8.7 Remember, and fight Krishna speaks
तस्मात्सर्वेषु कालेषु मामनुस्मर युध्य च
मय्यर्पितमनोबुद्धिर्मामेवैष्यस्यसंशयम्
tasmāt sarveṣhu kāleṣhu mām anusmara yudhya cha
mayyarpita-mano-buddhir mām evaiṣhyasyasanśhayam
So remember me at all times, and fight. With mind and understanding surrendered to me, you will surely come to me.
Explanation
Remember at all times, and fight — one instruction, not two.
Krishna answers the deathbed question by moving it. If what you hold at the end is what you have been holding all along, then the practice has to be continuous, and it has to happen inside whatever you are already doing.
So the instruction is not to leave the battlefield in order to prepare for death. Arjuna asked about the last hour and was handed every hour.
Going further
Word by word
- tasmāt
- therefore
- sarveṣhu
- in all
- kāleṣhu
- times
- mām
- me
- anusmara
- remember
- yudhya
- fight
- cha
- and
- mayi
- to me
- arpita
- surrender
- manaḥ
- mind
- buddhiḥ
- intellect
- mām
- to me
- eva
- surely
- eṣhyasi
- you shall attain
- asanśhayaḥ
- without a doubt
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Mām anusmara yudhya cha — remember me, and fight.
Three words that refuse the split the entire book has been circling. Not remember instead of fighting, not fight and remember afterwards. The two imperatives sit in the same line with nothing between them.