FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Bhagavad-gītā 15.19

యో మామేవమసమ్మూఢో జానాతి పురుషోత్తమమ్ । స సర్వవిద్భ‍జతి మాం సర్వభావేన భారత ॥ ౧౯ ॥
yo mām evam asammūḍho
[yo maam evam asammoodho]
jānāti puruṣottamam
[jaanaati purushottamam]
sa sarva-vid bhajati māṁ
[sa sarva-vid bhajati maam]
sarva-bhāvena bhārata
[sarva-bhaavena bhaarata]
Word-for-word
yaḥ — anyone who mām — Me evam — thus asammūḍhaḥ — without a doubt jānāti — knows puruṣa - uttamam — the Supreme Personality of Godhead saḥ — he sarva - vit — the knower of everything bhajati — renders devotional service mām — unto Me sarva - bhāvena — in all respects bhārata — O son of Bharata .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
yo mām evam asammūḍho
yaḥ
anyone who
mām
Me
evam
thus
asammūḍhaḥ
without a doubt
jānāti puruṣottamam
jānāti
knows
puruṣa - uttamam
the Supreme Personality of Godhead
sa sarva-vid bhajati māṁ
saḥ
he
sarva - vit
the knower of everything
bhajati
renders devotional service
mām
unto Me
sarva-bhāvena bhārata
sarva - bhāvena
in all respects
bhārata
O son of Bharata .
Important Words
  • asammūḍhaḥ — without a doubt
    A + sam + mūḍha — not even *partially* bewildered. The negation is intensified: most people have a flicker of mūha somewhere in their conviction. The verse asks for the rare clean knowledge.
  • puruṣa - uttamam — the Supreme Personality of Godhead
    The name from the previous verse is now made the object of knowing. Kṛṣṇa specifies *what* the knower knows: not 'God,' not 'the absolute,' but precisely the Puruṣottama identified two verses ago.
  • sarva - vit — the knower of everything
    Echo of veda-vit from 15.1 and 15.15. The chapter's claim is now fully recursive: he who knows Kṛṣṇa knows the Vedas, and he who knows the Vedas knows everything. The single act of knowing Puruṣottama collapses the entire epistemic hierarchy.
  • bhajati — renders devotional service
    From bhaj — to share, to serve, to participate in. Bhajati is the natural, inevitable consequence of the prior knowing. The verse is not commanding bhakti; it is reporting what happens automatically when puruṣa-uttamam jānāti.
  • sarva - bhāvena — in all respects
    With every emotion, every relation, every disposition. Bhāva is the inner emotional posture of devotion; sarva-bhāvena means none of one's bhāvas are withheld. Total participation, not just the cleaned-up parts.
Whoever knows Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without doubting, is the knower of everything. He therefore engages himself in full devotional service to Me, O son of Bharata.
Purport

There are many philosophical speculations about the constitutional position of the living entities and the Supreme Absolute Truth. Now in this verse the Supreme Personality of Godhead clearly explains that anyone who knows Lord Kṛṣṇa to be the Supreme Person is actually the knower of everything. The imperfect knower goes on simply speculating about the Absolute Truth, but the perfect knower, without wasting his valuable time, engages directly in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the devotional service of the Supreme Lord. Throughout the whole of Bhagavad-gītā, this fact is being stressed at every step. And still there are so many stubborn commentators on Bhagavad-gītā who consider the Supreme Absolute Truth and the living entities to be one and the same. Vedic knowledge is called śruti, learning by aural reception. One should actually receive the Vedic message from authorities like Kṛṣṇa and His representatives. Here Kṛṣṇa distinguishes everything very nicely, and one should hear from this source. Simply to hear like the hogs is not sufficient; one must be able to understand from the authorities. It is not that one should simply speculate academically. One should submissively hear from Bhagavad-gītā that these living entities are always subordinate to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Anyone who is able to understand this, according to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, knows the purpose of the Vedas; no one else knows the purpose of the Vedas. The word bhajati is very significant. In many places the word bhajati is expressed in relationship with the service of the Supreme Lord. If a person is engaged in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in the devotional service of the Lord, it is to be understood that he has understood all the Vedic knowledge. In the Vaiṣṇava paramparā it is said that if one is engaged in the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa, then there is no need for any other spiritual process for understanding the Supreme Absolute Truth. He has already come to the point, because he is engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. He has ended all preliminary processes of understanding. But if anyone, after speculating for hundreds of thousands of lives, does not come to the point that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that one has to surrender there, all his speculation for so many years and lives is a useless waste of time.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
19. He who without bewilderment knows Me as Bhagavān knows everything. He worships Me with complete love, O descendent of Bharata.
Commentary

