Accentuate life, negate suicide

IN terms of population, the number of suicides in Guyana is alarmingly high. This situation is most distressing and sad and it represents a clarion call for ACTION. Now mere words are no longer enough. There has to be concerted action at the national and local level to address and directly confront this rising scourge. Silence is not an option. But the silence of our pandits, priests, and national civic and religious leaders (including well – known pandits in the USA) is almost deafening. To what avail are our many yagnas if we cannot save our youths from this utterly dark and eternally destructible path. On Diwali night we lit so many lamps but did we pause to reflect that so many homes are now in real darkness because a very dear one has extinguished the lamp of his precious life by his own hand. We cannot brush this aside is an issue not of our making or concern. In the words of our national poet Martin Carter, ‘All are involved, all are consumed.” Educators have a crucial role to play in stopping this rising tide of suicide. While academic excellence is commendable, teachers have to inculcate in their students the equally important ‘life skills’ that will ensure that they can cope well with the pressures of growing up and be able to face the bitterly cold, selfish, harsh and cruel winds of the real world. Gone are the days of the strict disciplinarian who was ever ready to use the cane with a certain sadistic glee and satisfaction. Teachers have to be facilitators for the growth and development of their students in all facets of their personality. They should earn the trust of their students so that when these youngsters are going through intense emotional pain they will not be afraid or feel ashamed to disclose their problems to them. Young people can become so fixated on their immediate pain and suffering that their thinking can easily become distorted, and so it can become very difficult for them to see possible solutions to their problems or to connect with those who can offer support. Teachers have a critical role here in that they can intervene at the appropriate time and provide the needed support, resources, counselling etc. that may prevent the student from taking this most dangerous course of action. It is so sad that the events or circumstances that triggered most suicides can be easily fixed with the appropriate help, guidance, therapy etc. But because suicide is so final, so permanent, it is the one definite area where human INACTION spells complete irreversible disaster. Our lives are interconnected and interwoven in the fabric of humanity and, therefore, the suffering, pain, and despair of others are very much our own. It is the very epitome of selfishness to think that we can prosper and be wholesome while our fellow beings are in the grip of deep torment and hopelessness. Many victims of suicide cried out for help in manifold ways; we never had the time to fathom the depth of their pain and sorrow; their anguished hearts reveled their plight to our very eyes, but we turned away, and in our own hardened hearts we give meaning to their belief that humanity is selfish and cruel, the world a dark prison of endless pain and suffering and that the sure remedy is the quick embrace of death.

Suicide is not just another form of human behaviour. It is an act that is devastating to all of us because it speaks of a profound rapture between an individual and the community, between an individual and us, even if we are thousands of miles from him, and we do not personally know him. In the words of the great writer GK Chesterton, “The man who kills a man, kills a man. The man who kills himself kills all men, for as far as he is concerned he wipes out the world.” To commit suicide is to retreat from the battlefield of life before the battle drums have even sounded; to cease drinking from the cup of life while there are still many more drops to be tasted; to leave the book of life itself unfinished because the ominous decision has been made to write with an eraser. In all existence, nothing is more valuable and precious than Life itself. All the magnificent wonders of the world emanate from the interplay of the forces of life; the astounding achievements of mankind spring from life and serve life. Science, justice, education, government, morality have no meaning if they do not serve and support life. The possibilities of life are endless because life is a gift from God Himself. And the human life, in particular, is doubly precious because it is the veritable gateway to ultimate peace and freedom [moksha or nirvana]. From the Vedantic perspective, it is a great transgression to commit suicide and abruptly end this unique opportunity to approach moksha through a righteous, selfless life. Our ancient seers have warned us that suicide is not an escape from suffering but an entrance into an exponentially greater degree of pain and torment, it does not resolve karma but further complicate and intensify it, and because it represents the wanton destruction of the human body, the individual is subjected to a countless series of lower births until he comes to that exact point in the evolutionary scale where he committed suicide and from where he still has to resolve the then existing karmic entanglements. Therefore, to commit suicide is to put one’s spiritual clock in reverse.

An individual does not [with rare exceptions] suddenly commit suicide by the stress of a single or even a series of traumatic external events. The suicidal thought had long been secretly fostered and nourished in the inner recesses of the heart, and dwelled upon more than a few times, just waiting for the hour of opportunity to reveal its gathered strength and momentum. Events and circumstances can be extremely traumatic and painful, but the way we perceive them can make a substantial difference in terms of their impact upon us. The person who has committed suicide has in the armory of his own thoughts forged the weapon which he placed in his own hands and then used against himself with unerring precision. Thoughts emanate from the mind and Shri Krishna in Bhagavad Gita beautifully sang thus, “For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for him who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy.”[6:6]. We may be very far from conquering the mind, but we must never, never allow events and circumstance to sink us into the dark pit of despair and helplessness that we see no clear way out but through the infinitely darker pit of suicide. My friends please ponder on the fact that they are thousands upon thousands of individuals in this world who were born deaf, dumb, or blind or who are severely handicapped, and yet they see the joy and beauty in living. Few lives have been richer, more joyful, peaceful and serene, or endowed with greater wisdom and insight than that of Helen Killer, yet she was both blind and deaf. Life is beautiful like a full blown lotus, but it is also full of thorns, disappointments, dashed hopes and shattered dreams, injustice and cruelty. It seems that the longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us; let your mind quickly pass through them like a galloping horse. No one is exempted from suffering and pain; it is courageous to bear them with manly dignity rather than choose the cowardly route of suicide. Never underestimate the power of the human will to rise above and conquer circumstances, pain and suffering because our own will is the offspring of the deathless Atma [Soul] and, therefore, it can carve a path out of any dreadful situation though walls of granite may stand in the way. But if dark and dangerous thoughts still cross you mind, be mindful of the words of the Sufi poet Jelaluddin Rumi, who wrote, “When you feel you cannot ever bear one more minute/NEVER GIVE UP! /Because it is the time and place that the course will divert.” And when all seem hopeless and lost and there is overwhelming darkness all around, there is still the infallible and unfailing power of prayer, the miracle of miracles. But we must pray in such a manner as is so beautifully expressed by the great spiritual master and poet, Rabindranath Tagore, who wrote, “Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in facing them/Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain but for the heart to conquer it.” Life has meaning and purpose. Every life is sacred and infinite in beauty and majesty. Each one of us has a role to enact in this cosmic drama of life and death. Play your part well; no one has been better gifted to do it than yourself. Never quit the act before the allocated time. We are not helpless, limited beings floating around the universe. We are greater than all the powers of the universe because we are life itself. Therefore, accentuate life, negate suicide.
CECIL RAMKIRATH
Bayonne, NJ, USA

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