Prayopavesa
Prayopavesa (Sanskrit: प्रायोपवेशनम्, IAST prāyopaveśanam, literally resolving to die through fasting)[1][2] is a practice in Hinduism that denotes the death by fasting of a person who has no desire or ambition left, and no responsibilities remaining in life.[3] It is also allowed in cases of terminal disease or great disability.[4][5] A similar practice exists in Jainism, termed Santhara.
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Conditions and rules
Performing prayopavesa is bound by very strict regulations. Only a person who has no desire or ambition left, and no responsibilities remaining in life, is entitled to perform it. The decision to do so must be publicly declared well in advance.[3] Ancient lawmakers stipulated the conditions that allow prayopavesa; they are one's inability to perform normal bodily purification, death appears imminent or the condition is so bad that life's pleasures are nil, and the action is done under community regulation.[6]
Examples
Parikshit is described to have observed the prayopavesa when the Bhagavata Purana was narrated to him by the sage Shuka, son of Vyasa.[7]
In 1982, Acharya Vinoba Bhave (spiritual successor of Mahatma Gandhi) died by prayopavesa. In October 2001, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami subjected himself to prayopavesa. Subramuniyaswami was diagnosed to be suffering from terminal intestinal cancer. He later died on the 32nd day of his fast on November 12.[3]
On 11 January 1997 Swami Nirmalananda subjected himself to prayopavesa.[8]
References
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Monier-Williams, Monier (2008) [1899]. Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Universität zu Köln. p. 708. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
abstaining from food and awaiting in a sitting posture the approach of death
- "Prayopavesa". Orientalia. Archived from the original on 2013-07-06.
- "Hinduism - Euthanasia and Suicide". BBC. 2009-08-25.
- Subramuniya (2001). The master course, Book 2. Himalayan Academy Publications. p. 424. ISBN 978-0-945497-98-1.
- "Prayopavesa (Ritual Fasting to Death) by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami".
- Subramuniyaswami, Sivaya (2003). Dancing With Siva: Hinduism's Contemporary Catechism. Himalayan Academy Publications. p. 833. ISBN 978-0-945497-96-7.
- Shastri, Jagdish; Kunst, Arnold (1979). Ancient Indian Tradition & Mythology;: The Bhāgavata-purāṇa. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 73,74,75.
- "A Saint's Self-Willed Death". Hinduism Today. September 1, 1997. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
General
- "Is suicide a solution to problems?". The Tribune. 2004-08-03.
- Lorenzen, David (2006). Who invented Hinduism: essays on religion in History - New perspectives on Indian pasts. Yoda Press. ISBN 978-81-902272-6-1.