Sanskrit
बहूनां जन्मनामन्ते ज्ञानवान्मां प्रपद्यते । वासुदेवः सर्वमिति स महात्मा सुदुर्लभः ॥ १९ ॥
bahūnāṃ janmanām ante jñānavān māṃ prapadyate vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ
Translation
At the close of many births the man full of wisdom cometh unto Me; "Vâsudeva is all." saith he, the Mahâtmâ, very difficult to find.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The chapter’s thesis statement, and its most-quoted line: “Vasudeva is all” (vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti). It’s presented as the endpoint of a long process — “at the close of many births” — not a starting insight, which reframes verses 4-14’s cosmological claims about the two natures, the pearl-string image, and immanence in all things as the content of a realization that most people, per verse 3’s earlier warning, never actually complete.