Is suicide considered self-murder or atma-hatya in Vedic dharma?

In Vedic dharma, suicide is indeed regarded as self-murder or atma-hatya, for it is based on the fundamental misunderstanding that the physical body is the self; the soul merely changes bodies according to karma, and destroying the gross form does not end mental anguish but rather forces the subtle body—mind, intelligence, and false ego—to continue experiencing unresolved distress in a disembodied preta condition, bereft of sensory organs to satisfy its intense hunger, thirst, and desires (BG 6.5). The śāstra warns that prematurely terminating one's allotted human life interrupts the soul's karmic journey, plunging it into a ghostly existence where the very desires that prompted the act remain unfulfilled and the suffering is magnified beyond material comprehension. Yet this human form is extraordinarily rare and precious, meant not for self-destruction but for purification through devotional service, as Lord Ṛṣabhadeva instructed His sons that one who has attained this human life should not waste it for sense gratification but should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of bhakti, thereby purifying the heart and attaining eternal, blissful life transcendental to material happiness (SB 5.5.1). By taking shelter of Bhakti-yoga and chanting the Holy Names of the Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahā-mantra, all suffering, anxiety, and karmic bondage can be permanently transcended, for the mind becomes the soul's friend rather than enemy when fixed in divine consciousness, steering one away from the three destructive gates of lust, anger, and greed that lead to degradation (BG 16.21).