BHAGAVAD-GITA 13:1-2

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 13:1-2

 

arjuna uvaca

prakrtim purusam caiva

ksetram ksetra-jnam eva ca

etad veditum icchami

jnanam jneyam ca kesava

 

sri-bhagavan uvaca

idam sariram kaunteya

ksetram ity abhidhiyate

etad yo vetti tam prahuh

ksetra-jna iti tad-vidah

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

arjunah uvaca--Arjuna said; Prakrtim--nature; Purusam--the enjoyer;

ca--also; eva--certainly; ksetram--the field; ksetra-jnam--the knower

of the field; eva--certainly; ca--also; etat--all this; veditum--to

understand; icchami--I wish; jnanam--knowledge; jneyam--the object of

knowledge; ca--also; kesava--O Krsna; sri-bhagavan uvaca--the

Personality of Godhead said; idam--this; sariram--body; kaunteya--O

son of Kunti; ksetram--the field; iti--thus; abhidhiyate--is called;

etat--this; yah--one who; vetti--knows; tam--he; prahuh--is called;

ksetra-jnah--the knower of the field; iti--thus; tat-vidah--by those

who know this.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Arjuna said: O my dear Krsna, I wish to know about prakrti [nature],

purusa [the enjoyer], and the field and the knower of the field, and

of knowledge and the object of knowledge.

 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: This body, O son of Kunti, is

called the field, and one who knows this body is called the knower of

the field.

 

PURPORT

 

Arjuna was inquisitive about prakrti (nature), purusa (the enjoyer),

ksetra (the field), ksetra-jna (its knower), and knowledge and the

object of knowledge. When he inquired about all these, Krsna said that

this body is called the field and that one who knows this body is

called the knower of the field. This body is the field of activity for

the conditioned soul. The conditioned soul is entrapped in material

existence, and he attempts to lord it over material nature. And so,

according to his capacity to dominate material nature, he gets a field

of activity. That field of activity is the body. And what is the body?

The body is made of senses. The conditioned soul wants to enjoy sense

gratification, and, according to his capacity to enjoy sense

gratification, he is offered a body, or field of activity. Therefore

the body is called ksetra, or the field of activity for the

conditioned soul. Now, the person who identifies himself with the body

is called ksetra-jna, the knower of the field. It is not very

difficult to understand the difference between the field and its

knower, the body and the knower of the body. Any person can consider

that from childhood to old age he undergoes so many changes of body

and yet is still one person, remaining. Thus there is a difference

between the knower of the field of activities and the actual field of

activities. A living conditioned soul can thus understand that he is

different from the body. It is described in the beginning--dehino

'smin--that the living entity is within the body and that the body is

changing from childhood to boyhood and from boyhood to youth and from

youth to old age, and the person who owns the body knows that the body

is changing. The owner is distinctly ksetra-jna. Sometimes we think,

"I am happy,I am a man,I am a woman,I am a dog,I am a

cat." These are the bodily designations of the knower. But the knower

is different from the body. Although we may use many articles--our

clothes, etc.--we know that we are different from the things used.

Similarly, we also understand by a little contemplation that we are

different from the body. I or you or anyone else who owns the body is

called ksetra-jna, the knower of the field of activities, and the body

is called ksetra, the field of activities itself.

 

In the first six chapters of Bhagavad-gita the knower of the body (the

living entity) and the position by which he can understand the Supreme

Lord are described. In the middle six chapters of the Bhagavad-gita

the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the relationship between the

individual soul and the Supersoul in regard to devotional service are

described. The superior position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead

and the subordinate position of the individual soul are definitely

defined in these chapters. The living entities are subordinate under

all circumstances, but in their forgetfulness they are suffering. When

enlightened by pious activities, they approach the Supreme Lord in

different capacities--as the distressed, those in want of money, the

inquisitive, and those in search of knowledge. That is also described.

Now, starting with the Thirteenth Chapter, how the living entity comes

into contact with material nature and how he is delivered by the

Supreme Lord through the different methods of fruitive activities,

cultivation of knowledge, and the discharge of devotional service are

explained. Although the living entity is completely different from the

material body, he somehow becomes related. This also is explained.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.