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वासà¥à¤¦à¥‡à¤µà¤ƒ सरà¥à¤µà¤®à¤¿à¤¤à¤¿ स महातà¥à¤®à¤¾ सà¥à¤¦à¥à¤°à¥à¤²à¤­à¤ƒ ॥१९॥

bahÅ«nÄá¹ janmanÄm ante
jñÄnavÄn mÄá¹ prapadyate
vÄsudevaḥ sarvam iti
sa mahÄtmÄ su-durlabhaḥ

650 times this text was mentioned in purports to other texts: CC(5) , Iso(2) , LBG(146) , LCC(28) , LISO(2) , LSB(222) , NBS(2) , NoI(1) , SB(35) , TLC(5) , TLKS(200) , TQK(2)

 bahÅ«nÄm - many; janmanÄm - repeated births and deaths; ante - after; jñÄna-vÄn - one who is in full knowledge; mÄm - unto Me; prapadyate - surrenders; vÄsudevaḥ - the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa; sarvam - everything; iti - thus; saḥ - that; mahÄ-ÄtmÄ - great soul; su-durlabhaḥ - very rare to see.


Text

After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.

Purport

The living entity, while executing devotional service or transcendental rituals after many, many births, may actually become situated in transcendental pure knowledge that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the ultimate goal of spiritual realization. In the beginning of spiritual realization, while one is trying to give up one’s attachment to materialism, there is some leaning towards impersonalism, but when one is further advanced he can understand that there are activities in the spiritual life and that these activities constitute devotional service. Realizing this, he becomes attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and surrenders to Him. At such a time one can understand that Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa’s mercy is everything, that He is the cause of all causes, and that this material manifestation is not independent from Him. He realizes the material world to be a perverted reflection of spiritual variegatedness and realizes that in everything there is a relationship with the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa. Thus he thinks of everything in relation to VÄsudeva, or ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa. Such a universal vision of VÄsudeva precipitates one’s full surrender to the Supreme Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa as the highest goal. Such surrendered great souls are very rare.

This verse is very nicely explained in the Third Chapter (verses 14 and 15) of the ÅšvetÄÅ›vatara Upaniá¹£ad:

sahasra-śīrá¹£Ä puruá¹£aḥ
sahasrÄká¹£aḥ sahasra-pÄt
sa bhÅ«miá¹ viÅ›vato vá¹›tvÄ-
tyÄtiṣṭhad daÅ›Äá¹…gulam
puruá¹£a evedaá¹ sarvaá¹
yad bhūtaṠyac ca bhavyam
utÄmá¹›tatvasyeÅ›Äno
yad annenÄtirohati

“Lord Viṣṇu has thousands of heads, thousands of eyes and thousands of feet. Entirely encompassing the whole universe, He still extends beyond it by ten ï¬ngers’ breadth. He is in fact this entire universe. He is all that was and all that will be. He is the Lord of immortality and of all that is nourished by food.†In the ChÄndogya Upaniá¹£ad (5.1.15) it is said, na vai vÄco na cakṣūá¹á¹£i na Å›rotrÄṇi na manÄá¹sÄ«ty Äcaká¹£ate prÄṇa iti evÄcaká¹£ate prÄṇo hy evaitÄni sarvÄṇi bhavanti: “In the body of a living being neither the power to speak, nor the power to see, nor the power to hear, nor the power to think is the prime factor; it is life which is the center of all activities.†Similarly Lord VÄsudeva, or the Personality of Godhead, Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa, is the prime entity in everything. In this body there are powers of speaking, of seeing, of hearing, of mental activities, etc. But these are not important if not related to the Supreme Lord. And because VÄsudeva is all-pervading and everything is VÄsudeva, the devotee surrenders in full knowledge (cf. Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ 7.17 and 11.40).