8.5 What the last hour carries Krishna speaks

अन्तकाले च मामेव स्मरन्मुक्त्वा कलेवरम्
यः प्रयाति स मद्भावं याति नास्त्यत्र संशयः

anta-kāle cha mām eva smaran muktvā kalevaram
yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ yāti nāstyatra sanśhayaḥ

And at the last hour, one who leaves the body remembering me alone goes to my own state. Of this there is no doubt.

Explanation

Dying while holding one thing is enough.

Arjuna asked a technical question about the moment of death, and the answer is as simple as it can be made: whatever you are remembering then is where you go. The emphatic ending — of this there is no doubt — is unusual, and it is doing work.

It sounds like a rule about a single hour. The next verse makes clear that it is not.

Word by word

anta-kāle: at the time of death
cha: and
mām: me
eva: alone
smaran: remembering
muktvā: relinquish
kalevaram: the body
yaḥ: who
prayāti: goes
saḥ: he
mat-bhāvam: Godlike nature
yāti: achieves
na: no
asti: there is
atra: here
sanśhayaḥ: doubt