The Yoga of Knowledge and Wisdom

Krishna concludes the section on devotees by describing the jnani's rarity and the path to becoming one. 'Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate'—after many births, one who is endowed with knowledge surrenders unto Me. 'Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti'—knowing Me to be all that is (Vasudeva is all). 'Sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ'—such a great soul is very rare. This verse shows that becoming a jnani takes many births of practice, and that recognizing Krishna as everything (Vasudeva sarvam) is the key realization. The jnani is rare, but possible. This connects to verse 7.3's teaching about rarity and concludes the section on delusion and devotees (7.13-7.19).