Bhagavad Gita 8.13
Spoken by Krishna ☆ Key verse · Verse 13 of 28
ओमित्येकाक्षरं ब्रह्म व्याहरन्मामनुस्मरन् | यः प्रयाति त्यजन्देहं स याति परमां गतिम् ||१३||
om ity ekākṣaraṃ brahma vyāharan mām anusmaran | yaḥ prayāti tyajan dehaṃ sa yāti paramāṃ gatim || 13 ||
Uttering OM — the single syllable of Brahman — departing while meditating on Me, one reaches the highest goal.
Word by word (3)
- om iti ekākṣaraṃ brahma vyāharan / mām anusmaran
- — Uttering OM — the single syllable of Brahman — remembering Me · om = OM (the primordial syllable — considered the sound-form of Brahman in the Upaniṣadic tradition; from √av = to protect, to sound; or from √ut = to be + √ma = to measure; OM = A + U + M = the three states of consciousness — waking, dream, deep sleep — and the silence beyond). iti = thus (quotative particle — 'saying OM thus'). ekākṣaraṃ = the single syllable (eka = one; akṣara = syllable/imperishable — ekākṣara = the one syllable, the single imperishable sound; akṣara here does double duty: 'syllable' AND 'imperishable' — OM is BOTH the syllable-form AND the imperishable Brahman in sound). brahma = Brahman (in apposition with ekākṣaram — this single syllable IS Brahman). vyāharan = uttering, pronouncing (vi + ā + √hṛ = to speak out; vyāharan = present participle — 'while uttering'). mām = Me. anusmaran = remembering continuously (anu + √smṛ = to remember following/continuously — present participle, simultaneous with vyāharan and prayāti). The simultaneous acts: uttering OM + remembering Krishna — the outer sound and the inner orientation occur together.
- yaḥ prayāti tyajan dehaṃ / sa yāti paramāṃ gatim
- — Whoever departs, leaving the body — that one goes to the supreme destination · yaḥ = whoever (relative pronoun — universal scope, not limited to any category). prayāti = departs (pra + √yā = to go forth — prayāti = goes forth, departs at death). tyajan = leaving, abandoning (present participle from √tyaj = to leave — tyajan = while leaving). dehaṃ = the body. sa = that one (he, she). yāti = goes (√yā). paramāṃ = supreme (adjective — the highest, the ultimate). gatim = destination, goal, course (from √gam = to go — gati = the going, the direction, the destination reached by going). paramāṃ gatim = the supreme destination — not just 'a good place' but the highest possible attainment. This 'supreme destination' is different from the limited destinations of other worshippers (V23's devaloka, V25's rebirth) — it is the definitive final liberation. V13 is the completion of the V11-V13 arc: V11 announced the goal; V12 gave the body preparation; V13 gives the final act (OM + Krishna-remembrance) and confirms the supreme destination.
- OM as ekākṣaraṃ brahma — the syllable that IS the Imperishable
- — OM is not a symbolic sound 'representing' Brahman — it IS Brahman in sound-form; uttering it IS uttering Brahman · The identification of OM with Brahman (om iti ekākṣaraṃ brahma) is one of the Upaniṣads' most fundamental teachings. Chāndogya Upaniṣad 1.1.1: 'udgītha — this akṣara (OM) is all this.' Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 1: 'om ity etad akṣaram idaṃ sarvam — om, this syllable/imperishable, is all this.' The Gita's V8 of this chapter (brahmaṇi OM) and the current V13 both confirm this. The word 'ekākṣaraṃ brahma' is a compressed mahāvākya — the great saying that contains the whole teaching: Brahman = the Imperishable = the single syllable OM. When the dying yogi utters OM (vyāharan), they are not 'invoking' Brahman as if It were elsewhere — they are sounding the Self, giving voice to what they are. The simultaneous mām anusmaran (remembering Me — Krishna) integrates the jñāna (OM = Brahman = Self) with bhakti (remembering the Divine Person). V13 is the most compact possible statement of the complete path: OM (jñāna/akṣara) + mām anusmaran (bhakti) → paramāṃ gatim (liberation). Three elements, one verse, the whole teaching.
Uttering Om, the single syllable that is Brahman, remembering Me, whoever leaves the body and departs reaches the supreme goal.
A modern analogy
A musician's final performance expresses everything they have cultivated in a lifetime of music — not just technical skill but emotional depth, understanding, and love for the art. Uttering OM and remembering Me at death (mām anusmaran) is the 'final performance' of a spiritual life: not a technique being applied for the first time but the natural expression of what has been deeply cultivated. The sound of OM at death is the sound of what the practitioner has become.
What it does NOT mean
This OM at death is not a magical spell that guarantees liberation if muttered at death regardless of life's preparation. The vyāharan (uttering) and anusmaran (continuously remembering) here are expressions of a quality of consciousness — they work because the practice-yoga of fixing the mind on the Divine with an undivided mind, and the devotion of remembering Me at all times, have made them the natural expression of the dying person's being, not because of the sound itself.
Take with you
- Daily practice: chant OM at the start and end of meditation as both preparation for the death-moment AND as a daily affirmation that the Imperishable (ekākṣaraṃ brahma) is the ground of practice. This is not superstition but the cultivation of the OM-Brahman equation in consciousness.
- The two-element formula (OM + mām anusmaran) represents the complete integration of jñāna (knowledge of Brahman as OM) and bhakti (love-remembrance of Krishna). The Gita does not ask practitioners to choose between knowing Brahman as the impersonal Absolute and remembering Krishna as the personal Divine — this teaching holds both simultaneously in the dying moment.
- This verse's paramāṃ gatim (supreme destination) stands far above the lesser destinations described later in the chapter: Krishna will describe paths that lead to rebirth even in exalted realms — the yogi who attains the moon along the dark path of departure, for instance, eventually returns. The supreme destination here is beyond all these — it is final liberation, the cessation of the cycle of rebirth and death. This stakes the highest possible claim for the OM + mām anusmaran practice.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
(V8.13 missing from Swarupananda indexed text — covered by Arnold, Telang, Besant, Judge below) [4]
Uttering the single-syllabled Om, the Brahman, meditating on me, he who departeth, leaving the body, goeth to the highest goal. [5]
Meditating on me and repeating the sacred syllable Om — the one imperishable Brahman — who departs thus, leaving the body, will reach the highest path. [6]
And, murmuring OM, the sacred syllable -- Emblem of BRAHM -- dies, meditating Me. [7]
Repeating the single syllable 'Om,' (signifying) the eternal Brahman, and meditating on me, he reaches the highest goal. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Close all nine gates, hold mind in heart, fix prāṇa in the head — the body's yoga posture for final departure.
Who is Adhiyajña in this body, and how are You known at the time of death, O destroyer of Madhu?
OṀ Tat Sat: triple name of Brahman — by which brāhmaṇas, Vedas, and yajñas were ordained in the beginning.
Frequenting solitude, eating lightly, restraining speech-body-mind, always in dhyāna-yoga, fully in vairāgya —
Seeing inaction in action, action in inaction — that one is wise, a yogi, a complete doer of all actions.
Instrument, offering, fire, act, destination — all Brahman. One absorbed in Brahman-action reaches Brahman alone.
Verse 13 of 28 · back to Chapter 8