Where Does Suicide Take the Soul?
By: Radha Kapadia
Tags: Death, Spirituality, Soul, Suicide, Hinduism

“Suicide is a heinous sin, undoubtedly. A man who kills himself must return again and again to this world and suffer its agony.” — Sri Ramakrishna

When we were given this life, the power to see, listen, speak, and understand, we were also expected to learn. The joys and the sufferings that the stages of life bring along have to go hand in hand for the life to go on.

When a person attempts suicide, it complicates everything. As a result, Hinduism takes into account the broader picture: things like how the soul, humanity, and future incarnations will be affected. The fallout is so massive that the mere fact that a person is unhappy or disappointed with his life is not enough. Whatever be the intensity of the pain, it does not justify suicide. Like joy, sorrow only strengthens the soul and gives it more experience.

Pranatyaga or Atmahatya, in Sanskrit, means “abandoning life force”. Hinduism condemns intentional deaths which may be through poisoning, burning, shooting, etc.

When God made this world, there were certain rules set. Violating these rules by trying to evade suffering and escaping the duties is considered selfish and sinful. According to Hinduism, human life is precious. This is because being able to take birth in human form is only possible after the soul has taken hundreds and thousands of births in different forms. It is considered foolish to waste a life that is attained after such hardships.

The cycle of Karma by Mind Body Life

The Hindu text Garuda Purana explains the aftermath of death beautifully. You can read about it here. It also says that a person who kills the self belongs nowhere. His soul neither goes to hell nor heaven but keeps lingering around aimlessly until his expected life span on earth is over. He will have desires but won’t be able to fulfill them. The soul would desperately want a body but since he took his life abruptly into his own hands, the body he wants won’t be ready then. Hence, he remains in the Preta (ghost) form.

It is like being paralyzed physically but awake mentally.

There is an age limit fixed for each of us until we finally die. When these years are not completed, the soul’s Karma remains unfinished.

Say, for example, Rudy is going to die at the age of 60 but due to relationship issues, she attempts suicide at 40. Now the Karmas that she had to settle in this lifetime, remain unfinished. So for the remaining 20 years, Rudy’s soul won’t be able to enter a new body. Instead, the soul would linger and continue repenting the decisions. Not only would the soul be unable to enter a new body until his time has come, but he would also have to start afresh and go over the same sufferings that he tried to escape in his previous life.

Each soul has a Karmic cycle (cycle of collective Karmas from his present and previous lives) and in order to complete this cycle, the soul takes multiple births consecutively and in varied forms. Each life is supposed to help in settling the Karmas but when the person dies by attempting suicide, he disrupts the cycle of Karma. Since we are all part of nature, our deeds also have a role to play in determining nature’s course. When we break the laws of nature and attempt suicide, the system gets disrupted.

In god’s creation, everybody has a unique role to play like mother, father, brother, etc. which helps in the orderly progression of society. Each of us also has certain duties towards our close ones and society. These duties remain unattended when a person commits suicide. Its consequences are not only applicable to the individual responsible but also to those who may be affected by such an action. Thus, the absence of even a single life, be it any form, would hamper the working of the world and simultaneously increase the Karma of the one attempting suicide.

Post suicide, the soul keeps craving and weeping for his past. A soul can only be liberated when he lives in his present. But the self-destructed does not have a present or future, he is stuck in the past. Hence, he cannot be liberated. When he’s not offered a place in heaven or hell, it becomes more difficult and painful for the soul. He has to exist with no sunlight or water, in ghost-like forms, which is said to be worse than being in hell.

Depiction of hell by All India Roundup

After completing his fixed time span on earth, he goes to hell, all the while bearing the result of his sins, and finally returns to the earth. Upon his birth, the soul has to start a new journey in the Samsara (the cycle of births and deaths) with a burden to complete all of his previous Karma. After a point, the soul has to again face the suffering that caused him to commit suicide in the previous life. If again the soul tries to escape through means of self-destruction, the process described above will repeat itself and ultimately elongate the soul’s journey.

Suicide might sound like a tempting escape but this escape is only temporary. It does not solve your problems of living in this material world. It will bring you back to the same suffering until you manage to fight it and come out stronger.