Is giving up one's life for the sake of God not an attempt to commit suicide?

[The weekly spiritual discussion (satsaṅga) in English took place online on October 3, 2020 with about 45 members. Dr. Nikhil, Devi, Surya, Ganesh, Anil, Pavan, Suganya, Bharat, Lakshman, Ajay etc., participated and their questions were answered by Swami directly. Some of them are presented below.]

Is giving up one’s life for the sake of God not an attempt to commit suicide? (4 of 6)

Swami replied: If one gives up one’s life for the sake of God, certainly, it is not suicide. The bond with own life is the highest worldly bond. It is stronger than any other worldly bond, including all the strong bonds one has with one’s wealth, one’s issues, one’s life partner etc. But the sacrifice of one’s life should really be for God and it should be proved perfectly. Sometimes, one might get misled by illusions of the eye. Had the appearance of God Datta to Me, on that day at Śrīśailam been an illusion, My jumping from the hill at His command would have been suicide. That would have been the greatest sin because the rest of My valuable life given by God, which was to be used for attaining His complete grace, would have been wasted. Hence, one should be very careful about this point. If one’s life is sacrificed for God, there are many chances of becoming alive again. If one commits suicide, there is no chance of human rebirth since such a soul has to live in the darkest hell forever (Asūryā nāma te lokāḥ...—Veda).

The sacrifice of one’s life is the highest test conducted by God before giving the highest fruit of monism, which is becoming a living Human Incarnation. But there is a higher fruit than even this highest fruit, which is to remain a devotee of God. In this path of dualism between God and the devotee, God becomes the servant of the devotee. Instead of taking the risk of suicide, it is far far better to attain this absolutely highest fruit through dualistic devotion. Kṛṣṇa became the servant of Rādhā due to her dualistic love alone. Hanumān too became God through dualistic love alone. Today, we see separate temples of Hanumān, where He is worshipped as God. In fact, in a battle, Hanumān even defeated God Rāma, the monistic Human Incarnation!

Keywords:

| Shri Datta Swami | Is giving up one's life for the sake of God not an attempt to commit suicide? | Hanuman Hanumaan Rama Raama Srishailam Srisailam Shrisailam Shrishailam Asuuryaa naama te lokaah

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