As a resident of Puttaparthi I seek forgiveness from parents, relatives and friends of --Name1-snipped-- who gave up her life recently in Prasanthi Nilayam ashram, Puttaparthi

Last updated on 23rd April 2020

23rd April 2020 Update: I had an inner urge to name-snip the names of some person(s) in this post and so have done so.

The recent tragic suicide of the young lady, --Name1-snipped--, has been very disturbing for many in Puttaparthi, including me. As far as I can recall, it has been the first such case of loss of life in this manner by a staff (she had resigned in March 2017, so technically ex-staff) of Prasanthi Nilayam, since I moved to Puttaparthi in Oct. 2002.

I think I can say that many in Puttaparthi, including me for sure, are deeply sorrowful over this tragic incident.

I personally would like to go further and seek forgiveness from the parents, other relatives and friends of --Name1-snipped-- for what happened to her in Prasanthi Nilayam ashram, Puttaparthi, the abode of the Avatar of Love, the Avatar of Help Ever Hurt Never, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

I do not know what really led her to take this drastic and tragic step of giving up her young and precious life. But whatever the cause may be - depression, work related stress, perhaps some other emotional distress - as a Puttaparthi resident for nearly 15 years now, I, and I am sure many others in Puttaparthi, feel that this should NOT have happened. Prasanthi Nilayam and Puttaparthi should have provided her succour for her emotional distress problems and not exacerbated it to the level that she felt compelled to take her own life.

Therefore, I repeat that as a resident of Puttaparthi, I seek forgiveness from the parents, other relatives and friends of --Name1-snipped--.

I pray that Bhagavan showers His Grace on the soul of --Name1-snipped--, and showers His Grace on her parents, other relatives and friends, and all of us in Puttaparthi, and helps us overcome this tragedy and great shock. Jai Sairam!
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My Facebook post, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/1921492018067366, is associated with this blog post and has some comment exchanges which some readers may want to view.

Given below are some of the comment exchanges (slightly edited) from above Facebook post:

--Name-snipped-- wrote:
Dear Mr. --name-snipped--: Did you know Ms. --Name1-snipped--? On what basis are you using phrases such as "mood swings" etc? Secondly, whatever the reason for resigning might be, Prof. Ravi is using this post to indicate how sorry most of the Parthi residents are for this tragedy. In a place that is supposed to reflect love, it is worrisome if such events happen! More worrisome if none of the people in Prasanthi even get an inkling of such an event about to take place. So please do not disrespect the lady by using unthoughtful phrases! Neither distort the tone and message of a well intentioned post by Prof. Ravi.
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Ravi S. Iyer wrote:
Oriya script name friend (sorry, I could not figure out how to tag you on FB as you are using what seems to me to be Oriya script). Thanks for your comment. I agree with it. ... A small point. I am NOT an academic. I was an industry guy offering free service to Sai university as Honorary Staff/Honorary Faculty/Visiting Faculty. So Mr. or Sri (or no prefix) would be appropriate but NOT Prof. as I am NOT a Prof. Thanks.
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...
Ravi S. Iyer wrote:
I see. I remember interacting with you in the past with your English name. Interesting! Thanks.
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--Name-snipped-- wrote:
Yes Sir. MSc (Chem), 2005 batch. :-)
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Ravi S. Iyer wrote:
I see. Perhaps we may have crossed each other as I used to sit in the AI lab., next to Chemistry lab(s) from Jan 2003 onwards.
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--Name-snipped-- wrote:
Many times Sir. Never got an opportunity to interact much with you. But saw you sitting on the steps in Mandir sometimes, and sometimes in Alum block! :-)
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Ravi S. Iyer wrote:
Oh! Nice to note that we did cross each other many times. Yes, I sat in teachers area for a short time. I preferred Mandir steps, or the slope area, and later the old students block.
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