Suicide is a sad symptom of our society’s spiritual starvation.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared that stress, depression, addiction and psychosomatic problems will be the greatest health hazard of the current century. Worse still, WHO statistics show that over one million people commit suicide every year. That’s more than the total annual deaths from wars and crimes combined. And this figure is only the reported number of suicides.
Mental disease and suicide have many causes. But the common origin is frustration in achieving one’s goals – whatever they may be. When this frustration rises to an acute and hopeless degree, one feels one’s very existence to be an agony. And the ending of one’s existence appears to be the only solution.
Why is it that we modern humans, the most “intelligent” among all species, are the only species whose members commit suicide in such alarmingly numbers?
WHO describes suicide as “a tragic social health problem” and states that there is no proven cure for it. Could it be that the goals society sets for us are incompatible with ourselves and invite the frustration that leads to mental health problems and ultimately suicide?
See and believe
How does channelling human energy for spiritual elevation affect ecology, human health, and the self? Let’s see what science says.
Ecology: Most environmental problems have arisen from the materialism and consumerism that have accompanied the decline of spirituality and its inherent self-restraint.
Therefore, the following quote from Alan Durning of the World Watch Institute represents what many scientists consider to be the only hope for saving the environment: “In a fragile biosphere, the ultimate fate of humanity may depend on whether we can cultivate a deeper sense of self-restraint, founded on a widespread ethic of limiting consumption and finding non-material enrichment.”
All forms of non-material enrichment – prayer, meditation, yoga, chanting the holy names – clearly point to a spiritual dimension to life. And this spiritual dimension is most comprehensively explained in the Vedic scriptures. In fact, the Vedanta-sutra begins with a clarion call: athato brahma jijnasa – “Now therefore (now that you have a human body), devote yourself to spiritual enquiry” (Vedanta-sutra 1.1).
Human health: The current epidemic of indulgence-borne diseases shows that universal scriptural injunctions for self-restraint – sobriety (no intoxication) and continence (no illicit sex), for example – are sound health advice too.
Herbert Benson of the Harvard Medical School, citing extensive research on the physical and mental benefits of spiritual living, states that the human body and mind are “wired for God”. Not only that, a survey published in Reader’s Digest (January 2001) stated that believers in God live an average of 11 years longer than non-believers.
The self: And what about the self? Science has come up with a precious finding: spirituality is a sure solace for the self. Survey after survey have shown that spiritual practices protect people from self-destructive behaviour and habits. Patrick Glynn of George Washington University writes in his book, God: “The Evidence that surveys show is that those who don’t attend spiritual prayer meetings are four times more prone to suicide than those who do so. Further, the giving up of such meetings has been found to be the best predictor of suicide, better even than unemployment.” These findings indicate that spirituality provides inner joy, which frees people from the uncontrollable and insatiable craving for external pleasures that lead to addictions and suicides. Such findings have inspired some modern thinkers to echo the Vedic conclusion that spirituality is not just a part of our life; it is the essence of our life.
Stephen Covey, well-known author of the Seven Habits series, aptly remarks: “We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.”
People foolishly neglect the actual self and misidentify with their body and mind, which are like a cage. Concentrating their energies on the upkeep of the cage, people neglect the captive soul within. The bird is not meant for the welfare of the cage, of course. But most human activities are done just for maintenance of the body and mind. People scarcely try to give any food to the bird, or the soul, who is distinct from the cage. Therefore people are committing suicide.
The message of the Vedas is to stop such misdirected activities. Some people do not believe in the scriptures, but if people have faith in divine wisdom and authority, they must prepare for their freedom in the next life. Thus in human society, there must be a balance between matter and spirit. We are actually spirit souls, but somehow we became encaged within the body, and we have to eat, sleep, mate and defend. The soul itself does not need to do those things. A civilisation that only looks after the body’s necessities and does not care for the soul is unbalanced.
The real necessity of life is to supply the comforts of the soul, and the soul cannot be comforted by physical or mental adjustments. Because the soul is a different substance, it must be given spiritual sustenance. That is Krishna consciousness.
Just as when people are ill, they are given a proper diet and proper medicine; souls encaged in bodies need Krishna consciousness, which provides the right diet and medicine.