Euthanasia
A subject that generates much controversy. Euthanasia consists of bringing about a gentle and painless death for people who suffer from incurable, painful, and debilitating illnesses or disabilities. As with abortion, where we see that people are ignorant of many important issues for example, the exact moment when the soul (if it exists) enters the womb, or whether reincarnation truly exists-euthanasia is likewise a subject in which such questions should be taken into consideration.
However, for almost everyone, life is associated only with the body, and for that reason it becomes a superficial experience. Even though people speak at length about the soul, life after death, karma, and so on, they are merely speculating because their knowledge is confined to what they have read in books. Many women are not even aware that, spiritually speaking, the final decision about whether or not to keep a child belongs to them. Instead of discussing how to educate people so that they may know themselves better, society prefers to pass laws that punish those who commit offenses.
Human beings largely have the right to live their lives as they see fit, and the way they die will depend greatly on how they have lived. But why do some seek to end their lives through euthanasia? The reason is that life has lost all meaning for them; their suffering has become unbearable, and they are no longer truly living but merely existing like vegetables. When there is genuinely no possibility of recovery and a person sees that they will simply waste away until death.
I believe that they or, if they are incapable of deciding, their closest relatives should have the freedom to choose euthanasia or to continue living in that condition.
It should be emphasized that most religious groups regard euthanasia as suicide or murder, but this is not the case. Suicide is an escape that involves violently tearing the soul away from the body.
The circumstances are very different. A person with suicidal thoughts almost certainly has other options that would allow them to continue living and even fulfill life's highest purpose, whereas someone reduced to a vegetative state can no longer grow spiritually. All they are capable of doing is exhausting their karma until their final breath, so that they may carry a lighter burden into a future incarnation.
As for me, I lean toward living life to its fullest, even in the worst circumstances, because the suffering of an incapacitated person helps dissolve their karma. To hasten death is equivalent to postponing karma to a future life. This means that in another lifetime the individual will still have to work through the remainder of that karma, thereby delaying their spiritual evolution. They will have to discharge this karma while inhabiting a brand-new, healthy body, which is hardly wise.
That is not all. If the patient were otherwise destined to live much longer, euthanasia would obstruct their spiritual progress because they would be unable to attain a higher level. Instead, they would have to wait and suffer until the precise moment when they could pass into a higher astral realm. In the meantime, the person would endure intense mental or even astral suffering. It is as clear as daylight that no one can prevent karma from eventually catching up with us. This is an obvious reason to act with great caution. If the scriptures and the prophets tell us, "Be careful in all your actions, whether in thought, speech, or conduct," it is because they are fully aware of the trials a person must endure when they violate the law.
Sin, morality, and immorality do not enter into this discussion. The issue here is one of wise and unwise choices, ignorance and wisdom, and one's capacity for endurance. Opponents of euthanasia often base their arguments on morality, sin, and the concept of a judging God. From the perspective of a mystic, however, a person in a coma or confined to bed and the so-called normal individual have nothing to envy one another: both possess approximately 95.5% unconsciousness. Neither truly knows life. Each has constructed an imaginary world of their own.
Life has been given to human beings so that they may become masters of themselves. The choice lies in their hands, but ignorance and obsession lead them to misuse that precious gift called freedom. Suffering is the boomerang effect of actions performed either in this life or in past incarnations. In most cases, it is simply the harvest of previous actions. We cannot avoid it; euthanasia merely postpones the consequences. The inexorable law of karma will wait, like the Sword of Damocles, for the individual in a future life, and that prospect is enough to send shivers down one's spine.
Once again, the question of educating people about life comes to the forefront. What is needed is an education centered on spirituality or if you prefer, self-knowledge. Without self-knowledge, it is impossible to debate difficult subjects such as euthanasia and abortion. Certainly, there are intelligent people in this world. But intellectuals and graduates are not necessarily qualified to address such issues, for they often approach life in an unattractive, overly Cartesian way and possess very strong egos. There are aspects of life that can only be learned from an awakened soul, and such a person should be approached with great humility.
While others remain bound by morality, by ideas of what should and should not be done, by religious beliefs, conscience, emotions, and thoughts, the enlightened person is free from all these things. Having transcended the mind, such a person perceives life as it truly is and is therefore best equipped to offer solutions to problems such as euthanasia. People should be taught to become free, to free themselves from conditioning, but they must also learn how to use that freedom wisely. Only then will they be able to make the right choice according to the circumstances rather than being governed by rigid principles.
During the last century, faced with countless situations of increasing complexity, humanity found itself at a dead end, completely in the dark when it came to distinguishing truth from falsehood. On this point, the Gita rightly states: "Even the wise are perplexed about action." Yet it must be understood that for the enlightened one, to whom existence appears as a dream, there is always a way out. Where the orthodox and the ignorant fail, the enlightened succeed.
Euthanasia is different from what is commonly called suicide. Suicide is an escape for those who flee their responsibilities and refuse to endure life's trials. It is true that euthanasia is also a form of escape, except that the patient seeking it is physically incapacitated. For such a person, it is simply the final curtain, and behind the scenes they will settle their karmic debts. If, however, they choose to die while still carrying outstanding karmic debts, then when they return in another life, that karma will continue to pursue them. Needless to say, it is better to settle those debts in the present incarnation so that one may enter a future life free of that burden and continue one's journey with greater peace.
Without self-knowledge, it is impossible to debate difficult subjects such as euthanasia and abortion.
To hasten death is equivalent to postponing karma to a future life.
