Power of thought/belief

[an anarchist]

I'm reading the Gita and Krishna says that if you have your mind on him at the hour of death, you will go to him. Your state of mind upon the hour of death affects your destination. The Tibetan Book of the dead teaches a similar concept.
I also think Christianity teaches a similar concept. Depending on what you think about Jesus decides where you go.
Why is the power of thought and belief so powerful? Powerful enough to determine our afterlife.

 

[Ella S.]

When you believe that your thoughts impact or generate reality, that's a known cognitive bias called "magical thinking."

It's honestly just a form of causal fallacy.

 

[Trailblazer]

I'm reading the Gita and Krishna says that if you have your mind on him at the hour of death, you will go to him. Your state of mind upon the hour of death affects your destination. The Tibetan Book of the dead teaches a similar concept.
I also think Christianity teaches a similar concept. Depending on what you think about Jesus decides where you go.
Why is the power of thought and belief so powerful? Powerful enough to determine our afterlife.

Based upon what Baha'u'llah wrote below, I believe there is truth to the statement that our state of mind upon the hour of death affects our destination. I think that is the case because we have 'up until' the time of death to change our minds.

“He should forgive the sinful, and never despise his low estate, for none knoweth what his own end shall be. How often hath a sinner attained, at the hour of death, to the essence of faith, and, quaffing the immortal draught, hath taken his flight unto the Concourse on high! And how often hath a devout believer, at the hour of his soul’s ascension, been so changed as to fall into the nethermost fire!” Tablet of the True Seeker, p. 266

I do not believe we have free will after we die, so we cannot change our minds. Rather, I believe we will have to depend upon the mercy and bounty of God to be changed, and there is no guarantee since whatever God gives us will be at God's discretion. That is why it is so important to use our free will and choose to believe while we are still alive on earth.

40: O MY SERVANT! Free thyself from the fetters of this world, and loose thy soul from the prison of self. Seize thy chance, for it will come to thee no more. The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 36

 

[The Crimson Universe]

Rather, I believe we will have to depend upon the mercy and bounty of God to be changed, and there is no guarantee since whatever God gives us will be at God's discretion. That is why it is so important to use our free will and choose to believe while we are still alive on earth.

There's this story I read a long time ago, about a few hindu preists. They all had this same question: what will happen to them if (due to amnesia or other reasons) they fail to fix their mind on the Lord at the time of death. So one of them went inside the temple hoping to get an answer directly from the Lord.
And God replied to him that He will take care of them (the ones who lived a pious life) even if such men suffer from forgetfulness at the time of death.

I think what matters to God is, what we believe in and how we live our lives. :=)

 

[syo]

I'm reading the Gita and Krishna says that if you have your mind on him at the hour of death, you will go to him.

Yes. So? Don't you want to go?

 

[Trailblazer]

There's this story I read a long time ago, about a few hindu preists. They all had this same question: what will happen to them if (due to amnesia or other reasons) they fail to fix their mind on the Lord at the time of death. So one of them went inside the temple hoping to get an answer directly from the Lord.
And God replied to him that He will take care of them (the ones who lived a pious life) even if such men suffer from forgetfulness at the time of death.

I think what matters to God is, what we believe in and how we live our lives. :=)

I do not think the mind has to be fixed on anything in particular at the time of death, because God knows our heart, regardless of what we are actually thinking at any point in time.
I believe that both faith in God and good deeds matter to God.

Baha’is do not believe that heaven is a geographical location, but a Baha’i once asked the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith (Shoghi Effendi) how to get to heaven, and here was his answer...

"To 'get to heaven' as you say is dependent on two things--faith in the Manifestation of God in His Day, in other words in this age in Bahá'u'lláh; and good deeds, in other words living to the best of our ability a noble life and doing unto others as we would be done by. But we must always remember that our existence and everything we have or ever will have is dependent upon the mercy of God and His bounty, and therefore He can accept into His heaven, which is really nearness to Him, even the lowliest if He pleases. We always have the hope of receiving His mercy if we reach out for it."

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, January 12, 1957)
Lights of Guidance (second part): A Bahá'í Reference File

 

[Ben Dhyan]

I'm reading the Gita and Krishna says that if you have your mind on him at the hour of death, you will go to him. Your state of mind upon the hour of death affects your destination. The Tibetan Book of the dead teaches a similar concept.
I also think Christianity teaches a similar concept. Depending on what you think about Jesus decides where you go.
Why is the power of thought and belief so powerful? Powerful enough to determine our afterlife.

Belief and thought have a place, but it is not enough, one must become. For example. let's say I believe in God and an afterlife, holding on to that belief and thinking about it alone is the starting state, I must now become that which is the goal of my belief. That can and does mean tremendous change, disorientation, transformation and transmutation of your present state to the be in immortal transcendent state. You must become that which you presently believe in by filling your life completely in some yogic, meditative, or other efficacious religious practice.

 

[an anarchist]

Yes. So? Don't you want to go?

I don't think I'd mind

 

[Truthseeker]

I'm reading the Gita and Krishna says that if you have your mind on him at the hour of death, you will go to him. Your state of mind upon the hour of death affects your destination. The Tibetan Book of the dead teaches a similar concept.
I also think Christianity teaches a similar concept. Depending on what you think about Jesus decides where you go.
Why is the power of thought and belief so powerful? Powerful enough to determine our afterlife.

This is irrelevant to this post, but I recognize that avatar because I am an old dodder from the sixties that watched Hogan's Heroes sometimes.

 

[Goldemar]

I'm reading the Gita and Krishna says that if you have your mind on him at the hour of death, you will go to him. Your state of mind upon the hour of death affects your destination. The Tibetan Book of the dead teaches a similar concept.
I also think Christianity teaches a similar concept. Depending on what you think about Jesus decides where you go.
Why is the power of thought and belief so powerful? Powerful enough to determine our afterlife.

I disagree. I believe that we need to free ourselves from attachment to the material world in order to be able to move on from it (to return to God). Learning to free ourselves from attachment to the material world takes time and is not something that can be achieved at the moment of death (without any prior learning). But I do believe that belief is an important starting point.

 

[Trailblazer]

I believe that we need to free ourselves from attachment to the material world in order to be able to move on from it (to return to God).

I fully agree.