Shloka
ओमित्येकाक्षरं ब्रह्म व्याहरन्मामनुस्मरन् |
यः प्रयाति त्यजन्देहं स याति परमां गतिम् ||८-१३||Transliteration
omityekākṣaraṃ brahma vyāharanmāmanusmaran .
yaḥ prayāti tyajandehaṃ sa yāti paramāṃ gatim ||8-13||Translations
Dr.S.Sankaranarayan
8.13. Reciting the single-syllabled Om, the very Brahman; meditating on Me; whosoever travels well, casting away [his] body-surely he attains My State.
Shri Purohit Swami
8.13 Repeating Om, the Symbol of Eternity, holding Me always in remembrance, he who thus leaves his body and goes forth reaches the Spirit Supreme.
Sri Abhinav Gupta
8.13 See Comment under 8.14
Sri Ramanuja
8.12 - 8.13 Subduing all the senses like ear etc., which constitute the ‘doorways’ for sense impressions, i.e., withdrawing them from their natural functions; holding the mind in Me, the imperishable ‘seated within the lotus of the heart’; practising ‘steady abstraction of mind (Dharana) which is called concentration or Yoga,’ i.e., abiding in Me alone in a steady manner; uttering the sacred ‘syllable Om,’ the brahman which connotes Me; remembering Me, who am expressed by the syllable Om; and fixing his ’life-breath within the head’ - whosoever abandons the body and departs in this way reaches the highest state. He reaches the pure self freed from Prakrti, which is akin to My form. From that state there is no return. Such is the meaning. Later on Sri Krsna will elucidate: ‘They describe that as the highest goal of the Atman, which is not destroyed when all things are destroyed, which is unmanifest and imperishable’ (8.2021).
Thus, the modes of contemplation on the Lord by the aspirants after prosperity and Kaivalya (Atmann-consciousness) have been taught according to the goal they lead to. Now, Sri Krsna teaches the way of meditation on the Lord by the Jnanin and the mode of attainment by him.
Sri Shankaracharya
8.13 Yah, he who; prayati, departs, dies; tyajan, by leaving; deham, the body-the phrase ’leaving the body’ is meant for alifying departure; thery it is implied that the soul’s departure occurs by abandoning the body, and not through the destruction of its own reality, having abandoned thus-; vyaharan, while uttering; the eka-adsaram, single syllable; om iti brahma, viz Om, which is Brahman, Om which is the name of Brahman; and anusmaran, thinking; mam, of Me, of God who is implied by that (syllable); sah, he; yati, attains; the paramam, supreme, best; gatim, Goal. Further,
Swami Adidevananda
8.13 He who departs by leaving the body while uttering the single syllable, viz Om, which is Brahman, and thinking of Me, he attains the supreme Goal.
8.13 Uttering the one-syllabled Om the Brahman and remembering Me, he who departs, leaving the body, attains to the Supreme Goal.
8.13 Yah, he who; prayati, departs, dies; tyajan, by leaving; deham, the body-the phrase ’leaving the body’ is meant for alifying departure; thery it is implied that the soul’s departure occurs by abandoning the body, and not through the destruction of its own reality, having abandoned thus-; vyaharan, while uttering; the eka-adsaram, single syllable; om iti brahma, viz Om, which is Brahman, Om which is the name of Brahman; and anusmaran, thinking; mam, of Me, of God who is implied by that (syllable); sah, he; yati, attains; the paramam, supreme, best; gatim, Goal. Further,
Swami Gambirananda
8.13 He who departs by leaving the body while uttering the single syllable, viz Om, which is Brahman, and thinking of Me, he attains the supreme Goal.
Swami Sivananda
8.13 Uttering the one-syllabled Om the Brahman and remembering Me, he who departs, leaving the body, attains to the Supreme Goal.
Commentaries
Swami Sivananda
8.13 Om? इति thus? एकाक्षरम् onesyllabled? ब्रह्म Brahman? व्याहरन् uttering? माम् Me? अनुस्मरन् remembering? यः who? प्रयाति departs? त्यजन् leaving? देहम् the body? सः he? याति attains? परमाम् supreme? गतिम् goal.Commentary Having controlled the thoughts the Yogi ascends by the Sushumna? the Nadi (subtle psychic nervechannel) which passes upwards from the heart. He fixes his whole Prana or lifreath in the crown of the head in the Brahmarandhra or the hole of Brahman. He utters the sacred monosyllable Om? meditates on Me and leaves the body.