12.8

Sanskrit

मय्येव मन आधत्स्व मयि बुद्धिं निवेशय । निवसिष्यसि मय्येव अत ऊर्ध्वं न संशयः ॥

mayy eva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṃ niveśaya nivasiṣyasi mayy eva ata ūrdhvaṃ na saṃśayaḥ

Translation

Place thy mind in me, into Me let thy Reason enter; then without doubt thou shalt abide in Me hereafter.

Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain

Explanation

The most direct imperative in the chapter — a bare command with no qualification. Krishna states it plainly and then, rather than assuming it’s achievable, immediately builds in a fallback in verse 9. That pairing of “here is the instruction” followed at once by “and if you can’t” is the chapter’s most distinctive rhetorical move.