Does Lord Shiva chant the name of Lord Rama in the ears of everyone who dies in Kashi and grant them liberation?

From Vijay Gopi Keshav das

Dandavat Prabhuji,

A friend commented few days ago that his elder brother wants to go and live in Kashi after retirement because he has read in Some Purana that if one dies in Kashi he gets Mukti.

Does this mean that in Kashi, regardless of what a person’s background is (Atheist, Muslim, Christian, Demigod worshipper etc.), Lord Shiva will invariably chant the name of Rama in that person’s ear and enable him to go back to Lord Ram’s abode in the Spiritual world? OR does one need to be a worshiper of Shiva to get this benediction?

Can you kindly clarify.

Thank you. Question from Vijay Gopi Keshav Prabhu A friend commented few days ago that his elder brother wants to go and live in Kashi after retirement because he has read in some Puran that if one dies in Kashi he gets Mukti. Does that mean in Kashi regardless of what a person’s background is atheist, Muslim, Christian, demigod, worshipper etc.
Lord Shiva will invariably chant the name of Ram in that person’s ear and enable him to go back to Lord Ram’s abode in the spiritual world? Or does one need to be a worshipper of Shiva to get this benediction? Can you kindly clarify? Answer The scriptural promises are definitely true but at the same time there are also fundamental principles of scripture that are also true. That means if we want to be liberated from material existence it is we who should have the desire to be free from material enjoyment be free from the desires for material enjoyment. Without being free from those desires liberation will be worse than confinement for us because if our thoughts and our attachments are to the things of this world then even if we are liberated in the liberated stage we will be craving for the things of this world and we will not be able to be happy in liberation also.
So, the scriptures make some promises they indicate the extent of the mercy that God or his great devotees are offering to us if we want to reform ourselves. But at the same time reforming ourselves is up to us. Nobody, neither God nor his great devotees violate our free will at any time.
Our free will is ours and we have to choose. So, only when we choose to love Krishna choose to become free from the desires for material enjoyment can we grow and truly rejoice the liberated destination. So, when the scriptures contain promises like these for example, Lord Ram’s name being chanted by Lord Shiva in the ears of anyone who is dying and thereby that person attaining liberation the pre-existing assumption is that that person should want liberation.
Now, God will not force something upon us and certainly not something for the rest of eternity upon us that we don’t really want. Now, most people think of liberation in terms of freedom from suffering freedom from material sufferings and that is definitely true with respect to liberation but more fundamentally liberation means freedom from material desires. What binds us to this world is not the sufferings what binds us to this world is our own desires to enjoy this world and because of these desires to enjoy this world and the resulting entanglement in material things that happens for us we suffer when the worldly things get disrupted and destroyed by the power of time.
So, पुरुष्यः प्रक्ति स्थोहि भुंग्ते प्रक्ति जान्वुणान् कारणं गुण संगोस्य सदसद्योणि जन्मसु In 13.282 Krishna actually says that प्रक्ति स्थोहि भुंग्ते the desire to enjoy causes causes प्रक्ति स्थोहि for the soul to become situated in material nature and to meet सदसद्योणि जन्मसु, to meet suffering and happiness in various species. So, essentially if a person already has a strong desire to break free from material existence not just from material sufferings but also from material desires then the chanting of the names of Lord Ram or the name of Lord Ram by Lord Shiva at the moment of death will act with supreme auspiciousness and free whatever residual attachments might be there which might have held the soul back. Otherwise also for anyone who dies in such holy places, it’s auspicious because the holy place has its own potent vibrations because of the presence of the Lord or His great devotees and the performance of spiritual practices over there since time immemorial.
But it is for us to tune ourselves to those vibrations by selecting the right desires. If we select wrong desires, if somebody has lived materialistically then even for such a person to die in a holy place is auspicious. But if that person doesn’t have the desire to become liberated again not just from material sufferings but from material desires then that person will not get the full benefit of the mercy that is available.
So certainly the person has to have authentic desire for liberation and generally such a desire can be cultivated and sustained only by the practice of consistent sadhana. So, for those who have done such sadhana and cultivated the desire for liberation then the name of Lord Ram uttered by Lord Shiva will grant liberation. For others also it will be a benediction but the extent of the benediction and extent of how much they will benefit from the benediction will depend on their own desires and the way they have lived their life which will have shaped their desires.