If a good person commits suicide due to some frustration, what is their destination?

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you, Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
Question. If someone has lived a normal good life throughout one’s life, but in a sudden moment of frustration because of some upset in romantic relationship or something like that, person commits suicide. So, what is the destination of such a person? Answer.
Firstly, when such an event happens in someone’s life and say, the relatives of that person are emotionally devastated by that. Now, our important point, the important point is that that is a time primarily for commiseration, not so much time for philosophical exposition. So, what we need to, if the bereaved are there and they are grieving, the most important thing is to reassure them that God is with them and God is also, that Krishna is also there with the deceased soul.
So, Krishna is always there in the hearts of everyone. And no matter how a person departs, Krishna is there even in that person’s heart. So, our goal should be not to drive home any particular philosophical point.
It is to be to help people who are grieving to recover. And often at such times, some kirtan, some words of consolation can help people recover faster and better. Now, beyond that, so the most important point is not just to drive home a philosophical point, but it is to be a friend and a well-wisher like Krishna in Suratam Sarva Bhutana.
So, that’s what devotees are on behalf of Krishna. Now, regarding specifically what happens to a person who ends his or her life because of some frustration, generally, the result is that the soul does not get another physical body immediately. Because we are meant to live in a particular body for a particular period of time as per our past karma.
And if we leave that body immediately, or if we leave that body prematurely, say somebody is supposed to live for 60 years and the person destroys the body through suicide at the age of 35, then 25 years are still remaining. And so the soul, by the karma, won’t get a next body. And that’s how the soul becomes disembodied.
Now, there are various forms of disembodied living. They are in general grouped by the name of ghosts. Now, the word ghost might seem very scary and frightening, but actually the ghosts are more miserable than they are misery causing.
And the most important thing is that ghostly existence is also not permanent. And it is not just the moment of death that determines one’s destination, although the moment of death and the mode of death do play a significant role, but also how one has lived also makes a difference. So that means that normally we often tend to have a very monistic or a very homogeneous idea of the world beyond this world.
But that is not true. Just like, you know, a soul may become, go to the heavens, but even within heavens, there are grades. There is Indra, there are Indra’s assistants, and there are the subordinate gods.
Not all of them have the same level of opulence. If a soul goes into a dog’s body, within the dog’s body also there are variations. So there can be a pet dog who is pampered throughout life, and there can be a street dog who is pummeled most of the life.
So why is there a difference within the species of life? Because of karma. So when a soul becomes disembodied, if the soul has lived a good life prior to the sudden burst of impulse which led to suicide, then that will play a role. The soul suffers in a ghostly body primarily because of attachment to the body and the desire to enjoy bodily pleasures which are frustrated in the ghostly body.
That means in the ghostly body, a person desires to, say, enjoy delicious food, but is not able, but there is no tongue to eat that food, and that naturally causes frustration. But if the person recognizes that actually, yes, but if the person has not been very attached in the previous life, the person has lived a relatively moral life, a principled life, and the attachments have been under control, then the extent of suffering even in ghostly life is much lesser. And that’s why whenever there are ways of interacting with paranormal beings, just planchets or whatever, then it also is found that there are different kinds of beings over there.
So, it’s different kinds of beings, it’s not that all of them are malevolent, wanting to cause harm, not all of them benevolent, wanting to do good, but there are different kinds of beings over there at different times. And the important thing is to recognize that wherever a person is, that person always has free will, and especially in the Puranas, there are many stories, if somebody has, because of some bad karma, become disembodied, then the relative to that person, by doing spiritual activities, by doing devotional activities, can benefit the deceased. So, if the relatives arrange for say Bhagwat Sapta or arrange for Harinam Kirtan, and then they pray that the spiritual benefit of this go to the deceased person, then those spiritual sound vibrations can definitely help the person to deal with the situation, will definitely help the person to become free also, faster from that disembodied state.
So, we understand that the law of karma is materially inexorable, but it is spiritually adjustable. Krishna says, that I will free you from all sinful reactions. So, those who surrender, Krishna guarantees that.
What this indicates is that Krishna is above the law of karma. Although we are under the law, Krishna is above the law. So, it’s a three-level hierarchy.
We are below the law of karma, Krishna is above the law of karma, and the law of karma is in between. So, if we connect with Krishna and pray to Krishna for the well-being of someone, that also benefits the person who has gone away from us. So, the important point is that at three levels, firstly, we recognize that the person, whatever the way person has lived, that will determine the destination in future.
So, even if somebody has temporarily gone to disembodied state, even in that state, the extent of pleasure or pain will depend on how one has lived earlier. Secondly, that by doing devotional activities, although we cannot benefit that person directly in a normal material activity, we cannot give medicine, food, or other things like that, but by doing devotional activities and praying and offering those devotional activities for the benefit of that person, we can benefit them even now. And thirdly, we need to know that actually these sort of unfortunate impulsive acts, they happen especially when people are caught up in the throes of very strong passions.
And the whole purpose of families is to offer support systems so that such emotions can be expressed and resolved in less unfortunate ways. So, now, in some situations, it may happen that a person may not express the emotions, and then those emotions may drive a person to do such wrong things. It’s not that at that time the relatives have to, family members need to blame themselves.
Ultimately, every person takes a decision and that person is responsible for that decision. But overall, we can try to have closer bonds so that we can deal, we can respond maturely and cope with whatever has happened. So, the important point is to recognize that what we could have done to prevent it, but beyond that to what we can do to learn from it and to grow.
So, yes, it’s to some extent life is sometimes cruel, and it’s natural that we may get frustrated, but we need proper outlets for that frustration. And actually, it is the to find out what the outlets for frustration can be found. So, we find it out for ourselves, and we find it out for our loved ones so that in case they need us, they are available for us.
And that way, we can ensure that or at least we can facilitate that when things go wrong in life, we respond in less unfortunate ways and we respond in ways which can take us closer to our spiritual reality, closer to God and rather than do something unfortunate like this. So, overall, what is the destination of a person? Actually, whatever the situation the person goes to, even if that be a disembodied state, even in that disembodied state, Krishna is there. So, important point is that we have the power even now to help that person whatever be the destination of that person.
And if we are connected with Krishna and Krishna is connected with that person, then through this transmaterial system of connection, we can help that person and we can help that person to move to a better situation in the onward life journey. Thank you.