Bhagavad-gītā 8.7
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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sarveṣu
—
at all
Locative plural — 'in all'. With kāleṣu (times), it forbids the compartmentalization that would assign remembrance only to formal practice. Kṛṣṇa is asking for an unbroken thread, not a scheduled session.
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anusmara
—
go on remembering
Imperative with prefix anu — to remember 'along after', continuously, in flowing succession. The verb form makes remembrance a stream, not a snapshot. This is the technical Sanskrit verb for the continuous spiritual recollection that the chapter is built around.
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yudhya
—
fight
Imperative — fight. Kṛṣṇa places the duty-command grammatically parallel to anusmara. The two imperatives are equally weighted: the verse refuses to subordinate either remembrance to action or action to remembrance.
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arpita
—
surrendering
Past participle from arp — to place, deposit, offer. The mind and intellect are 'placed in' Kṛṣṇa, not merely directed toward Him. The image is one of deposit: arpita treats one's faculties as goods entrusted to a banker.
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manaḥ
—
mind
The faculty of emotional and sensory thought. To surrender manas without buddhi is sentimentality; to surrender buddhi without manas is dry analysis. The verse explicitly names both.
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buddhiḥ
—
intellect
The discriminating faculty. Kṛṣṇa requires the intellect's assent — devotion is not anti-intellectual. Buddhi-yoga is a key technical phrase in the Gītā; this verse points toward it by yoking buddhi explicitly to surrender.
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asaṁśayaḥ
—
beyond a doubt
Same root as saṁśayaḥ in 8.5. Kṛṣṇa repeats the assurance: no double possibility. The Gītā uses this word sparingly; its appearance twice in a few verses signals that the chapter's central promise is being underlined.
This instruction to Arjuna is very important for all men engaged in material activities. The Lord does not say that one should give up his prescribed duties or engagements. One can continue them and at the same time think of Kṛṣṇa by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. This will free one from material contamination and engage the mind and intelligence in Kṛṣṇa. By chanting Kṛṣṇa’s names, one will be transferred to the supreme planet, Kṛṣṇaloka, without a doubt.
The mind creates the decision to think of Me. The intelligence creates the determination to remain fixed in thinking of Me.
Since previous thoughts are the cause of thoughts at death, you should remember Me at every moment and fight. To teach people, engage in your prescribed duties of fighting. Offering your mind and intelligence to Me, you will attain only Me and nothing else. Have no doubt about this.
Sometimes a question is raised among the devotees: "Is it necessary to remember Krsna while you are doing your duty or just doing your duty for Krsna is enough?" ‑ Here, Krsna responds clearly to this question (and also in 18.57). It is this practice mentioned in this verse that will allow one to remember Krsna at the time of death. The time of death it is the most difficult situation, much more than while doing one's duty.
“Always think of Me in the form of Krishna” and at the same time carry out your prescribed duties of
fighting
(a) Principle – Throughout life, Practice remembering Krishna by dedicating mental, intellectual and
physical activities to Lord’s service e.g.
(a) Text 8.6 establishes:
(b) How to make sure that one thinks of Krishna at death – Practice remembrance during one’s life;
not just at death
(c) Refutes – “Thinking anything will give the same result” (Preaching Application)
(d) Example: Bharat Maharaja becoming a deer
(c) How to practice remembrance – to be effective at the time of death (8.5 – 8.6)
LINK BETWEEN TEXTS 8.7 & 8.8:
To remember Krishna is so important, that Krishna repeats the same point in the next verse
8.7 तस्मात् therefore? सर्वेषु in all? कालेषु (in) times? माम् Me? अनुस्मर remember? युध्य fight? च and? मय्यर्पितमनोबुद्धिः with mind and intellect fixed (or absorbed) in Me? माम् to Me? एव alone? एष्यसि (thou) shalt come to? असंशयम् doubtless.Commentary The whole mental machinery should be dedicated to the Lord. You must work with the mind and intellect devoted to Him.Fight Perform your own Dharma? the duty of a Kshatriya. It will purify your heart and you will attain to knowledge and come to Me. The term fight is Upalakshana (suggestive). It means Do your duties according to your caste and order of life. VarnashramaDharmas (the duties pertaining to the various castes and orders of life) and NityaNaimittika Karmas are the Upalakshanas (factors suggested or alluded to).The ChittaVritti which is of the form of the object meditated upon is the Bhavana. (ChittaVrittis is mental modification). The Bhavana is for those who practise Saguna Upasana. Bhavana at the time of separtion of the body is not necessary for a sage or a Jnani who has attained to the knowledge of the Self or Selfrealisation. (Cf.IX.34XII.8?11)
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- Make remembrance constant, not intermittent.
- Continue discharging duty (fight) while remembering.
- Surrender both mind and intelligence — not just feelings.
- What in my mental life resists surrender?
- What in my intelligence resists surrender?
Kṛṣṇa hands Arjuna two ropes and says hold both — one rope is remembrance, the other is the bow. Drop neither. The seeker who only holds the rope of remembrance lets the duty fall; the warrior who only grips the bow forgets whose battle it is. Yoga is the strength to keep both ropes in the same fist.
When Kṛṣṇa departed from the world, Arjuna was overcome with grief and found that even his familiar Gāṇḍīva bow felt heavy in his hands. He had relied so long on Kṛṣṇa's external presence that the inner remembrance had grown thin.
The Bhāgavatam records his recovery — he turned to Vyāsa, recited the Gītā back to himself, and was restored. The pattern of 8.7 — anusmara and yudhya, remember and fight, together — was what he had to relearn when the proof of it stood no longer beside his chariot.
Crossing the ocean, burning Laṅkā, fighting Rāvaṇa's hosts — Hanumān's hands were always full of work, and his heart was always full of Rāma. Asked once what time of day he remembered Rāma, he is said to have replied that he could not remember a time when he was not remembering Him.
The two-handed yoga of 8.7 — fight, and remember; both, at all times — is what Hanumān demonstrates without strain. His example is why the verse can hold the two halves together at all; he proves it is not contradiction.
My note
Source: vedabase.io