With so many different articles already out there and been written on suicide, let's look at the issue in a whole new way - through the eye's of an enlightened Yogi. And it’s pretty darn interesting so keep reading!
Yes... we have all thought about it
Practically speaking, everyone at some point has contemplated and considered the idea of suicide as an option or immediate answer to end the pain and suffering that is consuming them. Maybe it’s heart-break, their wife leaves them, or they have been diagnosed with a terminal disease. Maybe it is loss of hope, fear of failure, loneliness, anger, frustration, or just being burdened with past regrets. We all have experienced some loss and suffering to one degree or another, but it’s when that pain consumes us and becomes too great to bear, that we are tipped over the edge. This is when a person may seriously consider ending his life as a solution to end the overwhelming hurt he is feeling inside.
The desire for peace
When the world hurts so badly that we can’t cope, we seek to be released from our suffering condition all too often by attempting to end our very existence – killing our “self”. As human beings, we naturally strive to live. No one really wants to die. We fight for survival, going to extreme measures to keep the body alive. To go against that natural instinct to live, and pull the trigger, actually takes immense determination. Being deeply driven by the desire for peace and immediate relief, we seek to be liberated and released from our suffering condition. Going through with the act of ending one’s life, committing suicide, is the extreme expression of our desperate quest for inner peace.
The false promise
Suicide is acting on the belief that the happiness that we seek can no longer be found in the world around us. The overwhelming desire for peace and happiness mixed with immense despair, all too often leads to the attempted annihilation of the self. We think that if we end it all, if we kill ourselves, then we will no longer suffer. Why? Because we mistakenly think we will no longer exist. However, what is so devastating is the fact that suicide does not end our existence, nor the suffering we are experiencing, and therefore suicide is not a real solution.
Life after death
It is clearly stated in the ancient Yoga texts of Bhagavad-Gita that “you” the “self” is eternal and cannot die. You can kill the body, but you can not kill the “self”. In truth, the troubled individual who commits suicide will continue to exist after the death of his body, still carrying the weight and burdens of the world he was so desperately trying to escape.
In the ancient Yoga Texts of the Srimad Bhagavad-Gita, Sri Krishna Bhagavan tells us of the soul’s eternal nature.
Bg 2.23 — The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.
Bg 2.17 — That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.
BG 2.12: Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.
Trapped as a ghost
The soul who commits suicide becomes trapped in the psychic, or astral, atmosphere as a ghost, to some extent interpenetrating the physical plane. The person is able to witness everything happening on earth in regards to the situations and people from which he has severed himself. He is trapped in this condition of being constantly un-heard and ignored, being invisible to loved ones, and is forced to remain in this subtle world and suffering condition for the duration of what would have been his natural destined life span. Therefore, suicide is not a real solution to ending the mental torment and suffering that we are experiencing – as after the death of the body, our problems come with us. We cannot escape the minds harassment by death alone.
Laws of Karma
The laws of karma are such that when Mother Nature gives us a gift (our body) and we disrespect that gift by dropping it from a cliff or off a ten-story building and onto the sidewalk, then that opportunity to get another body and immediately reincarnate, is taken away from us. Like a child with a toy, if the kid misuses the toy, throws it down and breaks it, then the parent teaches them a lesson – they don’t gift them another new toy right away. The laws of Mother Nature in this case are very similar - after destroying our body and prematurely ending our life by suicide, we are put into a karmic time out. Wandering the earth in an astral form known commonly as a ghost, we are stuck between two worlds, unable to be reborn and reincarnate back into the world in another physical form-until we have done our time. Like the disobedient child that we are, we are put into Mother Nature's “time out”.
The Yogis Quest
The fact that we all desire peace and happiness points to the very existence of “peace." We all have a pressing want, and innate need, to be peaceful and happy. We live our lives continually seeking to fill that empty void within our hearts. We search for harmony and happiness in so many different ways in the external world. Maybe we look to drugs/drinking or take a vacation to a popular tourist destination as Hawaii on the beautiful island of Kauai. Or perhaps we join a yoga asana class and spend time meditating and seeking truth. We are all on the quest for peace and happiness. Many yogis know that finding our inner peace is the real solution to ending our material suffering condition. But how does one actually live this truth ?
Knowing who I am
The enlightened person, knowing the absolute truth and understanding their true identity as an individual spirit soul, a spark of the Supreme Soul, knows himself as separate from the material body - eternal and spiritual in nature. Understanding their true identity as spirit soul, a child of God, and knowing well to whom they belong, the enlightened soul acts upon that knowledge.
Enlightenment
Knowing both happiness and distress of this world to be temporary in nature, the enlightened yogi does not waste time endlessly searching for happiness in the mortal pleasures of the world around them. Rather, they seek fulfillment from within, actively cultivating a loving union and relationship with the Supreme Soul (God). They follow the spiritual path of Bhakti Yoga - of which kirtan is a part. By embracing this simple teaching and spiritual practice - very clearly laid out and put before us by the great saints and transcendentalists - we, too, can awaken our truest loving Divine nature and relationship with God. In this way, we can become enlightened souls, liberated and free from the suffering conditions of this material world, taking rest and refuge in the hands of God - finding that inner peace and happiness within our hearts.
www.bhaktiyogashack.com
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