The Moment of Death

When I was growing up I was taught that our thoughts at the moment of our death matter. That moment is the one that will set you on the course for whatever comes next, whatever kind of life you’ll move to next.

For this reason, I don’t want to die in my sleep. I want to be aware and in control when death comes for me. As scary and upsetting as it may be, I hope to have the presence of mind to meditate, to think of God, and to turn my trust over to the universe, at the very least to focus on the love that I feel for Brad and how he represents the divine in my life.

It’s said that it’s important to cultivate one’s thoughts and practice control of your mind through meditation for this moment. In the panic of death coming, they say that the brain will return to whatever thoughts it finds most familiar and comfortable. You must practice your thoughts. Make sure your most common thoughts are ones that would uplift you at the moment of death.

Yet then I wonder how that interacts with our sanskara (karma).

Is our next experience, our next life, determined more by what our sanskara in this life has been and what we’ve managed to clean up or does the state of mind at death matter more?