Man ends life by jumping into pyre to attain ‘moksha’

Team Udayavani, Jun 11, 2020, 5:44 PM IST

Karwar: A 65-year-old man from Yellapur taluk is alleged to have ended his life by jumping into a funeral pyre, prepared by himself in order to attain ‘moksha’.

The man identified as Shivaram Ramakrishna Hegde left behind a death note, stating that he was liberating himself from the cycle of death and rebirth.

“I am not committing suicide. Everything is Maya (illusion),” read the death note, purportedly written by Shivaram Hegde in which he also quoted a shloka from the Bhagavad Gita.

Hegde’s family members said that he was suffering from cancer since a long time and had lost his wife last year. Following her demise he began feeling that he was a burden to others, they added.

He had made up his mind to die and was consuming very less food for the last two months.

On Wednesday, his family members noticed that he was missing and while searching for him they found his clothes hanging from a tree in the forest, and an extinguished pyre was found nearby.

He himself performed his funeral rituals before lighting his own pyre. By doing so, he felt, he would attain the Moksha, they added.

A case has been registered in the Yellapur police station in this regard.