ĀTMĀNUŚĀSANA – PRECEPT ON THE SOUL by Ācārya GUṆABHADRA (ca. 818–900 A.D.) [208]
Gātha 207
So long as the diseases can be cured, efforts should be made. Still, if these remain incurable, there is no point grieving. This, truly, is the way to combat such diseases.
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Note 1:
EXPLANATORY NOTE
The way to make human birth meaningful is through renunciation of worldly pleasures, and taking recourse to meditation, austerities, propagation of true faith, and finally attaining a pious and passionless death by relinquishing the body through the method of sallekhanā – the gateway to the path to liberation.
Ācārya Samantabhadra’s Ratnakaraṇḍaka-śrāvakācāra:
Giving up of the body in a manner that upholds righteousness (dharma) on the occurrence of a calamity, famine, senescence, or disease, from which there is no escape, is called the vow of voluntary, passionless death – sallekhanā – by the Most Learned sages.
Pt. Āśādhara’s Dharmāmṛta (Sāgāra):
When the body is healthy, noble men should try to maintain it through suitable nourishment and activity. When disease supervenes, appropriate medicines should be administered to cure it. If the body, ignoring the services rendered (for its maintenance and curing), acts in opposition and is no longer a means to the pursuit of dharma or the disease gets totally intractable, it needs to be shed as if a rogue.