CHAKRA (Bhaktivedanta Manor, UK) - September 10, 1999: Nigama, a teenager from Alachua, Florida, committed suicide on Wednesday according to devotees posting texts on CHAKRA’s online open forum.

“Nigama had worked for me for about 8 months,” reports Ambarisa dasa. “My wife and I had grown very fond of him.”

Ambarisa Prabhu says that Nigama was always cheerful, willing, and capable. “It seemed he had many things going for him the day he died. He had talked to me, but did not let on how bad he was feeling.”

Ambarisa feels sad about what happened. “We feel very sad about the death of this young devotee. I am going to make it one of my priorities to see that this does not happen again.” But he then added, “I should have said try to see that this does not happen again.”

A devotee parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “The suicide of one young devotee on Wednesday here in Alachua has upset me very much. What are we doing to our teenagers, in the name of service sometimes we don’t have time to communicate with them or we live everything to Krishna. We close our eyes to the big problem of drugs and just ignore their feelings. Was [it] necessary for this life to be ended in order for us parents to be shaken up? This is a wake up call for all of us. Please let us do something to save the future of our society – our children.”

© CHAKRA 10-Sep-1999

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