After emailing Michael Tymn’s blog to my list yesterday, I received an automated email saying, “Thank you for your message. It is with deep sadness that we share the news of Dr. James Paul’s passing on July 17th. As a result, this email account is no longer being monitored.”
I didn’t know James (above), but he had commented on blogs occasionally on the subject of Marian apparitions, which he seemed to take a great interest in.
His obituary reads: “Dr James Paul Pandarakalam (79), Consultant Psychiatrist and a valued contributor to Kerala Link, passed away while in Kerala.
“He served as a Consultant Psychiatrist at Northwest Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation in the UK, where he was respected for his clinical expertise and compassionate care.
“Originally from Kerala and later based in the UK, he drew deeply from his Indian heritage and extensive medical career. His writings seamlessly connected psychology, spirituality, and culture, while his fiction combined clinical insight with emotional depth, exploring themes of memory, grief, and human resilience.
“His articles appeared in the Royal College of Psychiatrists website, SAGE Journals, and other professional publications, reflecting his commitment to advancing mental health discourse.”
I looked up James’ name and a 2018 article came up in The British Journal of Medical Practitioners (BJMP) titled “Physicians Involved Assisted Suicide.”
James was evidentially open to discarnate survival. In a section of the article titled: Evidence for discarnate survival, he writes:
According to those who are sceptical about after-death survival, there is only as much evidence to justify belief in life after death as there is for the historical existence of dinosaurs. Some scientific researchers however argue that there are compelling reasons to support those who are proponents of belief in life after death. Dr Vernon Neppe, a neuropsychiatrist turned parapsychologist, has declared that the combined body of evidence for discarnate survival is overwhelming – so great that it may be regarded as scientifically cogent.8 This emerging scientific view, coupled with the wisdom of the faith traditions, challenges the rationality of supporting assisted suicide. The following are examples of evidence for discarnate existence that are commonly cited:
- clinical death experiences
- pre-death visions
- shared death experiences
- collective apparitions
- some forms of mediumistic incidents, particularly ones that involve cross-correspondence, drop-in communications and physical phenomena
- children’s memories of previous lives
- electronic voice phenomena
- instrumental trans-communications
- transplant cases
- Scientifically studied Marian apparitions
Further along, In a section titled Suicide victims, he continues:
“Through suicide, a person is simply changing the location of their suffering. While wrapped in the physical planet by space and time, we are in an advantageous position for inducing personality changes swiftly, whereas in the timeless state of discarnate existence changes are sluggish and personality development is much slower. Contemporary data for survival research may be congruent with the wisdom of the faith tradition. 15 To use a simple analogy for this, carrying out assisted suicide is like destroying the shell of a pupa and forcefully freeing it in a premature state. Such a pupa will not be able to fly about like a butterfly. It is arguable that a person subjected to violent death – as in the case of suicide – may not be able to enjoy the beauty of God’s grand other-worldly dimensions until they have become spiritually compatible with them. They have to navigate through the physical plane like wingless birds. …”
For anyone interested in assisted dying, particularly those non-materialists or theists pondering the potential implications after death, James’ article might be of interest.
Safe travels, James.
I had many e-mail exchanges with James over the past 15 or so years. He wrote a number of essays for the journal I was editing for the Academy for Spiritual and Consciousness Studies. They were all about the Marian apparitions, especially those of Medjugorje. He said he had been to Medjugorje more than 70 times and had contributed much research into the phenomena there. My blog of August 29, 2022 was prompted by an email from James, as well a lengthy article for Atlantis Rising magazine. He authored a book or two about the apparitions. I told him many times, the Marian apparitions laid the foundation for my interest in psychic matters. I was able to visit the Guadalupe Shrine in Mexico in 1953. I’ll miss my exchanges with James, but I look forward to seeing him to further discuss matters in the future.
jon, synchroncity alert! just reading and about to review a canadian based memoir of one woman’s experience of her mothers rapid decline and path to assisted dying, which has been legal her for maybe five years. also reviewed, maybe three years ago, the first account by canadian doctor of her signing on to the program when it was first okayed and her trips to remote communities to actuate the service.
Gordon, I’d be interested in seeing that. Please share a link if there is one.
I am deeply dismayed by the view of suicide expressed by Dr. Pandarakalam.
“It is arguable that a person subjected to violent death – as in the case of suicide – may not be able to enjoy the beauty of God’s grand other-worldly dimensions until they have become spiritually compatible with them.” This is stunningly judgmental. Perhaps it is “arguable,” but he wrote as if it were a certainty. It is by no means so.
As a psychiatrist, Dr. Pandarakalam no doubt witnessed a lot of suffering. But perhaps he did not witness the agony of persons going through the end stages of an intractably painful and hopeless illness. If he had, perhaps he would not have been so eager to deny them the release of a peaceful death. I have no idea, also, why he would speak of assisted suicide as “violent.” It is the disease which precedes it, if anything, that is violent.
I speak from experience. Years ago a patient of mine was in this terribly difficult position, and assisted suicide was not yet legal here in New Mexico. She had to do the job herself. She had worried that there would be some kind of karmic consequence, and held off for quite a while. At last there seemed no choice. As soon as she made the decision, in an odd way she was healed. I remember her glowing with peace at that point.
Fairly soon after, I received a visit from this lady in spirit form. She communicated that all was well, that she had made the right decision to leave the planet, and that she should have done it sooner. This direct knowledge is more important to me by far than anyone’s moral pronouncements.
