बहूनां जन्मनामन्ते ज्ञानवान्मां प्रपद्यते ।
वासुदेवः सर्वमिति स महात्मा सुदुर्लभः ।। ७.१९ ।।

bahūnāṁ janmanām-ante jñānavān-māṁ prapadyate |
vāsudevaḥ sarvam-iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ || 7.19 ||

This statement, like the few others, is a landmark of the gospel:

To perceive all as Vasudeva, the Lord, is very rare. The one who has reached this loftiness is verily a Mahatma, the High-souled.

To free the mind from the fetters of multiple worldly attractions, to make it pure and natural, one needs the help of distinctions and exclusions. Only when objects, ideas and propositions are distinguished as desirables and hence to be accepted, as against undesirables and hence to be rejected, one can accept the former and reject the latter. To enable this initial choice, division of matters into good and bad becomes necessary, even indispensable.

But as the mind grows through the mental and moral disciplines, and becomes clear and one-pointed, it has to shed and outlive all distinguishing barriers and reach the all-embracing level of perception. To gain purity is the goal of all selections and identifications. With purity, expansion results. And expansion brings felicity and naturalness. ‘Vasudevah sarvamiti’ marks the pinnacle of such devotional and spiritual expansion, where the seeker experiences ecstasy and freedom under all circumstances.

Transcending dvandvas

Every human life is enmeshed in the gunas of Nature. It is the supreme Reality, which alone unleashes the gunas as an institutional order in Creation. Yet there reigns ample scope for anyone to seek and realize freedom and joy. The affliction or bondage is a human perception. The remedy is also within the human. The redress consists in seeking the supreme Reality.

This seeking is not hard or difficult. Anyone is free to take it up from any angle. The options are many – as many as the causes for suffering and courting agitation in worldly life. Anyone of them can act as motivation for the mind to turn to the supreme Source for redress, strength or enlightenment.

By turning thus to the supreme Source, the mind is obliged to grow and expand, leading to illumination and the resultant ecstasy of freedom. The background and purpose of anyone of these devotees are never questioned; their pursuit alone is held in esteem. The path is safe and wholesome, while the rewards are inspiring and comprehensive. Where is then any cause for alarm or hindrance? Like friction, indispensable for movement, the guna-encirclement which Nature institutes and preserves, acts more as a facility than obstruction. Learn the lesson, be discreet, and find your way up, exhorts Krishna.

He also describes the state of fullness reached by the Knower, in which the supreme Reality alone shines for him everywhere, whereby the Knower discards the constrictions of the mind as well as the preferences of the intelligence.

True seeking is, in fact, the dedicated march towards such exquisite fullness of the mind and vision. Wisdom is verily the all-fold perception, where nothing proves disharmonious or out of place and debilitating. In it the inner being grows to full dimension, displaying its majesty and charm everywhere. In place of worldliness overpowering the mind, the mind’s fullness overwhelms the worldly life, making the mind spiritual, divine, devotional and sublime in every way. Every one, Krishna asserts, is a rightful heir to this fortune.