The Netherlands has had a new euthanasia law for several years: the law on the assessment of termination of life on request and assisted suicide. This law empowers a physician to administer a drug to the patient that results in death. The doctor may also make the medicine available for the patient to self-administer. This treatment is intended for people who are experiencing unbearable suffering, for example as a result of an incurable disease or a state from where there is no hope of recovery. This choice is also very difficult for the relatives of the patient, but out of pain and empathy with their intense suffering, the wishes of the sick family member are respected.
This deeply radical choice of termination of life is often preceded by an intense assessment process in which one looks for answers to many questions, uncertainties and consequences. Drug-administered euthanasia involves due care decision criteria that must be considered before a doctor makes an assessment towards administering or making the medicine available. But many questions remain in the minds of stakeholders and decision-makers, like ‘where do you get the insights, recommendations and experiences to make such an assessment?’ ‘Where can you find adequate answers to your questions without ending up in a crisis of conscience?’
People who give substance to their lives from a philosophical or religious commitment turn to sources such as writings, “laws”, dogmas, scholars and experts by experience. Hindus are no exception. They usually turn towards their Dhārmika scriptures (or teaching) that deal with their relationship with the world at material and spiritual levels. Euthanasia, seemingly a western debate at the moment, leaves Hindus in those countries with the question: What does Hinduism say about actively ending life?
Before exploring possible answers to that question, it is worth mentioning that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life. Unlike other religions, it has no dogmas or static precepts of an absolute character. It is a dynamic way of life that adapts to time, place and circumstances. Even the most important value, on which Hinduism is based, the dharma principle, fits in its practical application according to time, place and circumstances.
Dharma, also referred to as the cosmic order, includes a lot. At the level of action of an individual, dharma means right action that which, in thought, intention, word and action, does not harm the inner harmony of yourself, other(s) and that of the cosmos (nature, environment), but maintains or promotes it. Given the dynamic evolving nature of dharma philosophy, the thinking on euthanasia within Hindu philosophy has also evolved from the Vedic time to the present.
In the Vedic times, there seemed to be no place at all for active termination of life. The Vedas place a strong emphasis on a healthy, materially successful, and Dhārmika (moral, ethical) life with longevity. The ultimate purpose of this long life being attainment of mokṣa (or liberation or emancipation).
O, God may we hear with our ears what is beneficial. May we see with our eyes what is good. With firm limbs and sound bodies having sung your praises. May we reach old age; our mind steadfast on God. May one hundred years await us wherein old age is assured wherein sons will become fathers. May no harm will be done to us in the midst of the course of life . ( Ṛgveda 189-8-9 )
May we see a hundred autumns. May we live a hundred autumns. May we acquire knowledge up to a hundred autumns. May we thrive a hundred autumns. May we exist for a hundred autumns. May we remain pure a hundred autumns. And let us remain even more than a hundred autumns. (Atharva Veda 19-67)
In the Brahmic period, there was more emphasis on the effective relationship between people, society and the cosmos. In the Brahmic period, there was a shift in the perception of voluntary dying. Kṣatriya dharma of ‘sacrificing their life in war or battle’ was equated with a Brahmic yajña (fire ritual) and qualified as a path to mokṣa because the sacrifice was aimed at protecting others. Soldiers therefore opted for a voluntary death on the battlefield. If they did not die and grew old they, like the brahmins, chose an ascetic life in seclusion, for example, the forest until death followed. Voluntary death after a long and successful life received great appreciation in everyday thinking. Further, death by fire God, Agni, at the satī 3, was believed to lead to emancipation 4.
The Upaniṣads do not reject the Vedic ideology of a long and virtuous life, in which yajña leads the way to God, but do emphasize the spiritual aspect of man, namely the Ātmā or the soul that resembles Brahman or God (or supreme consciousness) himself. Therefore, the relationship with God (or supreme consciousness) is realised through the practice of yoga. The latter first brings the individual into contact with one’s own Ātmā, the Divine particle within oneself, and then to Param Ātmā or the supreme consciousness. Through yoga, longevity of life is achieved and thereby giving an opportunity to perform good karma for a long time and to achieve mokṣa subsequently.
When the five fold qualities of yoga consisting of the earth, water, fire, air and ether are firmly established in the body strengthened by the fire (kuṇḍalinī) of yoga, there is no place for sickness, old age and death. (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 2,12 5)
As a result of strong attention to education of the Indian population, culminating in the founding of the University of Taxilla 515 BCE, writings such as the Mahābhārata and the Bhagavad Gītā could be read by many. This continues to date. Now, many years later, especially since the colonization began, interest in these scriptures and yoga as a lifestyle also increased in the west.
Knowledge of texts like the Mahābhārata, which describes the all-destructive war, the revelation of the Bhagavad Gītā (BG) by Shri Krishna to Arjun (3139 BCE), led to increased realization of the temporality and the interchangeability of the body. The awareness of the importance of detachment from one’s body grows and the feeling of proximity to the eternal, the Divine, the Ātman becomes stronger. This resulted in a depreciation of the physical body, a stronger self-identification with the soul (the Ātman), and a natural acceptance of euthanasia as a solution to hopelessness and suffering.
Just as one discards old clothes and puts on new ones , the soul discards old bodies and takes on new ones. ( Bhagavad Gītā 2,2)
There was never a time when I or you or these kings did not exist. (Bhagavad Gītā 2,12)
The Ātmā or soul is never born and never dies. It never came into being, nor will it ever cease to be. Unborn, eternal, changeless and primeval, it is not killed when the body is killed. (Bhagavad Gītā 2,20)
(The concluding part of the article, Part 2, will be published in the next issue of the magazine)
Footnotes
3 Young, K.K (1989). Euthanasia, Traditional Hindu Views and contemporary debate, p. 84 State University New York.
4 Ganga, R. D. (1994). Hindu views on euthanasia, suicide and abortion in the Durban area: Aranyaka’s Forest Treatise: (Doctoral dissertation, University of South Africa).
5 RadhaKrishnan, S. (1953), p.722; The Principal Upanishads , Harpercollins, India.
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