“Though this has been established by You, philosophers will argue over the meaning.” Let them argue! They are bewildered by My māyā, and the devotee is not bewildered. He who is not bewildered by the arguments of these philosophers (asaṁmūḍhaḥ) knows everything. Even though he has not studied the scriptures, he is the knower of the meaning of all scriptures. The other person, though he has indeed studied and taught all the scriptures, is really a complete fool (sam mūḍhaḥ). He who knows Me worships Me with complete love. The other person, though he worships something, does not worship Me.

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Gauḍīya
Translation
19. He who without confusion knows Me as the Supreme Person knows everything. He worships Me by all methods, O descendent of Bharata.
Commentary

The results for those who know the Lord as the Supreme Person are described in order to highlight the nature of the Lord. Thus (evam), according to the definitions given by Me, rather than according to literal definitions, he who knows Me as the Supreme Person is without foolishness. He is without doubt concerning My position as the Supreme Person described by Me. Knowing the meaning of these three verses, he is the knower of everything (sarva vit), because these three verses are the purport of the Vedas. He who knows My position as the Supreme Person worships Me in all ways (sarva bhāvena). I will give mercy to that person who knows the meaning of the Vedas and performs all the aṅgas of bhakti. But he who doubts My position as the Supreme Person, even though he has studied all the Vedas, is actually ignorant. Though he may do all types of worship, he is not a devotee.

Bhūrijana Dāsa Gauḍīya
Commentary

First one has to be detached, then one has to become 'kuto'stho', "one" with desires. And because Krsna has mentioned about Vedanta and the Vedas, next He says,

Study Notes — Gauranga Priya Dāsa
Gauranga Priya Dāsa Study
Bhakti-śāstrī Notes, ISKCON Chowpatty (2009)
Theme

One who knows without doubt Krishna as the Paramatma, engages in full devotional service

Who is the knower of everything – One who knows “Me” as the Supreme Personality of Godhead without doubting
Result of such knowledge – One engages in full devotional service to Me
Classical Ācāryas
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya Classical
Translation
15.19 Bharata, O scion of the Bharata dynasty; yah, he who; asammudhah, being free from delusion; janati, knows; mam, Me, God, having the aforesaid alifications; purusottamam, the supreme Person; evam, thus, in the way described, as 'I am this One'; sah, he; is sarva-vit, all-knowing- he knows everything through self-identification with all-, i.e. (he becomes) omniscient; and bhajati, adores; mam, Me, existing in all things; sarva-bhavena, with his whole being, i.e. with his mind fixed on Me as the Self of all. Now then, having stated in this chapter the knowledge of the real nature of the Lord, which has Liberation as its fruit, it is being euligized:
Śrī Rāmānujācārya Classical
Translation
15.19 He who, without delusion, knows the Supreme Person as Myself, as already stated, i.e., knows Me, as differing in kind from the perishable and the imperishable Persons, because of My being immutable and because of My being distinguished from them as pervading, supporting and ruling etc., by nature - such a devotee knows all. He knows all that is to be known as the means of attaining Me. He worships Me in 'every way,' i.e., whatever ways of worshipping Me have been prescribed as the means of attaining Me, he worships Me by all these modes of worship. Whatever love is evoked in Me towards one approaching Me by all forms of knowledge having Me for their object, and whatever love is roused up in Me towards those who practise various modes of worship having Me for their object - all that in a unified form is generatd in Me towards one who has the knowledge of Me as described. Now, Sri Krsna eulogises this knowledge of the Supreme Person:
Śrī Abhinavagupta Classical
Translation
15.19 Yo mam etc. He, who knows Me thus i.e., he who meditates exclusively on Me as identical with all, and to be the very Brahman - he realises all to be identical with Me and adores (or experiences) Me alone with his entire being viz., his form, action and thought. [That is to say], whatever he perceives, he experiences it as the form of the Bhagavat ; and so on. Hence [it has been said] by myself (Ag.) in the Sivasaktyavinabhavastotra as : O Mother (Goddess) ! Our praise to You is unusual one ; all (uttering) sounds constitute Your body indeed; in my entire body and in all [my] mental and external activities there is Your association. O Siva, O Alleviator of what is inauspicious ! When I fully contemplate in this manner, then it has been accomplished in the world, without any effort [of mine], that for me there is indeed not even a small fraction of time without praise, recitation [of hymns], worship and contemplation [of Yours].
Swami Sivananda Classical
Translation
15.19 He who, undeluded, knows Me thus as the highest Purusha, he, knowing all, worships Me with his whole being (heart), O Arjuna.
Commentary

