An executive editor of a spiritual magazine in Chennai, and his wife give up their lives
Today (21st Oct. 2015), I came across this very tragic article, Chennai: Executive editor of spiritual magazine 'Deepam' and wife found hanging, http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-chennai-executive-editor-of-spiritual-magazine-deepam-and-wife-found-hanging-2136946. Here's another report: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/journalist-wife-found-hanging-at-home/article7786238.ece.
From the report it seems that financial challenges led them to take the extreme step of both father & mother of a boy studying in seventh standard (and so, I guess, around 11 years old) committing suicide, in the South Indian city of Chennai!
I decided to write a post on it as it is an executive editor of a spiritual magazine in South India who has committed suicide along with his wife, leaving behind an orphan son.
A couple giving up their lives in this fashion (presuming the report is correct), leaving behind an orphan-boy to fend for himself, is TERRIBLY UNFAIR on the boy. Yes, they may have had to vacate their flat and perhaps become homeless. If their financial affairs were much worse they might have had to declare bankruptcy or even serve a jail sentence if there was some financial impropriety.
But so many spiritual greats have been imprisoned and persecuted. In comparison to that persecution of spiritual greats, a modern jail sentence in a South Indian city is nothing, especially for spiritual persons. BTW sentences for small level of financial fraud would typically be a short one.
They would still be alive (and if they had to serve a short sentence, they would be out of jail in a short while). They could have started a new life in some small town/ashram in South India living a simple life and raising their boy as well as they could within their simple lifestyle. That's what the majority of spiritual family people do. Most of them are NOT well off, and raise their children with a 'ceiling on material desires' outlook and with an emphasis on spiritual values. Surely, an executive editor of a spiritual magazine in South India should have been aware of this background.
If the couple did not have this young boy to look after, then it would have been different.
P.S. Before I got ready to put up this post, I came across a limited sharing Facebook post on suicide which requested copy-paste sharing of some of its content. I have given part of that below:
Ravi: In the context of the above executive editor of spiritual magazine & his wife committing suicide, I am not blaming them as being selfish. Perhaps the emotional burden became too much for them. Instead I am saying that had they decided to fight it out even if it meant being homeless for a while and leading a subsistence kind of life in some ashram town/village, it would have been better from the perspective of their young son, and perhaps from their own perspective as well.
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Update: Readers may want to visit my blog post, Sathya Sai: Mind does not die on suicide but gets carried over to next birth; Never entertain low idea of suicide, http://ravisiyer.blogspot.in/2015/10/sathya-sai-mind-does-not-die-on-suicide.html, dated 21st October 2015.
From the report it seems that financial challenges led them to take the extreme step of both father & mother of a boy studying in seventh standard (and so, I guess, around 11 years old) committing suicide, in the South Indian city of Chennai!
I decided to write a post on it as it is an executive editor of a spiritual magazine in South India who has committed suicide along with his wife, leaving behind an orphan son.
A couple giving up their lives in this fashion (presuming the report is correct), leaving behind an orphan-boy to fend for himself, is TERRIBLY UNFAIR on the boy. Yes, they may have had to vacate their flat and perhaps become homeless. If their financial affairs were much worse they might have had to declare bankruptcy or even serve a jail sentence if there was some financial impropriety.
But so many spiritual greats have been imprisoned and persecuted. In comparison to that persecution of spiritual greats, a modern jail sentence in a South Indian city is nothing, especially for spiritual persons. BTW sentences for small level of financial fraud would typically be a short one.
They would still be alive (and if they had to serve a short sentence, they would be out of jail in a short while). They could have started a new life in some small town/ashram in South India living a simple life and raising their boy as well as they could within their simple lifestyle. That's what the majority of spiritual family people do. Most of them are NOT well off, and raise their children with a 'ceiling on material desires' outlook and with an emphasis on spiritual values. Surely, an executive editor of a spiritual magazine in South India should have been aware of this background.
If the couple did not have this young boy to look after, then it would have been different.
P.S. Before I got ready to put up this post, I came across a limited sharing Facebook post on suicide which requested copy-paste sharing of some of its content. I have given part of that below:
Many people think that a suicide attempt is a selfish move because the person just does not care about the people left behind. I can tell you that when a person gets to that point, they truly believe that their loved ones will be much better off with them gone. This is mental illness not selfishness. TRUTH: Depression is a terrible disease and seems relentless. A lot of us have been close to that edge, or dealt with family members in a crisis, and some have lost friends and loved ones. Let's look out for each other and stop sweeping mental illness under the rug.--- end copy-paste of part of FB post on suicide ---
Ravi: In the context of the above executive editor of spiritual magazine & his wife committing suicide, I am not blaming them as being selfish. Perhaps the emotional burden became too much for them. Instead I am saying that had they decided to fight it out even if it meant being homeless for a while and leading a subsistence kind of life in some ashram town/village, it would have been better from the perspective of their young son, and perhaps from their own perspective as well.
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Update: Readers may want to visit my blog post, Sathya Sai: Mind does not die on suicide but gets carried over to next birth; Never entertain low idea of suicide, http://ravisiyer.blogspot.in/2015/10/sathya-sai-mind-does-not-die-on-suicide.html, dated 21st October 2015.
I do agree with 'Most of them are NOT well off, and raise their children with a 'ceiling on material desires' outlook and with an emphasis on spiritual values. ' If people who are caught up in a personal and/or financial crisis are able to accept that they will have to start leading a very simple life, nothing like it. They can easily make their children also imbibe such values and lead such a life. However, not many are able to do that nowadays, I guess. Most people seem to attach value to money, career, etc, etc and they feel without money nothing can be achieved. Sad state!
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