Sanskrit
ओमित्येकाक्षरं ब्रह्म व्याहरन्मामनुस्मरन् । यः प्रयाति त्यजन्देहं स याति परमां गतिम् ॥
om ity ekākṣaraṃ brahma vyāharan mām anusmaran yaḥ prayāti tyajan dehaṃ sa yāti paramāṃ gatim
Translation
"Aum!" the one syllabled Eternal, reciting, thinking upon Me, he who goeth forth, abandoning the body, he goeth on the highest path.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The technique from verse 12 now names its object explicitly: Aum, the single-syllable representation of brahman, recited while thinking of Krishna. Two threads converge here — verse 3’s identification of brahman with akshara, the indestructible, and Aum as the sonic form of that same reality — with the promise that whoever dies this way “goes on the highest path,” language that anticipates the two-paths teaching starting at verse 23.