Bhagavad Gita 7.19
बहूनां जन्मनामन्ते ज्ञानवान्मां प्रपद्यते | वासुदेवः सर्वमिति स महात्मा सुदुर्लभः ||
bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate | vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ ||
Translation
At the end of many births, the man possessed of knowledge approaches me, believing that Vāsudeva is everything. Such a high-souled one is very hard to find.
Reflection
What of this life's work might be groundwork for a later arrival you will not see?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Seven
At the end of many births. Krishna does not say at the end of one. The full ripening takes time. The seeker who has been working hard through this life is rarely the one who started yesterday. Many lifetimes of turning have brought him here. And when he finally arrives, what arrives is the seeing that Vasudeva is everything. Not one of many gods, not the favored among options, but the all. Such a soul, Krishna says, is very rare. The line ends with that word, durlabha, hard to find. Not because the door is hidden, but because most have not yet finished the long work that brings them to it.