🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 7.19

Chapter 7 · ज्ञानविज्ञानयोग · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · "The Yoga of Knowledge & Realization" · Verse 19 of 30

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बहूनां जन्मनामन्ते ज्ञानवान्मां प्रपद्यते।

वासुदेवः सर्वमिति स महात्मा सुदुर्लभः।।7.19।।
— Bhagavad-Gītā 7.19 · the yathārtha śloka (Devanāgarī Sanskrit · canonical)

🪷 English Translations

Five authentic English voices · each from a distinct sampradāya · together revealing the verse's full śabda-tattva.

Shri Purohit Swami · Poetic English · 1935 · public domain · Cosmo Press tradition
7.19 After many lives, at last the wise man realises Me as I am. A man so enlightened that he sees God everywhere is very difficult to find.
Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society
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.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school
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:
Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school
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.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly
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 Commentaries · The Ācārya Voices

The classical commentary tradition rendered in English · each ācārya speaks from their own sampradāya · the seer chooses the depth of darśana.

Swami Sivananda · Verse-by-verse word-keys with Sanskrit anchors
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.)
Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)
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:
Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava 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.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship
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'.
Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching
।।7.19।। सर्वोच्च ज्ञान को प्राप्त हुए श्रेष्ठ महात्मा पुरुष जगत् में विरले ही होते हैं यह भगवान् श्रीकृष्ण का कथन है। हिन्दू धर्म के पतन काल में इस प्रकार के कथन को अत्यन्त निराशावादी माना जाने लगा। परन्तु थोड़े विचार से ही इस प्रकार के निष्कर्ष का दोष स्पष्ट हो जायेगा। सृष्टि में समस्त चेतन जीवों की तुलना में मानव की संख्या अत्यन्त कम अनुपात में है। मनुष्यजाति में भी सभी परिपक्व बुद्धि एवं उच्च भावनाओं से सम्पन्न नहीं होते हैं।अन्तकरण के श्रेष्ठ गुणों से सम्पन्न होने पर भी बहुत कम लोग हैं जो गम्भीरतापूर्वक शास्त्राध्ययन करते हैं और शास्त्रों से प्राप्त ज्ञान को अपने जीवन में जीने वालों की संख्या तो नगण्य ही होती है। अनेक लोगों को केवल बौद्धिक ज्ञान से ही सन्तोष हो जाता है। इस विवेचन से यह स्पष्ट हो जाता है कि विकास के चरम लक्ष्य आत्मानुभूति तक पहुँचने वाले ज्ञानी पुरुष विरले ही होंगे।डार्विन के समान प्राचीन काल में ऋषियों ने सभी प्राणियों का निरीक्षण करके यह पाया कि प्राणी का अपने निम्न स्तर से उच्च स्तर तक का विकास होने के लिए दीर्घकालावधि की अपेक्षा होती है जिसमें विभिन्न परिस्थितियों एवं जन्मों से गुजरते हुए वह विकास के श्रेष्ठतर रूप को प्राप्त करता है। यह कालावधि करोड़ों वर्ष की हो सकती है। इससे हम कल्पना कर सकते हैं कि अहंकार को हटाकर अत्यन्त सूक्ष्म बुद्धि के द्वारा प्राप्त हो सकने वाले विकास के सर्वोच्च लक्ष्य सम्पूर्ण आत्मज्ञान की प्राप्ति के लिए कितने जन्मों की तपस्या होनी चाहिए। इसका अर्थ यह कदापि नहीं है कि हम इसी वर्तमान जन्म में ही जीवन के इस सर्वोच्च लक्ष्य ज्ञान को प्राप्त नहीं कर सकते। गीता का कथन निराशाजनक नहीं वरन् उत्साहवर्धक है। यहाँ बताये गये असंख्य जन्म ज्ञान प्राप्ति के पूर्व के हैं पश्चात् के नहीं। यदि मनुष्य अपने जीवन की अनेक उपलब्धियों से भी असन्तुष्ट होकर जीवन का वास्तविक लक्ष्य जानने का प्रयत्न करता है तो यह स्वयं ही विकास की एक अवस्था है। तत्पश्चात् शास्त्रों के अध्ययन में उसकी प्रवृत्ति हो और तत्प्रतिपादित सिद्धांतों को ग्रहण करने की सार्मथ्य हो तो स्पष्ट है कि वह आत्मदेव के मन्दिर के द्वार तक पहुँच गया है। अत और अधिक लगन से प्रयत्न करने पर इसी जन्म में वह मानव जन्म के परम पुरुषार्थ आत्मसंस्थिति को प्राप्त हो सकता है। साधक को साधना में अग्रसर होने के लिए उत्साहित करना ही भगवान् के उक्त कथन का एक मात्र प्रयोजन है।यह सब आत्मा या वासुदेव ही है इस ज्ञान को प्राप्त न करने का कारण वे अगले श्लोक में बताते हैं

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