Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 7, Verse 19

बहूनां जन्मनामन्ते ज्ञानवान्मां प्रपद्यते । वासुदेवः सर्वमिति स महात्मा सुदुर्लभः

bahūnāṃ janmanāmante jñānavānmāṃ prapadyate | vāsudevaḥ sarvamiti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ

Translation

At the end of many births, the man of wisdom comes to Me, (realising) that Vāsudeva is the all: he is the noble-souled (mahātman), very hard to find.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

bahūnām

(of) many

janmanām

of births

ante

in (at) the end

jñānavān

the knowledge-possessor

mām

to me

prapadyate

approaches

vāsudevaḥ

Vāsudeva

sarvam

all

iti

thus

saḥ

he

mahātmā

great, self, whose, he

sudurlabhaḥ

very-hardly-obtained

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

At the end of many births occupied in spiritual regeneration as preparatory to the attainment of wisdom, the man of mature wisdom resorts to Me, Vāsudeva, the innermost Self (pratyagātman). — How? — Realising that Vāsudeva is the All. He who thus comes to Me, Nārāyaṇa, the Self of All, is a mahātman, a man of high soul; there is no other either equal to him or superior to him. Therefore such a man is very hard to find; it has indeed been said that "among thousands of men, one perchance strives for perfection" (vii. 3).