Yogi: If I don’t meditate this lifetime, does it mean I’ll be reborn in a lower realm in the next life?
Sayadaw: The formula for whether we go to the lower or upper realm is: the more unskillful qualities there are in the mind, the tendency is for the mind to go into the lower realms.
Our mind is a habit pattern. If you allow unskillful habit patterns to dominate the mind, then when we’re dying, the more likely the mind will be unskillful.
The formula for going to the upper realm is to cultivate the mind to be more skillful. When you die with a wholesome state of mind, it will lead the mind to the upper realms.
Practicing meditation, cultivating the wholesome qualities of the mind, you’re practicing the Dhamma, then it is more likely to lead you to a higher realm.
We don’t have to look to the next life because in this life, our level of being, how happy we’re in general, and how confident we feel, already tell us whether we’re cultivating more skillful states of mind or more unskillful states of mind.
When we’re unhappy, more unskillful states are actually taking place in our mind and when we’re generally feeling happy, more skillful states are taking place in our mind.
We don’t have to wait until we die to find out if we’re in a lower or higher realm. We go through it every day as well.