To be born again is rebirth. Not to be born again is no birth. It is only when there is a residuary life force in him that one gets rebirth. (SSB 1974, p. 57)

When a person passes away with the effulgent sun of wisdom in his clear heart, he can certainly escape rebirth. He takes the path, of Agni, the Archiradi path and merges in Brahman. Those who pass away in the other half of the year, the Dakshinayana, have the opposite destiny; then the heart is beset with smoke and fog and cloud. Since the Uttarayana Marga is lit by the holy splendour of Jnana, it is praised as the Sukla Marga or the White Path. The Dakshinayana Marga is dark, filled with Tamas and Ajnana; so it is called the Dark or the Krishna Marga. Uttarayana is not so much a period of time; it is a state of mind. (GV, p. 166)

Our Vedas and Shastras have given us the answers to questions such as how a man should live, how a man should conduct himself and how he should die. Birth is not the important thing for man. He should promote a good mind and good thoughts throughout his life and should have it at the time of death. To man, death is more important that birth. Your rebirth is determined by the type of death you get. If you want a good rebirth and a good life in the next birth, you must also desire a good death. We should not die an uncared for death like the death of a dog. We should not devote our life to fulfilling meaningless and sensory desires. Our sensory organs should become our slaves but we should not become slaves to our sensory organs. The day we become slaves to our sensory organs, we will become slaves to the whole world. If we become slaves to our own sensory organs, what kind of strength can we claim? We should be masters to our servant but should not become servants to our servants. (SSB 1976, p. 14)