Page:The Gospel of Râmakrishna.djvu/68

 because when he died, his mind was fixed on the thought of a deer. He who passes away thinking of God and meditating on Him, does not come back to this world.

A devotee: Bhagavan, will a man who thinks of God, but who does not meditate on Him at the time of death, be born again?

Sri Râmakrishna: An ordinary soul who has no faith in God may think of Him for a time, but easily forgets Him again and becomes attached to the world. If, however, he con- centrates his mind upon God at the last moment of his life, his heart and soul become purified and remain so even after death. People suffer

so much because they have no faith in God. In order to be able to think of God at the time of death we must prepare our mind by constant practice. The practice of meditation on God will create a tendency of mind to think of Him spontaneously even at the last moment. A devotee: Bhagavan, what condition of mind is necessary for a worldly person to attain to freedom? Ramakrishna: If by the Grace of the Lord strong dispassion for worldly things arises in his mind, then such a person becomes free from