Bhagavad Gita Verse 34, Chapter 9

manmanaa bhava madbhakto madyaajee maama namaskuru |
maamevaishyasi yuktvaivamaatmaanam matparaayanaha || 34 ||
 
Keep your mind in me, become my devotee, perform actions for me, surrender to me. In this manner, engage yourself in me. By making me your goal, you will attain only me.
 
manmanaahaa : keep your mind in me
bhava : do
madbhaktaha : become my devotee
madyaajee : perform actions for me
maam : me
namaskuru : surrender to
maama : me
eva : only
eshyasi : attain
yuktvaa : engaged in
evam : in this manner
aatmaanam : yourself
matparaayanaha : make me your goal
 
Shri Krishna concludes the ninth chapter with a “take home message”. He gives us specific, tangible and practical instructions to bring the teachings of this chapter into our life. Having declared that this world is impermanent and devoid of joy, he wants us to follow a new way of life that orients us towards Ishvara and away from the world.
 
Let’s look at the most important instruction first. Shri Krishna wants us to make Ishvara as our sole goal in life. How does this work in practice? If for instance, we are ready to go to college, it should be in line with our svadharma so that we get skilled in performing our work. If we want to get married, it should be with the intention of serving our family and our parents. Any time we serve someone else, we are serving Ishvara.
 
Now once this goal is set, everything else falls into place. Shri Krishna wants us to keep on contemplating Ishvara and perform all our actions for Ishvara. The more we do this, the more will our ego get subdued, and this is how we will convert ourselves into a true devotee. We may encounter people and situations that are unpleasant, disagreeable and not to our liking. Even in the midst of this we should bow down and surrender to Ishvara, knowing that it is our past actions that are manifesting as unpleasant but temporary situations.
 
What is the end result? If we are ever engaged with Ishvara throughout our lives, if we make Ishvara our goal and refuge, we will certainly attain him. This attainment is explained in the sixth chapter as “Yo maam pashyati sarvatra sarvam cha mayi pashyati”. We will not view the world as different from us. We will see Ishvara in all, and all in Ishavara.
 
om tatsatiti shreematbhagavatgitasupanishadsu brahmavidyaayaam yogashaastre shreekrishnaarjunsamvade raajavidyaaraajaguhyayogo naama navamodhyaayaha || 9 ||

Bhagavad Gita Verse 7, Chapter 8

tasmaatsarveshu kaaleshu maamanusmara yudhya cha |
mayyarpitamanobuddhirmaamevaishyasyasamshayam || 7 ||
 
Therefore, remember me at all times and fight. One who offers his mind and intellect to me attains me only, without a doubt.
 
tasmaat : therefore
sarveshu : all
kaaleshu : times
maam : me
anusmara : remember
yudhya : fight
cha : and
mayi : to me
arpita : offer
manaha : mind
buddhihi : intellect
maam : me
eva : only
eshyasi : attains
asamshayam : without a doubt
 
Shri Krishna gives the ultimate teaching to all of mankind in this shloka. Since the thought at the time of death determines our fate after death, and the thought of death is an outcome of our lifelong thinking, Shri Krishna instructs us to remember Ishvara at all times and perform our duties.
 
Let us examine this instruction further. We are not asked to give up our duties, retire to a forest and constantly think of Ishvara there. Shri Krishna wants us to first remember Ishvara, and then perform duty consistent with our svadharma. The result of leading such a life is that we will attain Ishvara certainly. There is no doubt in this matter.
 
With this instruction, meditation takes on a whole new dimension. Typically, we confine meditation to something that we do for fifteen to thirty minutes, sitting in a solitary place as instructed in the sixth chapter. We now realize that those instructions were meant to prepare us for the kind of meditation that Shri Krishna wants us to pursue: 24/7 meditation of Ishvara.
 
How can this be possible? Our mind can only think of one thought at a time. So the way to meditate continuously is to somehow understand that everything we see, do and know is Ishvara.
 
Now we understand why Shri Krishna defined the terms brahma, karma, adhibhuta, adhideva, adhyaatma, adhiyagnya at the beginning of the chapter, because all those are nothing but Ishvara. If, while performing any action, we know that the actor, the action, the instrument, the process and the result - everything is Ishvara - we will never forget Ishvara.
 
Even if this kind of thinking is not possible for us in the beginning, we can emulate the mind of a mother who, regardless of what she is doing, always thinks about her child in the background. By practising meditation on our favourite deity we develop an attachment to it, so that we can recall it every time we feel distant from Ishvara.
 
So therefore, by practicing meditation constantly on Ishvara, we should strive to change our thinking such that our final thought will be nothing but Ishvara. This constant meditation upon Ishvara is called upaasanaa.