The carama ślōkam — 'the ultimate verse' or 'the final instruction' — is Bhagavad Gītā 18.66, regarded in Śrī Vaiṣṇava theology as the third of the rahasyatrayam alongside the Tirumantra and the Dvaya Mantra. The verse reads: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vraja
ahaṃ tvā sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ — 'Abandoning all dharmas, take refuge in Me alone; I shall liberate you from all sins — do not grieve.'
The adjective carama ('final', 'ultimate') is multivalent. It marks the verse's position near the conclusion of the Gītā, but more significantly it designates the ultimate upāya — the final recourse that supersedes all other means. Having taught karma yoga, jñāna yoga, and bhakti yoga across seventeen chapters, Kṛṣṇa here addresses the devotee who cannot sustain any of these arduous disciplines and offers a direct, unconditional refuge. The carama ślōkam is thus Bhagavān's own declaration that He Himself is the upāya — the means is not any human practice but Bhagavān's own will to save.
The phrase sarva-dharmān parityajya ('abandoning all dharmas') has generated extensive and sometimes controversial commentary. Rāmānujācārya, in the Gītā Bhāṣya, interprets 'dharmas' here primarily as the various upāyas — the yogic and ritual means of liberation — rather than as one's social and ethical duties. The abandonment is not moral nihilism; it is the recognition that all means of the devotee's own devising are ultimately insufficient, and that Bhagavān Himself must take over. 'Mām ekaṃ' ('Me alone') insists on exclusivity and completeness: the surrender must be undivided, without the jīva retaining any corner of self-reliance.
Bhagavān's promise — ahaṃ tvā sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi ('I shall liberate you from all sins') — is extraordinary in the context of Vedāntic soteriology. Bhagavān here takes upon Himself the full responsibility for the surrendered jīva's liberation, sweeping away all accumulated karma. The final word mā śucaḥ ('do not grieve') addresses the deepest fear of the aspirant: 'What if my unworthiness is too great?' Bhagavān answers: the act of surrender is the only qualification required.
As a rahasyam, the carama ślōkam is transmitted from Āchārya to śiṣya with its rahasyārtha — the esoteric inner meaning that tradition holds cannot be conveyed by bare textual study alone. The lineage of oral transmission is understood to extend unbroken from Kṛṣṇa Himself through the Āchārya succession. Thus the verse is simultaneously a philosophical statement on the nature of upāya, a devotional proclamation of Bhagavān's compassion, and a liturgical act of surrender each time it is recited.