What is Hinduism’s stand on euthanasia (assisted suicide) ?
According to the Doctrine of Karma, a person cannot escape from his/her Karma by commiting suicide. Whatever has to be faced has to be faced. If one tries to escape from a problem in this birth, it will have to be faced in a higher proportion in a subsequent birth. Also, committing suicide adds a big Karmic burden on the individual. Coming to Euthanasia, assisting the suffering person by giving moral and other form of support to bear with the difficulties and if possible to alleviate the difficulties is the best thing that his/her well wishers can do. Taking away the life is only postponing the problem. If the suffering person is not a party in the decision, then it is a mere postponement of the manifestation of the Karma for the suffering person. Whereas for the people involved in making the decision, the mental attitude is what counts. To summarize, in the best case, it does not help anyone in any way.
