Chapter 13
Kṣetra-kṣetrajña-yoga
Matter and Spirit
Arjuna said: O Keśava, I wish to know about puruṣa and about prakṛti, about the “field” and its knower, about knowledge and the object of knowledge.
arjuna uvāca prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva | kṣetraṁ kṣetra-jñam eva ca etad veditum icchāmi jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ ca keśava || 1 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: This body, O Kaunteya, is called the “field”. One who has knowledge of it is called “knower of the field” by the learned.
śrī-bhagavān uvāca idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya kṣetram ity abhidhīyate | etad yo vetti taṁ prāhuḥ kṣetra-jña iti tad-vidaḥ || 2 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
O descendant of Bharata, understand that I am the knower of the field in all fields and also know that, in My view, true knowledge is the knowledge regarding the field and its knower.
kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata | kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānaṁ yat taj jñānaṁ mataṁ mama || 3 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
Hear briefly from Me about the field, what its nature is, what modification it undergoes, from where each modification arises, as well as about the knower of the field and His power.
tat kṣetraṁ yac ca yādṛk ca yad-vikāri yataś | ca yat sa ca yo yat-prabhāvaś ca tat samāsena me śṛṇu || 4 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
This knowledge has been sung about differently by various sages in multiple ways through hymns and also through conclusive arguments of the Brahma-sūtra.
ṛṣibhir bahudhā gītaṁ chandobhir vividhaiḥ pṛthak | brahma-sūtra-padaiś caiva hetumadbhir viniścitaiḥ || 5 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
The five principal elements, the ego, the intellect, the primordial material substance, the ten senses, the mind, the five objects of the senses, desire, aversion, pleasure and pain, the body itself, consciousness and one’s resolve—in brief this is described as the field along with its modifications.
mahā-bhūtāny ahaṅkāro buddhir avyaktam eva ca | indriyāṇi daśaikaṁ ca pañca cendriya-gocarāḥ || 6 || icchā dveṣaḥ sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ saṅghātaś cetanā dhṛtiḥ | etat kṣetraṁ samāsena sa-vikāram udāhṛtam || 7 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
Freedom from pride, sincerity, non-violence, patience, integrity, service to the guru, purity, steadfastness, and self-restraint; dispassion for sense objects, absence of egotism, perceiving the deficiency of birth, death, old age, and suffering; non-attachment, lack of attachment toward son, spouse, home, and other such things; constant equanimity in desirable or undesirable circumstances, undeviating devotion with exclusive absorption in Me; a preference for solitary places, aversion from mundane society; being ever established in knowledge of the Self and contemplation of the goal of spiritual knowledge—all of this is declared to be knowledge; whatever is contrary to that is ignorance.
amānitvam adambhitvam ahiṁsā kṣāntir ārjavam | ācāryopāsanaṁ śaucaṁ sthairyam ātma-vinigrahaḥ || 8 || indriyārtheṣu vairāgyam anahaṅkāra eva ca | janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam || 9 || asaktir anabhiṣvaṅgaḥ putra-dāra-gṛhādiṣu | nityaṁ ca sama-cittatvam iṣṭāniṣṭopapattiṣu || 10 || mayi cānanya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicāriṇī | vivikta-deśa-sevitvam aratir jana-saṁsadi || 11 || adhyātma-jñāna-nityatvaṁ tattva-jñānārtha-darśanam | etaj jñānam iti proktam ajñānaṁ yad ato ’nyathā || 12 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
I shall explain that which is to be known, realizing which one attains immortality—the beginningless Parabrahman; it is said to be neither manifest nor unmanifest.
jñeyaṁ yat tat pravakṣyāmi yaj jñātvāmṛtam aśnute | anādimat paraṁ brahma na sat tan nāsad ucyate || 13 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
His hands and feet are everywhere; His eyes, heads, and faces are everywhere; His ears are on all sides; and He exists, pervading all things.
sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaṁ tat sarvato ’kṣi-śiro-mukham | sarvataḥ śrutimal loke sarvam āvṛtya tiṣṭhati || 14 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
He illumines the senses and sense objects and yet is devoid of senses; He is unattached and yet the maintainer of all; He is beyond the guṇas and yet the experiencer of the guṇas.
sarvendriya-guṇābhāsaṁ sarvendriya-vivarjitam | asaktaṁ sarva-bhṛc caiva nirguṇaṁ guṇa-bhoktṛ ca || 15 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
He is inside and outside all beings, moving yet unmoving. Being so subtle, that Supreme Being is incomprehensible: far away, and yet so near.
bahir antaś ca | bhūtānām acaraṁ caram eva ca sūkṣmatvāt tad avijñeyaṁ dūra-sthaṁ cāntike ca tat || 16 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
That Supreme Being is undivided and yet exists as if divided among beings. He is the sustainer of all beings, their destroyer, and creator—He is that which is to be known.
avibhaktaṁ ca bhūteṣu vibhaktam iva ca sthitam | bhūta-bhartṛ ca taj jñeyaṁ grasiṣṇu prabhaviṣṇu ca || 17 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
That Supreme Being is the light of lights, beyond all darkness. He is knowledge, the object of knowledge, the goal of knowledge, and is situated in the hearts of all.
