“He who meditates on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Partha [Arjuna], is sure to reach Me.” (Bg.8.8)

“For one who remembers Me without deviation, I am easy to obtain, O son of Pritha [Arjuna], because of his constant engagement in devotional service. After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection. From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode never takes birth again.” (Bg.8.14-16)

“Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state will be attained without fail.” (Bg.8.6) “And whoever, at the time of death, quits his body remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.” (Bg.8.5)

Lord Krishna says here that all of the planets in this material world are places of misery. This is not our real home nor where we are meant to be. It is all temporary wherein we undergo the continual drama of repeated birth and death. How many times is enough? So we should not be overly attached to anything in this creation when we leave this body.

So as we pursue this spiritual path and make progress, it becomes increasingly easier to think of God. And those that do will certainly find it easy to think of God at the time of their death. The only reason why people cannot think of the Supreme when they are leaving the body is because they do not practice during life. This is the purpose of the spiritual path, to give you that practice. Otherwise, people may occupy themselves with a million other things but leave out what is most important. Thus, at the time of death their consciousness dwells on those other things. In fact, in any yoga system or religion, this is the ultimate goal–to be able to think or meditate on God at the moment one leaves the body. This allows one to return to God and leave this material existence behind.

As stated in the above verses, whatever our state of consciousness is at the time of death, we take that with us into our next life. In fact, what we are thinking of when we leave this body directs us toward our next existence. So it is very important to attain the right level of consciousness by the time we die, and to easily be thinking of the right thoughts and objects at the moment of death. Those who think of Lord Krishna at that time certainly attain His nature and reach His spiritual abode. Once one has attained the spiritual planets, birth in the material worlds never takes place again.