Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 Verse 19 भगवद् गीता अध्याय 7 श्लोक 19 बहूनां जन्मनामन्ते ज्ञानवान्मां प्रपद्यते। वासुदेवः सर्वमिति स महात्मा सुदुर्लभः।।7.19।। English Translation - Swami Gambirananda 7.19 At the end of many births the man of Knowledge attains Me, (realizing) that Vasudeva is all. Such a high-souled one is very rare. English Translation - Swami Sivananda 7.19 At the end of many births the wise man comes to Me, realising that all this is Vaasudeva (the innermost Self); such a great soul (Mahatma) is very hard to find. English Translation - Dr. S. Sankaranarayan 7.19. At the end of many births, one attains Me with the conviction that All is Vasudeva - that noble Soul is very difficult to get. English Commentary - Swami Sivananda 7.19 बहूनाम् of many? जन्मनाम् of births? अन्ते in the end? ज्ञानवान् the wise? माम् to Me? प्रपद्यते approaches? वासुदेवः Vaasudeva? सर्वम् all? इति thus? सः he? महात्मा the great soul? सुदुर्लभः (is) very hard to find.Commentary Vaasudeva is a name of Lord Krishna as He is the son of Vasudeva. He is the allpervading Brahman.The aspirant gradually evolves through Yogic practices? selfless service? devotion and constant meditation in many births and ultimately attains the inner Self. He realises that all is Vaasudeva. It is very difficult to find such a great soul? who has attained to perfection. No one is eal to him. That is the reason why the Lord has said? One in a thousand perchance strives for perfection even among those successful strivers? only one perchance knows Me in essence. (Cf.VII.3.) English Translation of Sanskrit Commentary By Sri Shankaracharya's 7.19 Ante, at the end, after the completion; bahunam, of many; janmanam, births, which becme the repository for accumulating [Ast. omits this word.-Tr.] the tendencies leading to Knowledge; jnanavan, the man of Knowledge, who has got hiis Knowledge matured; directly prapadyate, attains; mam, Me, Vasudeva, who am the inmost Self; (realizing)-in what way?-iti, that; Vasudeva is sarvam, all. Sah, such a one, who realizes Me [Here Ast. adds the word Narayana.-Tr.] thus as the Self of all; is mahatma, a high-souled one. There is none else who can eal or excel him. Therefore he is su-durlabhah, very rare among thousands of men, as it has been said (in verse 3). The reason why one does not realize that all this is verily Vasudeva, the Self, is being stated: English Translation of Commentary - Dr. S. Sankaranarayan 7.16-19 Caturvidhah etc., upto sudurlabhah. Those who worship Me are men of good action. They are of four types. All these are noble ones. For, other persons, mean-minded as they are, beg a cure of their affliction, and money etc., from persons who have hands, feet, stomach, body and intelligence (or bodily strength) that are eal to their (the beggers) own, or even from those who are very much inferior. But, by comparison with the man of wisdom, [the other three under estion] are of inferior intelligence. For, they entertain, at that sage too, a sense of duality. Becuase, a sense of duality I seek this from the Bhagavat is clearly discernible in them. On the other hand, the man of wisdom hangs on Me alone with a sense of identity [of him with Me]. Hence, I am verily indentical with him. It is I alone, and not [any other] gain, that is dear to him. That is why he is having a mind purified by the firm conviction All is nothing but Vasudeva. English Translation of Ramanuja's Sanskrit Commentary 7.19 Further after passing through innumerable auspicious births, one gets the knowledge: I find my sole joy as a Sesa of Vasudeva. I find my essence, existence and activities to be dependent on Him. He is superior over all others on account of His innumerable auspicious attributes. Conseent to this knowledge he resorts to Me, i.e., meditates on Me, realising, Vasudeva alone is my highest end and also the means for attaining it, and whatever other desire remains in the mind, He alone is all that too for me. Such a great-souled person, i.e., great-minded man is hard to find. It is very hard to find such persons in this world. This is the only meaning of the statement that Vasudeva is all, because of the topic having been begun with the statements: For I am very dear to the man of knowledge (7.17) and For he, integrated, is devoted to Me alone as the highest end (7.18). It is so, also because that Jnanin whose traits are given here, possesses the same alities as the man of knowledge described earlier. For, it has been said that the two Prakrtis, the animate and the inanimate, have their sole essence in being the Sesa (dependants) of the Supreme Person in the verses beginning with Earth, water (7.4) and ending with, Ego-sense, thus My Prakrti is divided eightfold. This is my lower (Prakrti). But know that which is other than this (lower nature) and forms the life-principle to be the higher Prakrti (7.4-5). Then take the beginning from I am the origin and dissolution of the whole universe. There is nothing higher than Myself, O Arjuna (7.6-7), and ending with, Know that all the states of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas are from Me alone. But I am not in them. They are in Me (7.12). It has been declared in these texts that the two Prakrtis, both in their states of cause and effect, depend upon Him for their essence, existence and activities and that the Supreme Person is superior to everything in all respects. Therefore the knower of this truth alone is here spoken of as a man of knowledge or as one knowing All this is Vasudeva. [The purpose of this explanation is to eliminate any pure monistic slant to this passage.] Sri Krsna now explains the rarity of finding such a person of knowledge. Commentary - Chakravarthi Ji “You say that this jnani attains the supreme goal. Being a devotee with a tinge of jnana, he attains you. But after how long does a jnani become qualified as a devotee?” He who possesses knowledge, seeing Vasudeva everywhere, after many births surrenders to me. Such a saintly person attains me through chance association with devotees. That jnani who is a devotee has a very steady mind (mahatma), and is very rare. As I have said, manusyanam sahasresu, out of thousands, one person may know me in truth. What to speak of the rarity then, of the kevala or ekanta bhakta? Such a person is very, very rare. Rudra Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary Such a self realised being completely devoted to the Supreme Lord Krishna is extremely rare and difficult to gain association with. This is what is being stated. The words bahunam janmanam ante is at the conclusion of many births. This means that after accumulation of merit gradually over innumerable births, the final birth indicating the last lifetime is naturally carried out with devotion to the Supreme Lord Krishna whose expansion is known as Vasudeva. When an evolved being realises that everything movable and mmovable in creation is under the control of the Supreme Lord at that time such an embodied being takes complete refuge in Him and worships Him as the ultimate consciousness existing within all beings and in all things. Such a self-realised being of unwavering devotion and unlimited vision is exceedingly rare to find. Brahma Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary After the experience of many, many lifetimes one becomes aware of Lord Krishnas supreme position. The Brahma Purana states: Becoming aware after taking many, many births one resorts to the Supreme Lord. It is not that everyone who first approaches the Supreme Lord Krishna is aware of His paramount position as the Supreme controller. It is subsequently after many, many lives of approaching Him that one becomes aware of this. Shri Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary It takes not just a few births of performing righteous activities for one to evolve to the level of consummate spiritual wisdom enough to realise that the atma or soul is an eternal portion of the Supreme Lord and irrevocably devoted to Him. It takes innumerable births of a meritorious kind in the thousands to achieve this platform and realise this and in the final birth during the last lifetime in the material existence the enlightened jnani knower of God spontaneously perceives that they are essentially a liege to the Supreme Lord Krishna, totally dependent upon Him, and the fact that all activities of the mind and body as well as all conceptions and perceptions are only of value if they have direct relevance to Him. This is the evolved wisdom of the illuminated jnani. Vasudeva means the Supreme Lord as the cause of all causes. Such a jnani always thinks Vasudeva is my way. Vasudeva is my goal. Vasudeva is my highest attainment. Whatsoever my heart longs for that is Vasudeva to me. Vasudeva is everything to to me. Such an elevated being totally devoted to the Supreme Lord Krishna in causeless love is very rarely found in creation. It should be evident that the two natures one being matter and the body and the other being spirit and the soul in their conditions of cause and effect are both completely dependent upon the Supreme Lord for their very existence, character, personality and impulses. Thus the one who is cognisant of this reality possesses spiritual wisdom and is the jnani. That such a being is exceedingly rare is further expounded upon in the next verse. Kumara Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary It takes not just a few births of performing righteous activities for one to evolve to the level of consummate spiritual wisdom enough to realise that the atma or soul is an eternal portion of the Supreme Lord and irrevocably devoted to Him. It takes innumerable births of a meritorious kind in the thousands to achieve this platform and realise this and in the final birth during the last lifetime in the material existence the enlightened jnani knower of God spontaneously perceives that they are essentially a liege to the Supreme Lord Krishna, totally dependent upon Him, and the fact that all activities of the mind and body as well as all conceptions and perceptions are only of value if they have direct relevance to Him. This is the evolved wisdom of the illuminated jnani. Vasudeva means the Supreme Lord as the cause of all causes. Such a jnani always thinks Vasudeva is my way. Vasudeva is my goal. Vasudeva is my highest attainment. Whatsoever my heart longs for that is Vasudeva to me. Vasudeva is everything to to me. Such an elevated being totally devoted to the Supreme Lord Krishna in causeless love is very rarely found in creation. It should be evident that the two natures one being matter and the body and the other being spirit and the soul in their conditions of cause and effect are both completely dependent upon the Supreme Lord for their very existence, character, personality and impulses. Thus the one who is cognisant of this reality possesses spiritual wisdom and is the jnani. That such a being is exceedingly rare is further expounded upon in the next verse. Transliteration Bhagavad Gita 7.19Bahoonaam janmanaamante jnaanavaanmaam prapadyate; Vaasudevah sarvamiti sa mahaatmaa sudurlabhah. Word Meanings Bhagavad Gita 7.19bahūnām—many; janmanām—births; ante—after; jñāna-vān—one who is endowed with knowledge; mām—unto me; prapadyate—surrenders; vāsudevaḥ—Shree Krishna, the son of Vasudev; sarvam—all; iti—that; saḥ—that; mahā-ātmā—great soul; su-durlabhaḥ—very rare