Letter in the Times 27th March 2013
Hindu Karma
Sir
Professor Raymond Tallis’s lead letter makes a reference to faith as if all faiths or their leaders are fundamentally against assisted dying for the terminally ill.
Hindu Council UK’s view has always been that provided terminally illness for a patient in incessant pain can be certified by three independent doctors then compassion ought always over-ride the argument for the sacredness of life, particularly where life is merely extended by artificial means purely for the sake of it and without regard to the suffering and the impending death. To us ‘Death’ itself is not a terminal event but merely a transition to a new life under the doctrine of Reincarnation, until one’s Moksha or Nirvana, as experienced under the laws of Karma.
I dare say other Dharmic faiths of India may offer similar guidelines as we share similar precepts.
Anil Bhanot
Hindu Council UK
Courtesy: The Times Newspaper