Parliament is set to debate the Assisted Dying Bill on the grounds of anyone suffering an unbearable pain from a terminal illness, with protection safeguards on such diagnoses by two independent medical professionals along with a court approval.
However, recent Canada experience has shown that their Assisted Dying legislation has become so loose – the so called slippery slope – that one only needs one independent witness, which may be even the clinic’s receptionist, and it is so easy to just walk into a clinic and end one’s life – an unimaginably horrible prospect. The assisted dying because of an unbearable pain from a terminal illness it would seem has become almost a right for ‘Euthanasia’, in other words ‘suicide’, a cowardly an sinful act in Hinduism.
The right to life always supersedes the right to die even in a painful existence, as it is all a part of one’s karma which one has to struggle through for a more hopeful outcome. It could be argued that if one is terminal ill and suffering extreme pain but only kept alive by artificial means, prolonging life through medicine but is diagnosed as terminally ill then it may well be that one’s Karma is already exhausted and the Soul should be released to leave the dying body so as to be free itself of an unbearable pain. Even that, only after the palliative care as been exhausted too.
The Assisted Dying Bill does provide safeguards to have two independent assessments from medical professionals and finally an approval by the Court but surely an additional assessment should be sought from the palliative care team also.
However, this bill is about the Terminal ill, so why dilute it to ‘Assisted Dying Legislation’ which gives people the choice to take their own life. Why not call it the ‘Terminally Ill Legislation’ or words to that effect?
Miracles do happen even among terminally ill; nonetheless, the miracle of life continues after death, which in Hinduism may lead to a life in paradise (Swarga), or in a purgatory (Narak), both of which are transitory stages, finally leading again to a reincarnation of the Soul’s evolutionary journey on Earth through multiple lives to ultimately reach a state of Moksha, which is to be with God, Ishwar, or in the Vedantic theology the Soul merging into the ultimate One God Brahman or Omkar.
We are not the body, in essence we are the Atman, which can be loosely translated to the Soul, and Bhagwan Krishna says in the Gita: the Soul discards the Body as worn out old clothes at Death and takes on a new Body at rebirth as we would change clothes in our daily lives.
The ancient Hindu Vedic theology postulates, for practical purposes here, three bodies:
- Atman – the eternal spark of divinity, one with the Cause Brahman the Consciousness. [The Holy Spirit]
- Jivatma – the Suksham or the Subtle body, mind, intellect and ego.
For explanation purposes here we may call Atman and Jivatma to be equivalent to the concept of ‘Soul’,
- Deh – the Sthule or Physical body of 5 Tattvas or 5 Elements: Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Sky (Akash).
The Soul thus moves from one physical body to another through reincarnation until the Soul’s Jivatma part gets enlightened that it is actually the Atman, the pure Consciousness – in a state of Moksha for a Yogi – and until then the Soul continues its journey through reincarnations towards its home of Ishwar, God, Brahman, Omkar.
Yogi’s in that state do take ‘Samadhi’, and on rare occasions they choose to leave their physical body to go to the higher abode. This state is reached through penance and devotion and has been the case since ancient times. The laws of Nature (Prakriti) including the Order in the Universe of the omnipresent Brahman, when aligned in the conduct of a person (Purusha), the Yogi achieves liberation from the cycle of birth and death and is at peace with the laws of Nature, the Cosmos as in the ancient Hindu ‘Rita’, the ancient Zoroastrian ‘Asha’ and the ancient Egyptian ‘Ma’at’.
So, death itself is not the end of life in Hinduism, there are much higher miracles the Soul continues to journey to and experience.
Compassion is a key component of Hindu Dharma but we should not confuse it to allow an easy death; yes, we all want a good death, so in case of terminally ill suffering pain with palliative care exhausted we believe once safeguards are in place the legislation should help those terminally ill but not those who want to escape life’s tribulations.
The debate should be about the ‘Terminally Ill’ legislation, rather than about ‘Assisted Dying’.
Anil Bhanot
Managing Trustee
Hindu Council UK