SUICIDE MAY BE DIVIDED INTO FOUR GRADES

 
Among abnormal kinds of death, suicide deserves special attention. Suicide may be divided into four grades, (1) lowest, (2) low, (3) high and (4) highest.

The lowest type is a last measure in escaping punishment or ignominy or utter frustration after the individual has tried unscrupulously to satisfy his own selfish desires. Thus one who has committed murder for lust or power may commit suicide when he is caught.

Even after leaving the body, such a person does not succeed in severing his link with the gross world for hundreds of years. These individuals live literally as ghosts in the semi-subtle sphere, which lies between the gross and the subtle world. They experience agonizing suffering because of their unfulfilled desires. Due to the link which they preserve with the gross world, they continue to desire various gross objects keenly, a desire which can never be fulfilled.

This suffering is even more acute than the intense sufferings in the hell-state* that the individual experiences after he severs his connection with the gross world.