jyotiṣām api taj jyotis tamasaḥ param ucyate | jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ jñāna-gamyaṁ hṛdi sarvasya viṣṭhitam || 18 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
In this way, I have briefly explained the field, knowledge, and the object of knowledge. Upon realizing this, My devotee attains My nature.
iti kṣetraṁ tathā jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ coktaṁ samāsataḥ | mad-bhakta etad vijñāya mad-bhāvāyopapadyate || 19 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
Know that both prakṛti and puruṣa are beginningless, and that the guṇas and all transformations originate from prakṛti.
prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva viddhy anādī ubhāv api | vikārāṁś ca guṇāṁś caiva viddhi prakṛti-sambhavān || 20 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
Agency in relation to cause and effect is caused by material nature, while the sense of experiencing joy and sorrow is caused by the conscious Self.
kārya-kāraṇa-kartṛtve hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyate | puruṣaḥ sukha-duḥkhānāṁ bhoktṛtve hetur ucyate || 21 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
Situated in prakṛti, the individual Self experiences the guṇas arising from prakṛti. For the Self, attachment to these guṇas is the cause of birth in superior or inferior species.
puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān | kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo ’sya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu || 22 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
Within this body, there also exists the supreme Puruṣa, said to be the witness, the One who grants permission, the supporter, the enjoyer, the great Lord, the Paramātmā.
upadraṣṭānumantā ca bhartā bhoktā maheśvaraḥ | paramātmeti cāpy ukto dehe ’smin puruṣaḥ paraḥ || 23 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
One who knows puruṣa and prakṛti along with its guṇas in this way, is not born again, whatever situation one may be in.
ya evaṁ vetti puruṣaṁ prakṛtiṁ ca guṇaiḥ saha | sarvathā vartamāno ’pi na sa bhūyo ’bhijāyate || 24 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
Some perceive the ātmā by the mind within themselves through meditation, others through the path of analytical knowledge, and still others by karma-yoga.
dhyānenātmani paśyanti kecid ātmānam | ātmanā anye sāṅkhyena yogena karma-yogena cāpare || 25 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
Others, however, who are unaware of these paths, worship based on what they hear from others. Dedicated to what has been heard, they too pass beyond death.
anye tv evam ajānantaḥ śrutvānyebhya upāsate | te ’pi cātitaranty eva mṛtyuṁ śruti-parāyaṇāḥ || 26 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
O best of the descendants of Bharata, whatever comes into existence, whether immovable or movable, know it to arise from the union of the field and the knower of the field.
yāvat sañjāyate kiñcit sattvaṁ sthāvara-jaṅgamam | kṣetra-kṣetrajña-saṁyogāt tad viddhi bharatarṣabha || 27 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
Whoever perceives the Supreme Lord residing equally in all beings, as the imperishable among the perishable, truly sees.
samaṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu tiṣṭhantaṁ parameśvaram | vinaśyatsv avinaśyantaṁ yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati || 28 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
Equally seeing the Lord residing everywhere, one does not harm the Self by the mind and therefore attains the supreme goal.
samaṁ paśyan hi sarvatra samavasthitam īśvaram | na hinasty ātmanātmānaṁ tato yāti parāṁ gatim || 29 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
One who sees that all actions are performed solely by prakṛti and that the ātmā is a non-doer, truly sees.
prakṛtyaiva ca karmāṇi kriyamāṇāni sarvaśaḥ | yaḥ paśyati tathātmānam akartāraṁ sa paśyati || 30 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
When one perceives that the existence of distinct beings is rooted in the One and emanates from it, one attains Brahman.
yadā bhūta-pṛthag-bhāvam eka-stham anupaśyati | tata eva ca vistāraṁ brahma sampadyate tadā || 31 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
O Kaunteya, due to being beginningless and beyond the guṇas, the unchanging Paramātmā neither acts nor is He stained by action, despite dwelling within the body,
anāditvān nirguṇatvāt paramātmāyam avyayaḥ | śarīra-stho ’pi kaunteya na karoti na lipyate || 32 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
Just as the all-pervading space remains unaffected due to its subtlety, the Self present everywhere in the body is not tainted by the body.
yathā sarva-gataṁ saukṣmyād ākāśaṁ nopalipyate | sarvatrāvasthito dehe tathātmā nopalipyate || 33 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
Just as the Sun alone illumines this whole world, so too does the knower of the field illumine the whole field, O descendant of Bharata.
yathā prakāśayaty ekaḥ kṛtsnaṁ lokam imaṁ raviḥ | kṣetraṁ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṁ prakāśayati bhārata || 34 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
Those who perceive the distinction between the field and the knower of the field in this way through the eye of wisdom, as well as how living beings can be liberated from material nature, attain the Supreme.
kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor evam antaraṁ jñāna-cakṣuṣā | bhūta-prakṛti-mokṣaṁ ca ye vidur yānti te param || 35 ||
↓ Word-for-word meaning
Continue Exploring
Continue to the next chapter or move into chanting and reflection.