I hope Dr. Pandarakalam is having a wonderful time beyond the veil, continuing to expand his awareness and to love and serve.
Dear Elene,
As I mentioned in the blog, I didn’t know James, but I can see from his articles that he cited afterlife sources, including Silver Birch.
Having spent the first 43 years of my life as an atheist and materialist, I had no problem with suicide. My view was that if someone wants to take their own life, that’s up to them—which, of course, from our physical perspective, it is.
In the book I’ve just written, there’s a chapter on suicide. I wrote it in part because I came close to it just over 20 years ago—not because of depression or unbearable circumstances, but seemingly from the side effects of an SSRI I had been prescribed because I thought I might have been briefly depressed.
In 2023, my work colleague, in his early forties, while in a depressed state, stepped in front of a car and killed himself. He left behind grieving parents, a ten-year-old child, and no doubt a traumatized driver.
I don’t like the idea of anyone being “punished” after death for suicide—particularly a child who was bullied or someone in extreme pain. It just doesn’t seem fair or like something a “loving God” would do. And from all the sources I’ve read, there is no “punishment” by God. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences.
Silver Birch wrote:
“While you have no right to terminate your earthly existence, there are undoubtedly in many cases, ameliorating factors, mitigating circumstances, to be considered. No soul is better off because it has terminated its earthly existence. But it does not automatically follow that every suicide is consigned for aeons of time into the darkest of the dark spheres.”
When asked if the person is set back as a result, he said:
“Of course. Although there are always exceptions, but they form the minority. As you know, in all cases I always say the motive is the dominating interest. But your soul is judged on its own conduct. You write with your own hand your own book of life. The entries are indelible; you cannot cheat. You judge yourselves. The law is fixed and unalterable. We say face up to your responsibility. No situation is as dark as you think it is.”
If, after death, our conscience is part of the judgment process—which afterlife communicators, NDEers, and others often suggest—then no two suicides are the same. For example, if someone walks into a school and kills a group of children before killing himself, and after death feels the consequences of his actions and experiences “Hell,” that sounds very different from someone who is at the end of their life, in pain, and wishing to end it all.
In Silver Birch’s statement, the key takeaway for me is: “No soul is better off because it has terminated its earthly existence.” That doesn’t mean the person is suffering as a result. I think it just means what it says—that from their elevated perspective, there is no benefit. That said, I don’t view Silver Birch as all-knowing, and indeed he claimed he was sharing “truths” as they (his group) understood them.
I was with a family member only this last weekend who told me he is storing morphine and other drugs so he can control the timing of his death if he wishes. I can imagine doing the same if I were in pain or overwhelmed by a condition or situation. I didn’t comment because it’s not for me to judge, but if he had asked me what I thought of suicide—or “self-termination,” which seems to be the new buzzword—I would have said my belief is there is no benefit. That’s my take on it, but of course, I don’t know.
In one of the letters from Judge Patterson Hatch to Elsa Barker after he died, published as Letters From a Living Dead Man, he wrote:
“Do not fear death; but stay on earth as long as you can.
Notwithstanding the companionship I have here, I sometimes regret my failure in holding on to the world.
But regrets have less weight on this side—like our bodies.
Everything is well with me.”
I like that statement. Let’s hope that your patient, my colleague, James, and others are thriving and continuing to live a life of love.
According to Afterlife gurus like Victor Zammit and others, suicide is a spiritual taboo. Do it and you will writhe in agony for eons in the Dark Planes. Yet we hear from Robin Williams via some mediums who interview the dead ( the Love group?[sic]) and he says he is just fine. No retribution for his selfish act. Similar stories from others. Who knows?Only the shadow knows.
Dirk,
Reportedly, Robin Williams had Lewy body dementia, a truly horrible brain disease. A friend of mine developed it in his 60s, and in a short space of time he had no idea who he was or what he was doing. Fortunately for him he died quickly.
Regarding suicide I’d strongly advise listening to the Leslie Flint Stephen Ward recordings, in particular the comments in the 2nd session by Dr Marshall. They would suggest that the pupa analogy is completely wrong.
Mickey,
I find some of the Flint sittings compelling, particularly the ordinary communicators. More so than the historic figures.
It’s a sort of Samaritans service (if you’re in the UK, you’ll understand what I mean by Samaritans) for people in the afterlife, with Marshall acting as the supervisor to remind the sitters to remain nonjudgmental and empathic at all times.
As Marshall said (and I’m paraphrasing), there is no condemnation when it comes to suicide on the other side, but the person concerned discovers it hasn’t solved any problems either.
The pupa analogy might apply to the person who blows their brains out seeking oblivion, and discovers there is no oblivion, and that they can’t die.
Maybe this is what Silver Birch and others mean when they say there is no benefit to killing oneself.
Assuming Stephen was who he said he was, he appeared to be doing remarkably well considering he’d only been dead for a matter of weeks. He was a funny man! What was evident was that he was working through his thought processes and coming to terms with what had happened—and was being helped at every step by those who could help him should he choose to accept that help, which from what he said, he did.
The holiest form of dying in the Jain religion is a process of bodily termination known as saliekhana. I have interviewed two young Jain nuns who plan on leaving the body in this way. It entails the simple ceasing to eat. It is advocated only for elderly saints who sense it is time for them to die. There are no harmful karmic consequences. The process can take as long as a month.
Stafford, I believe they refer to it as “dropping the body.” But I’m guessing they wouldn’t do it at a young age?
That is correct. It is only for elderly saints whose bodies have signaled that the end is near.