यं यं वापि स्मरन्भावं त्यजत्यन्ते कलेवरम् ।
तं तमैवेति कौन्तेय सदा तद्भावभावितः ।। ८.६ ।।

yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran-bhāvaṁ tyajaty-ante kalevaram |
taṁ tam-evaiti kaunteya sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ || 8.6 ||

Does Krishna mean some rare extra merit, by which he can draw Arjuna to himself? That would be disproving Krishna’s humanhood, and awarding him a status above and beyond human life. Where is then the universal and ever-relevant character of the instruction?

Herein lies the art of blending personal references with general propositions, as for instance what the next verse conveys:

Whatever one thinks of or contemplates upon with fondness, while shedding the body, that itself he attains, governed by the law of wholesome identity.

Attainment of anything whatever is truly an outcome generated by the mind. The whole fruition is a mental process. The status and role of the body is but of an instrument, as is a tool in the hands of a worker. As the body has its impetus in the mind, its effects too are registered in the same mind. Body by itself carries no causality at any time.

At the time of shedding the body, whatever the mind clings to, haunted by various hopes, will determine one’s plight. Krishna reveals the law and process governing this ultimate outcome. But this does not mean that anyone is free to do what he wishes, leaving the final thought to be picked up near the hour of departure from the world.