15.19 यः who? माम् Me? एवम् thus? असम्मूढः undeluded? जानाति knows? पुरुषोत्तमम् the Supreme Purusha? सः he? सर्ववित् allknowing? भजति worships? माम् Me? सर्वभावेन with his whole being (heart)? भारत O Bharata.Commentary The glory of the knowledge of the Self is described in this verse.Asammudhah Undeluded? free from delusion. The undeluded does not identify himself with the physical body. He never looks upon the physical body? the lifeforce? senses? mind? intellect and the causal body as the Self or as belonging to himself? because he is resting in his own essential nature as ExistenceKnowledgeBliss Absolute and because he identifies himself with Brahman or the Supreme Being.That aspirant who knows that Sri Krishna is not a human being and that He is the highest Purusha or the Supreme Being is undeluded. Such an aspirant or devotee alone worships Him with his whole being. He is the Sarvavit or Sarvajna? allknower. He knows and realises that Lord Krishna? the supreme Lord? is the Inner Self of all beings. He beholds the One in the many? and the many in the One. For him there is neither high nor low? neither pleasure nor pain? neither virtue nor vice? neither good nor evil? neither likes nor dislikes.Me The Lord as specified above.Sarvavit One who knows everything in detail.Knows that I am He.Sarvabhavena With all his heart? with his whole being? wholeheartedly with his whole thought devoted exclusively to the Self of all with his whole mind centred on the Supreme Self alone.

Swami Gambhīrānanda Classical
Translation
15.19 O scion of the Bharata dynasty, he who, being free from delusion, knows Me the supreme Person thus, he is all-knowing and adores Me with his whole being.
Shri Purohit Swami Classical
Translation
15.19 He who with unclouded vision sees Me as the Lord-God, knows all there is to be known, and always shall worship Me with his whole heart.
Related values & verses
Related values
Tyaga (Renunciation / Letting Go)Karuna (Kindness / Compassion)Ahimsa (Non-violence / Compassion)Tapas (Austerity / Discipline)Guru Bhakti (Reverence for Teacher)Atma Nigraha (Self-control)Daksya (Resourcefulness / Skill)Maitri (Friendship / Goodwill)
Related verses
BG 7.19 BG 18.66 BG 9.13 SB 2.9.36 SB 11.14.21 SB 1.2.7 CC Madhya 25.29 CC Madhya 22.31 CC Ādi 4.25 Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23BRS 1.2.234
Concepts
BhavaMaya
Study Q&A referencing this verse
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Whoever knows Me without doubt as the Supreme Person, knows everything; he engages in My devotional service.
Practical Applications
  • Cultivate the unhesitating recognition: He is the Supreme Person.
  • Use this knowledge as the foundation of devotion.
  • Trust that 'knowing Him is knowing all.'
Reflection Questions
  • Where does my recognition of Him still hesitate?
  • What would unhesitating recognition unlock?
Analogy

An entire harbor of ships is anchored to one buoy. Know the buoy and the relationship of every ship is suddenly intelligible — their orientation, their range of drift, why they swing when the tide turns. Knowing Kṛṣṇa as Puruṣottama is that buoy-knowledge. The whole sea of objects, beings, doctrines, and duties suddenly arranges itself around one central mooring — and the natural response of the knower is to throw his rope to it.

Stories
Prahlāda's unhesitating recognition

Surrounded by tutors who taught the worship of his father Hiraṇyakaśipu, threatened with weapons, snakes, fire, and trampling elephants, the boy Prahlāda never once revised his answer. He knew Viṣṇu as the Supreme Person and would not pretend otherwise even to save his life.

The Bhāgavatam emphasizes that his certainty was *asammūḍha* — without doubt. He did not weigh evidence each morning; the knowledge was settled. From that settled knowledge devotional service flowed effortlessly: chanting, remembering, friendship with the Lord, every limb of bhakti coming out of one stable conviction.

Kṛṣṇa's wording in this verse matches Prahlāda's biography exactly: yaḥ mām evam asammūḍhaḥ jānāti — he then bhajati, naturally and totally.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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