a Sanskrit word, consisting of atmavadha = suicide; and dosa = sin).70 The use of the word atmavadhadosa refers to the Jain attitude of regarding suicide as sinful.71 Santhara, on the contrary, is a highly desirable death, regarded by most Jains as the most ideal, peaceful and satisfying way to die. It is argued that a person who takes the vow of santhara, laying down his life intentionally, does not do this out of an emotional condition. If anything, santhara is considered to be a rational and conscious act of a ‘well advanced’ soul, a decision not based on emotional confusion or desires (including the desire to die). Suicide, or the wish to kill oneself, is in contrast based on emotional disturbances, negative mental attitudes or unfavourable external circumstances. It is an intentional act to violate one’s life, thus it is classified in Jainism as the ‘death of a fool’ (balamarana)—a highly unfortunate state of mind.
Ideally people prepare themselves for santhara throughout their life by practising meditation, following the right moral conduct, and doing periodical fasts, such as cutting out favourite food items, doing specific fasts over a long period of time (for example, eating one meal per day and fasting every alternate day), etc. It is a voluntary decision, practised when a life would otherwise ‘merely been sustained’, such as in the case of a terminally ill person. Santhara is thereby not simply considered as a fast to end a life not worth living any longer, but as a ritual which defines the climax of a rightfully lived life which is coming to an end. A good life, in Jaina belief, leads to a good death. A good death is a death in which the body remains under an ascetic type of control with a clear mind and in a state of fearlessness. For Jains, fasting to death is understood as a disciplined restraint; in other words, a ‘non-act’.