Sanskrit
साधिभूताधिदैवं मां साधियज्ञं च ये विदुः । प्रयाणकालेऽपि च मां ते विदुर्युक्तचेतसः ॥ ३० ॥
sādhibhūtādhidaivaṃ māṃ sādhiyajñaṃ ca ye viduḥ prayāṇakāle'pi ca māṃ te vidur yuktacetasaḥ
Translation
They who know Me as the knowledge of the elements, as that of the Shining Ones, and as that of the Sacrifice, they harmonised in mind, know Me verily even in the time of forthgoing.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The chapter closes on the same six-term list verse 29 began — Brahman, adhyatma, karma, adhibhuta, adhidaiva, adhiyajna — promising that those who know Krishna under all these aspects retain that knowledge “even in the time of forthgoing,” that is, at death. That specific promise is what triggers chapter 8: Arjuna’s opening question there is a direct, term-by-term follow-up to this exact verse, making the chapter break here more a pause than an ending. Prayāṇa-kāle ‘pi — “even at the hour of departure” — is the phrase that opens chapter 8. Retaining the six-fold knowledge at death is what BG 8.5–BG 8.13 will make the whole practical stake of the adhiyajña teaching.
Study deeper
Word by word
- sādhibhūtādhidaivaṃ māṃसाधिभूताधिदैवं मां
- Me, with the adhibhūta and adhidaiva (sa-adhibhūta-adhidaivam + mām)
- sādhiyajñaṃ ca ye viduḥसाधियज्ञं च ये विदुः
- and with the adhiyajña, those who know (sa-adhiyajñam + ca + ye + viduḥ)
- prayāṇakāle'pi ca māṃप्रयाणकालेऽपि च मां
- even at the hour of departure, Me (prayāṇa-kāle + api + ca + mām)
- te vidur yuktacetasaḥते विदुः युक्तचेतसः
- they know, their minds steadfast (te + viduḥ + yukta-cetasaḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Chapter 7 opened by asking Arjuna to take up yoga before any teaching would be given, and it closes by promising that knowledge held to at death depends on that same harmonized state, yukta-cetasaḥ. The chapter’s opening condition and its closing promise are the same discipline named twice, which makes the thirty verses in between less a self-contained lesson than the content that fills the space between a practice being asked for and its payoff finally being named.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Whatever practice you commit to now is the same practice that will still be paying off at the hardest, final moments — the discipline you build early and the composure you'll need later aren't two different things, they're one thread. Invest in the beginning knowing it's also the ending.
Professional
- The discipline your team builds early in a project — code hygiene, honest status reporting — is the same discipline that will hold up under the pressure of a late-stage crisis. Don't treat early rigor and late-stage resilience as separate investments; they're the same capability, tested at two different times.
Family & Social
- The steady attentiveness you bring to a relationship in its ordinary early days is the same capacity that will carry you through its hardest later moments — a health scare, a loss. What you build now and what you'll need then aren't two different things.
Ask yourself
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