If someone commits suicide was it their destiny or are they interrupting God’s plan?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
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A similar question, if a person commits suicide, is it the destiny of that person or has he interrupted God’s path? Certainly, it is nobody’s destiny to commit suicide. It is by our choice that we end our life. So, suicide is never destiny.
Suicide is something which is chosen. Destiny means essentially that which happens without our control, without our effort. So, if I am just going in a car, and the car skids and gets stopped and I get accident, then that can even say it is destiny.
Now, actually, this idea that something goes wrong and we say it is destiny, has to be very carefully understood. In the Mahabharata, Vidura is the virtuous brother of Dhritarashtra. And Vidura is always giving good counsel to Dhritarashtra telling him, stop your son from his evil acts.
And Dhritarashtra there uses the rationalization of destiny. Vidura tells him, if you don’t stop Dhritarashtra, the whole Guru dynasty will be destroyed in a terrible war. And then, Dhritarashtra argues, if it is the will of almighty destiny that our dynasty will be destroyed, then who am I, a tiny human being to stop the will of almighty destiny? So, Vidura argues, Vidura tells him, destiny determines the consequences of our actions, not our actions themselves.
Destiny determines the consequences of our actions, not our actions themselves. If a student doesn’t study for an exam, he fails the exam because of destiny. No, that is not destiny.
Destiny, sometimes we may study and because of certain reasons, still we may not get good marks. So, that can be called as destiny. So, destiny should never be used as an excuse for giving up on something.
So, suicide is never a destiny by itself. It is something which we choose, or some people choose, because of what they feel is overwhelming frustration. And as far as interruption of God’s plan is concerned, yes, certainly.
We have to understand that God’s plan is not frozen. God’s plan is flexible. Depending on how we choose, God guides us accordingly.
So, the point is not that we interrupt God’s plan, but the point is that we make choices by which we grow in our life and progress.