Bhagavad Gita · Akshara Brahma YogaChapter 8, Shloka 5 (8.5)
Original Sanskrit · श्रीभगवान्
अन्तकाले च मामेव स्मरन् मुक्त्वा कलेवरम्
यः प्रयाति स मद्भावं याति नास्त्यत्र संशयः
॥ 8.5 ॥
antakāle ca māmeva smaran muktvā kalevaram
yaḥ prayāti sa madbhāvaṃ yāti nāstyatra saṃśayaḥ
Translation
"And whoever, at the final hour, leaves the body remembering me alone, attains my state — of this there is no doubt."
Interpretation
Shankaracharya. Antakāle ca maraṇa-kāle ca mām eva parameśvaraṃ viṣṇuṃ smaran … saḥ mad-bhāvaṃ vaiṣṇavaṃ tattvaṃ yāti — whoever departs at the time of death remembering me, the Supreme Lord Vishnu, attains the reality of Vishnu; nāsti … saṃśayaḥ — yāti vā na vā iti — there is no doubt of the kind "does he attain it or not".
Acharya Ramanuja — "mad-bhāva" = a nature like mine. Mama yo bhāvaḥ svabhāvaḥ taṃ yāti, tadānīṃ yathā mām anusaṃdhatte tathāvidhākāro bhavati — he attains my nature; as he contemplates me at that moment, so is the form he takes. Example: yathā ādi-bharatādayaḥ tadānīṃ smaryamāṇa-mṛga-sajātīyākārāḥ saṃbhūtāḥ — just as (Jada) Bharata and others were born in the form of the deer they were remembering at that moment (a Puranic story). Smartuḥ sva-viṣaya-sajātīyākāratāpādanam antya-pratyayasya svabhāvaḥ — it is the nature of the final thought to make the one who remembers like the object remembered.
AI-assisted draft translation — under review.