Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya

In this 7th chapter now we are discussing about people who has surrendered to Sri Krishna those who has not surrendered to Krishna and those who surrender to someone other than Krishna.

BG 07.14 talks about how we should surrender to Krishna and then we will go beyond maya.

BG 07.15 talks about four categories of people who do not surrender to Krishna

BG 07.16 to 07.19 talks about categories of people who start worshiping Krishna and eventually they surrender to Krishna so from.  

So 7.16 talks about Bhajante and from Bhajante the progression moves onward and in BG 07.19 it comes to prapadyate surrender. So they become one pointed in devotional service to the Supreme Lord so let us discuss that now.

Bg 7.19

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante
jñānavān māṁ prapadyate
vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti
sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ

Word for word: 

bahūnām — many; janmanām — repeated births and deaths; ante — after; jñāna–vān — one who is in full knowledge; mām — unto Me; prapadyate — surrenders; vāsudevaḥ — the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa; sarvam— everything; iti — thus; saḥ — that; mahā–ātmā — great soul; su–durlabhaḥ — very rare to see.

Translation: 

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.

 

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante

After many life times 

Jñānavān

When the person becomes Jyanvan

māṁ prapadyate

they surrender to Me

What is there understanding in surrender to Me?

vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti

They understand that Lord Vasudev is everything; there is no reality higher than Vasudev.

sa mahatma

Such a great soul.

su-durlabhaḥ

they are extremely rare.

Here Sri Krishna is talking about progression from one level of reality to a higher level of reality.

So bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, after many-many life times, so what is He referring to? He is referring to the four categories of people who comes to Him in BG 07.16, so those are people who start doing Bajante. Now Bajante to prapadyate is a progression, which can take several life time, depending on the intensity of the practice, there may be many people who do Bhakti as a casual activity within the journey of their life, but beyond that Bhakti can be performed much more seriously, intensely and single pointed level, so that is the kind of Bhakti which Sri Krishna is talking over here. When He talks about prapadyate.

So bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, 

so after many life times one moves from Bhajate to prapadyate, 

jñānavān māṁ prapadyate

So now Sri Krishna has talked about four types of people ārtao, jijñāsuḥ, artha-arthī and Jñānī, all four people are su-kṛtina, all four people are having pious credits, what is this pious credit referring to? This actually refers to spiritual pious credits, in the sense that they have done some kind of Bhakti in some way, by not directly doing bhakti as knowing bhakti some agyaat sukriti (unknowingly done pious devotional activity) they have done which is conducive to Bhakti, that means say while doing gardening they have watered Tulsi, or while doing some service given some Prasad to people or rendered some Seva to Vaishnava, giving some charity in general they have given some charity to Sri Krishna’s cause also, 

so they are not doing consciously thinking it is devotional service they do it without its conscious understanding. But they somehow engage and connect with Krishna that is how Sukriti helps them and that Sukriti brings them to Krishna and they start serving Krishna they start Bhajante but after many life times then they understand something because of which they didn’t serve Krishna earlier and connected to Krishna occasionally, when they understand this they start serving Krishna constantly, so jñānavān māṁ prapadyate, so what is the conception that makes them understand prapadyate? vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti, that vāsudevaḥ is everything sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ, such great souls are extremely rare. 

durlabhaḥ is very rare and su-durlabhaḥ is extremely rare.

Now it is interesting Sri Krishna is saying that they understand that Vasudeva is everything that means they understand that there is no reality beyond Vasudeva, What Sri Krishna has told in 7.7 verse mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat ….

They understand this that there is no reality higher than Sri Krishna and because of it they surrender to Krishna when they surrender to Krishna thus what happens vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti, so when they surrender like this they become purified, they become elevated and gradually they become completely fixed in the worship of Krishna that is prapadyate. 

It is interesting that although they understand Vasudeva to be Servam, this is not pantheistic which means everything is God, so although they understand that Vasudeva is everything they do not surrender to everything they surrender to Vasudev. 

So vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti means God is everything but everything is not vāsudevaḥ, yes vāsudevaḥ has manifest everywhere, He is accessible everywhere, but it doesn’t mean that everything is Vasudev, Vasudev has His own Self existence and Self Glory in the spiritual world where He manifest His transcendental and eternal personality. So they don’t surrender to everything but they surrender to Vasudev. When Hiranyakashipu asked Prahllad where is Vishnu? He said with my Khadga I will kill you let us see if He will come and protects you. Where is He everywhere? Is He in this pillar? Prahllad said yes Vishnu is everywhere He is in this pillar also. And then Hiranyakashipu hit on that pillar and Lord Narashima appear from there. Now when Narashimha Dev emerges from the Pillar Prahllad Maharaj doesn’t offer obeisances to the Pillar, he offers obeisances, he offers prayers, he offers garland to Narashima Dev so yes the pillar can also be respected because it is the place from which Lord Narashimha Dev manifested but the pillar itself is not the ultimate object of worship because it is connected with Krishna so it also become sacred but it is not in itself worshipable everything connected to Krishna, especially if Sri Krishna has performed some pastimes in connection with that then that is sacred and that is worshipable although whatever is worshipable doesn’t mean that it is ultimate object of worship. Worshipable also means that because of its connection with the absolute truth it also becomes sacred.

So vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti, the person understands the jñānavān understands that vāsudeva is everything but still jñānavān doesn’t surrender to everything he surrenders to vāsudev. māṁ prapadyate, surrenders to Me. So Krishna is telling over here significant truth that from the point to approaching Him to surrender Him it may take many life times, Of course if one practices Bhakti seriously then tesam aham Samudharta Mritu Samsar Sagara Bhami na chirat partha Meya Vetsit Chetasam . So in 12.7 Krishna will tell that Aham Samudharta, I will lift such people out of material existence who are these people? These are the spiritualist who fix their mind on Him. And na chirat not after a long time. Bhakti can elevates us and take us rapidly out. Now here we discussed these people who are not directly practicing Bhakti they are definitely approaching Krishna and we can see that it is Bhakti but it is not Suddha Bhakti. So here when Krishna is saying bahūnāṁ janmanām ante He is referring to people who start approaching Him to the point of completely surrendering Him. That may take time that may take progression. And that progression is what is talked about here, in this verse so let us look at Srila Prabhupada’s Purport here:

Srila Prabhupada has quoted Purus Sukta verses from Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad

This verse is very nicely explained in the Third Chapter (verses 14 and 15) of the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad:

sahasra-śīrṣā puruṣaḥ
sahasrākṣaḥ sahasra-pāt
sa bhūmiṁ viśvato vṛtvā- 
tyātiṣṭhad daśāṅgulam

puruṣa evedaṁ sarvaṁ
yad bhūtaṁ yac ca bhavyam
utāmṛtatvasyeśāno
yad annenātirohati

“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 fingers’ 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 Chāndogya Upaniṣad(5.1.15) it is said, na vai vāco na cakṣūṁṣi na śrotrāṇi na manāṁsīty ācakṣate prāṇa iti evācakṣate prāṇo hy evaitāni sarvāṇi 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 Vāsudeva, or the Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī 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 Vāsudeva is all-pervading and everything is Vāsudeva, the devotee surrenders in full knowledge (cf. Bhagavad-gītā 7.17 and 11.40).

 

So here Srila Prabhupada is talking about how one understands that everything is Vāsudeva:

Such a universal vision of Vāsudeva precipitates one’s full surrender to the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the highest goal. 

So what is the universal vision? One understand that the Supreme Lord is sahasra-śīrṣā puruṣaḥ

sahasrākṣaḥ sahasra-pāt…

So He has thousands of head, legs, eyes, …

So basically the point is this universal form is all pervading, this universal form is so great so glorious so great that His glory pervades everywhere and everything. How is that everything? That is described as Srila Prabhupada has quoted in the next verse of Chāndogya Upaniṣad(5.1.15) it is said, na vai vāco na cakṣūṁṣi na śrotrāṇi na manāṁsīty ācakṣate prāṇa iti evācakṣate prāṇo hy evaitāni sarvāṇi 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 (Prana) which is the centre of all activities. And the Prana comes from Sri Krishna. Here in this verse it is explained vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti, now after explaining one progressively comes from worship of Krishna for some material motive to worship of Krishna with Pure motive.

End of transcription.