2009/12/12 Santosh Helekar <chimbel...@yahoo.com>: > Any person can end his life by Samadhi in > Hinduism and Buddhism, and by Santhara in > Jainism. A woman could end her life by Sati in > Hinduism before it was banned by secular law
Is Samadhi the same as suicide? Here's another view: Here i'd like to clear that Samadhi is NOT suicide, as in suicide one kills oneself because because he/she is still very much in need and aware of his/her physical self. Whereas a Samadhi is taken by a person who alleviates himself above the physical constraints of the body and dwells in the form of the soul even while using the body. Such a state is very rare to attain and many a great sages n seers live in pursuit of this goal http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070917040251AAnF9gu Some other perspectives also suggest that there is a difference between samadhi and suicide: Hinduism is less interested than western philosophers in abstract ideas of right or wrong. Rather it focuses on the consequences of our actions.... Killing (euthanasia, murder, suicide) interferes with the killed soul's progress towards liberation. It also brings bad karma to the killer, because of the violation of the principle of non-violence. Prayopavesa, or fasting to death, is an acceptable way for a Hindu to end their life in certain circumstances. Prayopavesa is very different from what most people mean by suicide... http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/hinduethics/euthanasia.shtml In Hinduism, suicide is frowned upon and is considered equally sinful as murdering another. Hindu Scriptures state that one who commits suicide will become part of the spirit world, wandering earth until the time one would have otherwise died, had one not committed suicide. http://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/h_suicide.asp Of course, suicide is also a form of political protest, and this might have little to do with diverse religious traditons: http://www.google.com/search?q=suicide+as+a+form+of+political+protest&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t Looking forward to other perspectives on this... FN -- Frederick Noronha :: +91-832-2409490 ANOTHER GOA: http://tiny.cc/anothergoa Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/fredericknoronha Writing, editing, alt.publishing, photography, journalism