BG Chap 7 - After many births the jñānī becomes qualified

The jñānī, seeing Vāsudeva everywhere, after many births, surrenders unto Kṛṣṇa. Such a person attains the Lord thru association with devotees. That jñānī who is a devotee has a steady mind and is very rare. Out of thousands, one person may know the Lord in truth. But the kevala or ekānta bhakta is very, very rare. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa says the three types of devotees (other than the jñānī), by the power of performing bhakti to Kṛṣṇa, after experiencing the highest happiness from material pleasures for many lives, finally in one birth find these pleasures distasteful. By association with saintly persons they gain knowledge of the Lord’s svarūpa and surrender unto Kṛṣṇa. These three devotees become jñānīs after many births and attain Kṛṣṇa. One has to rise to the platform of niṣkāma and then from that level fully surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Bhakti is rare even among jñānīs and its development usually takes a long time. Association with pure devotees quickens the process, because by association one hears and chants about Kṛṣṇa, whose glories are the essence of transcendental knowledge.

The jñānī understands that Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva, is everything. All things in existence depend on Kṛṣṇa for their manifestation and continued existence in those forms. What is dependent for its form and continued existence on Him, is designated as Himself. In Chāndogya Upaniṣad, the prāṇa is designated as the voice and eye, because those things are all dependent on prāṇa for preservation of their forms. Since all things in existence are pervaded by Vāsudeva, Vāsudeva is everything. Vāsudeva is everything in the sense that everything is dependent on Him. Arjuna confirms later in chapter 11 of the Gītā that since Kṛṣṇa covers everything and thus He is everything.

Kṛṣṇa had already mentioned in BG 7.12 that all states of sattva, rajas and tamas come from Him but He is not touched by the material guṇas. Having shown difference between matter and Himself, it appears here He again states non-difference by saying vāsudeva sarvam iti. This is resolved by explaining that He is not different from matter and is still different from it, just as the sun is different from its rays and also one with them. Brahmā has stated in SB 2.7.50 that there is nothing other than the Lord in all existence. Arjuna clarifies that since the Lord is spread everywhere and therefore He is everything. Thus non-difference and difference must be the meaning because it is said that one who possesses knowledge that everything is Vāsudeva surrenders unto Him. Surrender or prapatti is a process of bhakti. By saying Vāsudeva is everything, Kṛṣṇa confirms that He alone should be worshipped, by pointing out knowledge of Himself (which He did previously with His vibhūtis), that He alone exists inside and outside everything, but is also beyond the guṇas of prakṛti.