Please see the post Cuti-Patisandhi – An Abhidhamma Description, #3:
“…In the last citta vithi, a previous kamma vipaka provides an arammana (thought object) associated with that kamma vipaka through one of the five sense doors: it is normally a visual or a sound associated with the new existence (bhava). Even though the person’s physical faculties may be very weak, the person will see or hear very clearly whatever the nimitta presented by the kamma vipaka. Then at the vottapana citta, the mind makes a decision to act on that arammana based on the person’s gathi. The person has no control of it. It is called, “kammaja pure jatha; cittaja pacce jatha”, i.e., kamma vipaka comes first, and then accordingly the javana citta flow grasping that new bhava…”
Here it seems as if the vipaka for the new bhava comes to the mind only in the last citta vithi. But we all have heard about people who saw the new distination already days before the death. How does this go together with the arammana in the very last citta vithi? Will the new bhava be confirmed only in the last moments of the old life?