12.8 Fix your mind here Krishna speaks

मय्येव मन आधत्स्व मयि बुद्धिं निवेशय
निवसिष्यसि मय्येव अत ऊर्ध्वं न संशयः

mayy eva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṁ niveśhaya
nivasiṣhyasi mayy eva ata ūrdhvaṁ na sanśhayaḥ

Fix your mind on me alone; settle your understanding in me. Then you will dwell in me from now on. Of this there is no doubt.

Explanation

The instruction, in its shortest form.

Fix the mind, settle the understanding, and you dwell in him from now on — not after death. Then the same emphatic ending 8.5 used: of this there is no doubt.

It is the high-water mark of the chapter's confidence, and Krishna places it immediately before admitting that most people cannot do it. The order matters: the concession that follows is not a retreat from this, it is provision for it.

Word by word

mayi: on me
eva: alone
manaḥ: mind
ādhatsva: fix
mayi: on me
buddhim: intellect
niveśhaya: surrender
nivasiṣhyasi: you shall always live
mayi: in me
eva: alone
ataḥ ūrdhvam: thereafter
na: not
sanśhayaḥ: doubt