Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 Verse 19
भगवद् गीता अध्याय 7 श्लोक 19

बहूनां जन्मनामन्ते ज्ञानवान्मां प्रपद्यते।
वासुदेवः सर्वमिति स महात्मा सुदुर्लभः।।7.19।।



हिंदी अनुवाद - स्वामी रामसुख दास जी ( भगवद् गीता 7.19)
।।7.19।।बहुत जन्मोंके अन्तमें अर्थात् मनुष्यजन्ममें सब कुछ परमात्मा ही है ऐसा जो ज्ञानवान् मेरे शरण होता है वह महात्मा अत्यन्त दुर्लभ है।


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.


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