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Suicide Does Not Provide an Escape From the Difficulties of Life or of Spiritual Development · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  An individual reaches an absolute low point in his life.
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  He may be suffering under intense grief.
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  He may have made mistakes that led to catastrophic
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  consequences. He may be faced with exposure
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  and embarrassment for actions he has undertaken.
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  He may be in intense pain and suffering from a terminal
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  disease. He may have been rejected by a
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  person he was attached to. He may be under the influence of
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  various disorienting drugs. These are all predisposing
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  circumstances that lead some individuals to contemplate
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  suicide. There are even spiritual
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  aspirants who feel like they are unable to succeed in their
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  spiritual practice and who find no way to move forward.
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  The great Tibetan Yogi Melarapa contemplated suicide when he
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  reached a point of despair about achieving liberation in one
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  lifetime to make up for the harmful sinful acts he had
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  committed previously. Luckily, his guru was able to
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  see in his despair A readiness for the teachings and used that
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  as the foundation upon which the truth of his life could be
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  unfolded. What do people expect the result
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  of suicide to be? For the most part, suicide seems
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  to be a reaction to a present circumstance and not much
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  consideration is given to what may eventuate in the future.
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  Many people do not have a clear conception of what, if any,
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  existence there is after death. In a more or less simple way,
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  they assume that suicide will erase the current bad
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  circumstance and there is nothing afterwards.
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  They simply die and it is over. For those who understand the
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  deeper consequences of the chain of cause and effect, the law of
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  karma and the process of rebirth, the deeper consequences
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  are recognized. Of course, it is clear to them
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  that suicide is not some kind of escape hatch, but simply a
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  process that delays and intensifies the suffering in a
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  future incarnation. The Tibetan Book of the Dead
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  shows how the direction of the thoughts and desires of the
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  being at the time of death can lead to various circumstances of
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  rebirth. And for those who bring intense
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  despair and suffering into the process, the resultant births
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  can be painful indeed. At some point, each individual
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  will need to face the circumstances that are causing
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  him to respond with a sense of suffering, despair or depression
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  and through courage and armed with patience and perseverance,
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  find the solution to the challenges presented to him in
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  his life. It is just such a circumstance
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  that can be the first step for that individual on his way to
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  understanding the deeper meaning of his life and the reason for
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  the difficulties he is facing. Just as Milarepa reached
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  spiritual enlightenment from the depth of his despair, it is open
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  to every individual to seek the deeper meaning of his life and
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  proceed to move in the direction of light, growth and
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  understanding that provides the antidote to the feelings that
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  bring one to the contemplation of suicide.
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  Fioro Bindo writes quote suicide is an absurd solution.
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  He is quite mistaken in thinking that it will give him peace.
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  He will only carry his difficulties with him into a
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  more miserable condition of existence beyond and bring them
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  back to another life on earth. The only remedy is to shake off
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  these morbid ideas and face life with a clear will for some
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  definite work to be done as the life's aim and with a quiet and
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  active courage and quote. Reference Sri Aurobindo, Bases
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  of Yoga, Chapter 3 in difficulty, pages 57 to 58.