Question: Is it always best for doctors to keep people alive as long as possible, or does it depend on the individual case?

Sri Chinmoy: If a person is spiritual, the doctors and relatives should always try to keep him on earth as long as possible, because spiritual people are always fighting against death. But it may happen that somebody who is absolutely useless is going to die in two hours. Even if you keep him on earth for twenty-four hours more, he is not going to utter God’s name even once. But if somebody has the capacity to utter God’s name soulfully just once more during his life, then he will achieve something in the soul’s world. That achievement will be added to the other achievements of this life and in his next incarnation his life will be a little bit better.

In India some people live for over two hundred years, but they do not have time to pray to God even once in six months or a year. From a spiritual point of view, these people are like a solid piece of stone. For them each additional year is just another waste of time. But if one can stay on earth even one hour more and invoke the presence of the Supreme during that hour, then naturally it is better for that person to stay on earth. Even unconsciously if someone is thinking of God, then it is better for him to stay as long as possible on earth. That is why doctors should not give drugs that will make the patient unconscious, or put animals to sleep. It is very, very bad.