Jain Sallekhana and its effects on mind

Abstract

Jainism is an important fully developed and well-established religion. The culture newlinesystem is purely indigenous to India. The word dharma is being referred in all key texts of newlineJains. Dharma means primarily the nature of the things. It is the path to pursue the inherent newlinecharacters of the soul and to conquer the passions and to become the Jina. newlineSallekhana is sat lekhana. It means curbing the passions in right manner. Sallekhana is newlinea unique concept pondered in Jain Philosophy. Sallekhana is wise, righteous and planned newlinevoluntary preparation to achieve peaceful death. There are certain situations like natural newlinedisasters (famine, flood, earthquake and fire), senescence or old age with definite inabilities, newlineenvironmental catastrophes and incurable disease. In such situations, when death is newlineunavoidable, it is not possible to carry on religious activities by the person. So, he/she newlineundertakes Sallekhana vrat. newlineThe present research topic is, Jain Sallekhana and Its Effects on Mind . newlineThe research study includes 50 Sallekhana vratis. According to inclusion criteria the newlineSallekhana vratis were selected. It was an exploratory, qualitative, interrogative, interview type newlineof research study. Initially each participant was oriented about the research subject. The written newlineconsent was taken. The primary data was collected according to the questionnaire and the newlineinterrogative sessions were conducted during the visits. Minimum three visits were made to get newlinethe maximum information. Among the Sallekhana vratis the effects on mind were assessed by newlinefollowing Mental Status Examination (MSE) tool. Four components as Orientation, Perception, newlineSensation (consciousness) and Cognition were used for MSE. Accordingly the data was newlinerecorded meticulously. It is described in detail in respective chapters. newlineThus the present research work aims to study the effects of Sallekhana on the mental newlinestatus of Sallekhana vratis. newline