Whatever being, whatever particular deity, a man remembers, dwells upon, as he gives up the body at the end, at the last hour, the time of the parting of the breath: to that very being remembered, and to no other, he goes, O son of Kuntī, being one who has been steeped in that being, that is, one who, by constantly remembering it, has made that being habitual. Since it is so, since the last thought is the cause of attaining another body.

At the end, at the final hour, whatever state of being a man remembers as he gives up the body, to that very state of being he goes after death. And the final cognition arises with an object that was dwelt upon before. Since the final cognition arises only with an object practised in the earlier time.

Lest the dull-witted raise the doubt that, since 'a person remembering gives up the body' might mean the remembering and the giving-up belong to different times, there would be no conflict, the qualifier 'at the end' is added; for the clear-witted there is no room for doubt at all, since 'remembering, he gives up' conveys that the two are of one time. The dull-witted doubt is, 'because of the pain, one does not give up the body while remembering'; but the Skanda says, 'no one at all, in giving up the body, falls into delusion, beyond doubt'. And the scripture says, 'the tip of this heart of his lights up, and by that light this self goes forth' (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.2). With 'ever made firm in that being', Krishna states the means to remembrance at the final hour. 'Being' (bhava) is the inner mind, since it is so named; and 'made firm in it' means thoroughly perfumed by it, as the lexicon has it, 'bhavana is a thorough perfuming'.