“As the embodied soul continually passes in this body from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” (Bg.2.13)

“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.” (Bg.2.22)

As we can see, our body changes as we grow. It produces new cells, changes shape, we get taller, and then after middle age when we have stopped growing upward we often start growing outward. We first have a baby’s body, then a child’s, then a young person’s body, and later an old body. So the body may be healthy, fit and athletic while young, but sickly, wrinkled and slow while old. However, the person inside the old body may still have the same desires or ambitions of a youth, but no longer has a body that can do the things he wants to do. So we are witnesses of the changes that the body goes through. This means we are inside yet different from the body we inhabit. Similarly, as our body changes in this life, we change bodies at the time of death. Yet, if we realize our difference from the material vehicle, we can be free of bewilderment or distress when we are forced to give up the present form. This is compared to changing clothes. Naturally, if we are eternal, as previously established, our existence does not stop with the death of the body. It goes on. If we are aware of our spiritual identity at the time of death, then such a change will not bewilder us.

However, what we do in this life will determine what kind of body we will get in the next. The Earth planet is like a portal that allows us to enter into any of the other dimensions that exist. By our actions and thoughts, which are forms of meditation, we develop a particular type of consciousness. That consciousness at the time of death will take us to the form of existence that is most suitable for us. And one thing that has a strong impression on shaping our consciousness is the type of worship we do. That is why Lord Krishna explains the best thing we should do:

“Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me.” (Bg.9.25)