My younger daughter committed suicide due to mental illness. Will She Suffer? Will I see her when I leave this world?
—T.S. Lakshmi, India
Dear Lakshmi,
Acts committed under the influence of mental illness, temporary or otherwise, do not have the same effect as when done more consciously and deliberately. There are, of course, consequences to any such important act as suicide, but the soul is eternal and perfect, ever joyful. A temporary period of darkness and confusion, perhaps loneliness might ensue for her on the astral plane, the place to which our soul, clothed in only its astral and causal bodies, goes after the death of the physical body. Who can say why she was afflicted with mental illness, for which her suicide was simply an unfortunate consequence.
More importantly, however, is your relationship to her: this is a time when your prayers and positive thoughts sent to her together with God’s grace and guru’s grace, can VERY much ease whatever discomfort she may be experiencing. Such a soul needs the light of other souls to guide her back towards sanity and gratitude (rather than rejection) for life itself.
Mental illness — the cause for her action — stems, more or less, from responding to life by rejecting life, by creating a private world perhaps for protection from a “real” world which is frightening or threatening or otherwise in preference for the realities that surrounds a person, or from other actions which are extreme.
It takes time to heal and recover from both whatever caused the rejection of life and the consequences of that rejection. Your daughter, a child of God, isn’t really your child; she is God’s child. Who knows our past lives and past relationships. Thus it is important if you are to help her, even now, for you to be calm and positive and not focused on your loss or any regrets you might imagine having for the fact of her suicide. Let go of all negativity, doubt, grief as best you can if you really want to help her with your prayers and thoughts.
She needs joy now; light now; she needs divine grace. First: pray to God and guru to fill YOU with that light and joy; then, when you feel the divine presence, send from your heart this love which is God’s love directly to her soul. Visualize her as best you can bathed in the light and that joy. Chant mantras or affirmations, or chants to her. You must KNOW and FEEL that she, in her soul, is ever free; ever joyful.
It is natural for the family of one who commits suicide to take the blame upon themselves. That is not helpful now. Let go of any of that which may remain and do the things I mention above. She is well; she is happy; she is joyful; she is free in God.
Our thoughts and prayers stream forth in light to you and your daugher!!
Nayaswami Hriman
