Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 7, Verse 18

उदाराः सर्व एवैते ज्ञानी त्वात्मैव मे मतम् । आस्थितः स हि युक्तात्मा मामेवानुत्तमां गतिम्

udārāḥ sarva evaite jñānī tvātmaiva me matam | āsthitaḥ sa hi yuktātmā māmevānuttamāṃ gatim

Translation

Noble indeed are all those; but the wise man, I deem, is the very Self; for, steadfast in mind, he resorts to Me alone as the unsurpassed goal.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

udārāḥ
noble
sarve
all
eva
even
ete
these
jñānī
the wise
tu
indeed
ātmā
self
eva
even
me
my
matam
opinion
āsthitaḥ
fixed
saḥ
he
hi
indeed
yuktātmā
balanced, self, whose, he
mām
me
eva
even
anuttamām
better, than which, that, not, is
gatim
path

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

These are all noble indeed; i.e., those three also are dear to Me. There is no devotee of Mine but is dear to Me, Vāsudeva. There is, however, this difference: the wise man is excessively dear to Me. — Why so? — It is My conviction that the wise man is the very Self, not different from Me. The wise man strives to reach Me, firm in the faith that he himself is the Lord Vāsudeva and is no other than He. He seeks Me only, the Supreme Brahman, as the highest goal to be reached.