Is the jnani in Gita 7.16 and jnanavan in 7.19 the same or different?
Transcript
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in Gita 7.16 Krishna refers to four categories of people who come to him and among them he says one is Jnani then he says in 17.19 how the Jnani is the best and then in 19 he talks about Jnanavan those who become Jnanavan after many lifetimes and surrender to him so is the Jnani and the Jnanavan the same or is the Jnanavan referring to other three categories of people who eventually become Jnanavan and surrender to him actually the different Acharyas have explained it differently but if you look at the Gita’s flow itself the word Jnani refers to it can refer to either the seeker of knowledge or the person who has knowledge the Jnanavan is very clear Jnanavan is the possessor of knowledge so now Krishna the way he describes the Jnani in the next two verses he is having devotion also and then he says in 7.19 that this Jnani refers to this Jnani surrenders to me Vasudeva Sarvamiti so basically what is talked about as being acquired after many lifetimes the devotion to Krishna by which one surrenders that is already there mentioned in 7.17 and 18 in the Jnani so in that sense it is not that this Jnani will take Bahunam Janmanamanti rather these other three categories of people they after many lifetimes will come to the level of surrender to Krishna now Jnani also Krishna is talking not about general Jnani’s over here he is talking about specific kind of Jnani’s those who are so those are almost like Jnanavan they may not be fully Jnanavan generally Jnani refers to one who approaches Krishna with knowledge of his position and with the intention of developing a relationship and then there is some because there is some awareness of the position there is some affection also and that affection deepens but yes the Bahunam Janmanamanti that applies primarily to those who are Artho Jignasura Artharthi it will take after much practice for them to come to the level of Jnanavan and becoming Mahatma and surrendering to Krishna