नैते सृती पार्थ जानन्योगी मुह्यति कश्चन।तस्मात्सर्वेषु कालेषु योगयुक्तो भवार्जुन॥
naite sṛtī pārtha jānan yogī muhyati kaścanatasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu yoga-yukto bhavārjuna
Word by word
The verse says
Knowing these two paths, Arjuna, no practitioner is confused by them. So at all times, be joined.
In plain words
And there it is.
After five verses of cosmology, the instruction is not calculate carefully or time it well.
Sarveṣu kāleṣu — at all times. The same phrase he used in verse seven. The lore has been told, and then taken out of the reader's hands.
Where you've felt this · in sport
A goalkeeper facing a penalty cannot know which corner the ball is going to. The good ones stop trying to guess and work on their weight instead — balanced, on the toes, able to go either way. Guessing wins you the occasional spectacular save. Being ready wins you more of them.
Going deeper
Telling somebody the two paths and then telling them not to think about the paths is the most interesting move in this chapter.
If the timing of departure genuinely decided your outcome, the correct response would be anxiety, and a great deal of energy spent on calculation. Krishna's response is the opposite. Know it, he says, and be undisturbed by it. Then he repeats the only instruction that has appeared twice in this chapter: at all times, be joined.
The effect is to move everything back into the present, where something can actually be done.
That is worth taking personally if any of this has made you uneasy. The book has just handed you a piece of cosmology and then told you not to organise your life around it. What you are asked to organise your life around is the ordinary afternoon you are in.