Why do people commit suicide?

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Questioner (Q): Why do people commit suicide?

Acharya Prashant (AP): They still have a lot of hope. They feel that suicide would redeem them. They have not given up everything. They are still carrying a lot of hope. If I do not know what is beyond life, how can I enter that which is beyond life? Surely, I am placing my hopes there.

Even in suicide, there lies a lot of arrogance. I’m asking you, what if your troubles continue even after suicide? Now, what would you kill? There is a lot of knowledgeability contained in suicide. You feel that suicide would bring your troubles to an end. What if it does not? Now, what would you do? And it is irreversible.

If you are really disappointed, then you would be so disappointed that you can’t even commit suicide. You would say, “I am disappointed with everything, including suicide.” You’d say, “I’m sure nothing works and everything that I will try for myself would backfire.” Now how can you have the doership to commit suicide?

Q2: Is acknowledgment the only way for self-realization?

AP: Of course, because there is no way that is needed. Acknowledgment is spontaneous. To experience is to acknowledge. If you are experiencing trouble, you have already acknowledged trouble. Now, why do you impose non-recognition upon it? It’s like you coming to me and I know who you are and I say, “Ah, do I know you?” Women often do that, by the way.

Why must you pretend that way? If you are experiencing something, have you not already acknowledged it? Then, why must you pretend this way? “Excuse me, but have we met somewhere?”And you must excuse the speaker for bringing in his personal experiences sometimes. Is there anything that we do not know, seriously? Is there anything that these books contain and we are oblivious of? And had we really not known, how would these books teach us? Reading a book is so convenient, acknowledgment requires courage. Fortunately, we all have that courage. It only needs to be awakened. You only need to be reminded that you are unnecessarily afraid. Rise up, speak up, call the lies, nail the lies, confess and surrender.