Verse 65

In plain words

"And what is that?" — to which he says:

Keep your mind on Me. Let your whole awareness rest on Me. Be devoted to Me, live your worship toward Me. Offer everything you do to Me, make that your very nature. Bow to Me — and to Me alone. Live this way, with every goal and every means surrendered into Vāsudeva, and you will come to Me — truly, this is not a small promise. I vow it to you, because you are dear to Me. Understand this: the Lord's word is always true, and once you're certain that devotion to Him inevitably ripens into freedom, let your whole life turn toward Him and nothing else as your refuge.

Close to the Sanskrit

"What is that?" — thus (the question); (to this) he says —

'One whose mind is on Me,' be! 'One whose consciousness is on Me,' be! 'One devoted to Me,' be! 'One whose worship is of Me,' be! 'One who sacrifices to Me,' 'one whose settled character is sacrificing to Me,' be! Bow down to me; perform the act of homage, indeed, to me alone. One who thus conducts himself there, having offered up [every] goal, means, and purpose in Vāsudeva alone, will come, will arrive, to me alone. Truly, to you I promise — I make a true vow in this matter, this is the meaning; because you are dear to me. Thus, having understood the truthfulness of the Lord's vow, and having ascertained that the fruit of liberation inevitably arises from devotion to the Lord, one should become wholly devoted to the Lord alone as refuge — this is the meaning of the passage.

In plain words

“Fix your Manas on Me; be devoted to Me; worship Me with sacrifice; bow down to Me. You will come to Me alone; truly I promise you this; you are dear to Me.”

In plain words

Purport: Become one whose Manas is on Me, one who holds Me dear, one who worships Me. Become a renouncer for My sake. Bow down to Me. You will come to Me alone. This is My teaching to you, and My promise. You are dear to Me. Renounce all dharmas, and attain. In Me alone is refuge. Do not grieve; I shall set you free from all sins and from evils.

Ah! In essence, the sense of these two ślokas is “self-offering”. Is this not enough to be saved, to delight in the Lord, to attain Mukti? “Tanmana” means seeing Him in every kind of being, keeping Him always in remembrance, abiding in awareness, abiding in Ānanda. “Tadbhakta” means unfolding the oneness with Him that is built upon unbroken Bhakti and Prema. “Tadyāji” means offering every kind of work, great and small, to the Paramātma, that is, to “Kṛṣṇa”, as a renunciation; renouncing the ego and the fruit of karma for the sake of that Ānanda; and being immersed at all times in rightly ordered karmas. So he declared. Making a complete offering is indeed a difficult task for man. But if he tries even the slightest bit, the Lord Himself can show him, and bestow on him, all that is fitting for him and the certainty of victory. At his side He can become his guru, his protector, his friend. “Even a little of this Dharma protects from great fear”: “Even the smallest measure of this Dharma frees man from great fear.” Kṛṣṇa Paramātma also declared that practising Dharma is joyful and easy. “Mām evaiṣyasi” (you will come to Me alone) means: he will know Me, he will come into Me, he will attain My nature. In these words he explained the experiences of “sādṛśya”, the nature of the Lord; “sālokya”, dwelling with the Lord; and “sāyujya”, oneness with God. This holy Gītā has explained dwelling in God.