Ramana Maharshi views about Commiting Suicide

[Guest guest]

Sri Ramana Maharshi did speak at length on suicide, and I will give his most

pertinent remarks below. We must first understand that Bhagavan was

adamantly traditional in his guidance with regards to what suicide is, what

promotes it, and what frees us from its influence. Bhagavan echoed the

teachings of Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, the major Hindu scriptures,

and the wisdom of the Buddha in declaring first and foremost that,

 

" All states and all conditions in life proceed from the mind; they are

mind-made and mind governed. (Dhamapada 1:1)

 

We live and move, either feeling bound or free, as individuals. Dependence

on “others”, in Pali “tanha (clinging)”, spiritually weakens us. Thus

Bhagavan expressly demonstrated this truth in his own translation of Adi

Shankacharya’s Vikekachudamani:

 

“If, by some great penance, that rarity, a human body is obtained, with its

ability to understand the meaning of the scriptures, and yet, owing to

attachment to insentient things, effort is not made to attain the immutable

state of liberation, which is one’s own true state, then indeed one is a

fool committing suicide. What greater fool is there than one who does not

seek his own good?”

 

In this regard we find the following words of guidance from Bhagavan

recorded in Talks #340:

 

A question arises, why there should be suicides. Why does one do it?

Bhagavan replied: “Because he is unhappy and desires to put an end to his

unhappiness. He actually does it by ending the association with the body

which represents all unhappiness. For there must be a killer to kill the

body. He is the survivor after suicide. That is the Self.”

 

Later, in Talks# 536, Bhagavan shows the ways and means to escape

unhappiness, even the unhappiness that leads to suicide:

 

“The person soaked in the “I-am-the-body” idea is the greatest sinner and he

is a suicide. The experience of “I-am-the-Self” is the highest virtue. Even

a moment’s dhyana (meditation) to that effect is enough to destroy all the

Sanchita Karma. It works like the sun before whom darkness is dispelled. If

one remains always in dhyana, can any sin, however heinous (suicidal) it be,

survive his dhyana?”

 

We must never stop until the goal is reached; the goal of shaking free from

the limitations promoted on dependence on anything other than God. Sri

Ramana Maharshi puts us to the test, pointing the Divine finger at us to

realize that we are not just suicidal, but actually living in death.

 

D.: Death must then be the highest state.

 

M.: Yes. We are now living in Death. Those who have limited the unlimited

Self have committed suicide by putting on such limitations. (Talks #435)

 

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Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prasanth Jalasutram