When we can’t remember Krishna purely now, how will our remembering him at death take us to him?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
so it is said that if you think of Krishna at the time of death let in Krishna but right now I am chanting Krishna’s name but I am not really thinking of Krishna much so if right now my thinking of Krishna is not getting me absorbing Krishna how does my thinking of Krishna at the time of death take me to Krishna yeah it’s a very good question so I would say there are two different parts to it first is that thinking of Krishna at the time of death is not just a mechanical activity it is a conscious or intentional activity it is not just even uttering the name of Krishna it’s not like some some trick at the moment of death that will take us to Krishna otherwise somebody will say all that I have to do is to think of Krishna at the time of death so I will live materialistically throughout my life and once I feel I have enjoyed enough then I will put a gun on my head Hare Krishna and press the trigger that will not take me to Krishna why? because even if I somehow get my tongue to chant Hare Krishna my mind is not going to think of Krishna my mind will gravitate towards that which I am most attached to generally speaking whenever we are in pain so at that time especially if the pain is unbearable our consciousness gravitates towards that in which we have experienced great shelter even battle hardened soldiers if a bullet pierces them and they are wounded they may call out for their mother why? because in their mother’s lap in their mother’s bosom that is the time when they have experienced the greatest security in their life at that time when they are in great danger great pain instinctively their consciousness goes towards that which they have experienced the deepest shelter so for us to actually be able to think of Krishna at the time of death we need to have experienced the deepest shelter of our life in Krishna before the event of death if before the event of death our deepest shelter has been in our money in our degree in our position, in our contacts then even if we extremely chant the name of Krishna our consciousness will gravitate towards that which we are attached to that in which we have experienced shelter the most during the course of our life of course having spiritual stimuli around the person who is dying is helpful so if somebody is dying they may not have experienced the shelter of Krishna deepest before death in Krishna but still having the stimuli is favorable but that does not necessarily mean that they will naturally be thinking of Krishna in the sense of taking shelter of him at the time of death so if you see this series of verses 8.5 Krishna says antah kaale cha mam eva sarva-mukta-akal eva which is at the moment of death if you remember me you will come to me 8.6 this is a general principle is whatever you remember at the time of death you will get that and 8.7 is a practical application of that therefore think of me all the time throughout your life Krishna is not saying oh you have to remember me at the time of death just do that, no cultivate that remembrance throughout your life and the key is that by this mayi arpit mano buddhir by the consistent practice of remembering Krishna our mind and intelligence become offered to Krishna that means both our intellectually we are convinced that Krishna is the ultimate reality in life and emotionally the intelligence is the intellectual faculty the mind is the emotional faculty emotionally also we are attracted to Krishna Prabhupada writes in the introduction of Bhagavad Gita that the art of Krishna consciousness is to have our mind and intelligence absorbed in Krishna so by the practice of sadhana bhakti throughout our life our mind and intelligence have to be offered in Krishna and to that extent that has happened to that extent the remembrance of Krishna at the time of death will be natural will be coming right from the core of our being and that is how we will attain Krishna if the remembrance is coming not from the core of our being outward it is just being stimulated from outwards to inwards that is also beneficial but that is not as beneficial say you know in early morning we wake up we have not slept enough so we are waking up and chanting and our mind our tongue is chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna our mind is chanting so the holy name is coming from outside but inside something else is coming out so that is not as attentive chanting that is also good but when we are attracted to Krishna the holy name doesn’t just come from the lips to the heart it also comes from the heart to the lips so when we have taken shelter of Krishna then the remembrance comes inside out and that is the remembrance that will take us to Krishna and if we don’t have that remembrance then still we can keep practicing bhakti and that intense remembrance will gradually come by the practice of bhakti and Krishna can accelerate the process of purification of a devotee towards the moment of death by which the devotee gets that shelter before death gets that deepest shelter of Krishna before death and then at the moment of death naturally the devotee remembers ok