Gita Satsangh Chapter 13 Verses 34 & 35

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Dandavat pranams to all!

 

Gita Satsangh Chapter 13 Verses 34 & 35

 

To listen to Swami Brahmanananda of the Chinmaya Mission

chanting this Chapter...

 

Yathaa prakaashayatyekah kritsnam lokamimam ravih;

Kshetram kshetree tathaa kritsnam prakaashayati bhaarata. (34)

34. Just as the one sun illumines the whole world, so also the Lord of the Field

(the Supreme Self) illumines the whole Field, O Arjuna!

 

Sankara Bhashya

(Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary)

34. As the single sun illumines this whole world, similarly, O descendant of the

Bharata dynasty, the Knower of the field illumines the whole field.

 

Yatha, as; ekam, the one; ravih, sun; prakasayati, illumines; imam, this;

krtsnam, whole; lokam, world tatha, similarly;-who?-ksetri, the Knower of the

field, i.e. the supreme Self, though one; prakasayati, illumines; krtsnam, the

whole; ksetram, field, from the 'great elements' to 'fortitude' (cf. 5-6).

 

Here the illustration of the sun serves to highlight two aspects of the Self,

viz that, like the sun, the Self is one in all the fields, and that It remains

unaffected.

 

Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary

34. Just as the one Sun illumines the whole world, so also the Lord-of-the-Field

(PARAMATMAN) illumines the whole " Field, " O Bharata.

Here is one of the most striking examples in our scriptural literature, given to

us by the Divine Charioteer. It conveys to our intellectual comprehension the

exact relationship of the Consciousness, the Eternal Principle-of-Life, with

reference to the various worlds-of-matter and their expressions. Just as the one

Sun illumines the entire Universe from afar, and at all times, so too the

Consciousness merely illumines the world-of-objects, the body, the mind, and the

intellect.

 

Though generally in our everyday talks we attribute the ACTIVITY of lighting up

the world of the Sun, we find on close examination that we cannot attribute any

such ACTIVITY to the Sun. An action is that which has a beginning and an end and

it is generally undertaken to fulfil a deep desire, or a silent purpose. The Sun

does not illumine the world in this sense of the term. On the other hand,

" light " itself is the nature of the Sun, and in its presence everything gets

illumined. Similarly, Consciousness is of the nature of awareness and in Its

presence, everything becomes known --- illumined.

 

In the world there is only one Sun and it illumines everything, good and bad,

the vicious and the virtuous, the ugly and the beautiful. And yet the Sun is not

sullied by the ugly, the vicious and the bad, nor is it blessed by the good, the

virtuous or the beautiful. So too, in our inner life, the Ever-perfect and

Joyous Consciousness functions through the equipments and illumines them, but It

never gets contaminated by the sins of the mind, by the perversions of the

intellect, or by the crimes of the physical body. It only illumines. This

illumination of the Self, playing upon our thoughts and emotions, gets splashed

to form the ever changing patterns of the multiple individuals, with their

everchanging behaviours.

 

THIS DOCTRINE OF THE " FIELD " AND THE " KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD, " BOTH PLAYING IN THE

SUPREME, DISCUSSED IN THIS CHAPTER IS CONCLUDED IN THE FOLLOWING STANZA:

 

Kshetrakshetrajnayor evam antaram jnaanachakshushaa;

Bhootaprakritimoksham cha ye vidur yaanti te param. (35)

 

35. They who, through the eye of knowledge, perceive the distinction between the

Field and its Knower, and also the liberation from the Nature of being, they go

to the Supreme.

 

Sankara Bhashya (Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary)

35. Those who know thus through the eye of wisdom the distinction between the

field and the Knower of the field, and the annihilation of the Matrix of

beings,-they reach the Supreme.

 

Ye, those who; viduh, know; evam, thus, in the manner described above;

jnana-caksusa, through the eye of wisdom-the eye is the realization in the form

of the knowledge of the Self, which arises from following the instructions of

the scriptures and teachers; through that eye of wisdom; antaram, the

distinction, the particular mutual distinction; ksetra-ksetrajnayoh, beween the

field and the Knower of the field as they have been explained; and

bhuta-prakrti-moksam, the annihilation of the Matrix of beings-the Matrix of

beings is that which is described as ignorance and is called the Unmanifest;

(those who know) the annihilation (moksanam) of that Matrix of beings; te, they;

yanti, reach, go to; param, the Supreme, to Brahman, the Reality which is the

suprme Goal. The idea is that they do not take up a body again.

 

Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary

35. They who, with their eye-of-wisdom come to know the distinction between the

" Field " and the " Knower-of-the-Field, " and of the liberation from the " PRAKRITI

of the being, " go to the Supreme.

 

After explaining that the Spirit is the Illuminator, and that, being the

Illuminator, It cannot be tainted by the qualities of the illumined, here Lord

Krishna directly advocates that man's life is fulfilled only when he, in his

subtle discrimination, successfully meditates upon and realises the

constitution, behaviour and relationship among the " Field, " " the

Knower-of-the-Field, " and the " Supreme Self " in himself. This can be done only

with a well-integrated instrument, a combination of a fully developed

head-and-heart, which alone can apprehend the Invisible, Imperishable, One. The

faculty that comes to experience this divine infinitude is often termed as

" intuition, " and in the language of the Hindu Shastras, it is called the

" Eye-of-Wisdom. "

They who realise and perceive the nature and the essential distinction between

the " Field, " the " Knower-of-the-Field " and the " Supreme, " and thus come to

experience the non-existence of the " Field " (Prakriti or Avidya or Avyakta),

and, therefore, the " Knower-of-the-Field " (the individuality, the ego, the

samsarin, the limited), theirs is the Knowledge Absolute. The " Field " is the

material-cause, which has no existence apart from mere imaginations and

hallucinations. Non-apprehension of Reality gives rise to mis-apprehensions of

It. To realise the non-existence of the very material-cause is to live the

Infinite Nature of the Supreme Self in ourselves, as ourselves.

 

This is one of the most brilliant chapters in the Geeta which gives us a direct

subjective method of meditating upon and realising the Imperishable and the

Eternal in ourselves. To wake up from our dream is to end all the sorrow that we

might have suffered in the dream-state-of-Consciousness. There is no traffic

between the frontiers that clearly mark out the worlds of waking, dreaming and

the deep-sleep. In the same way, the Knower-of-the-Field suffers the sorrows and

the imperfections of the " Field " but when through analysis the

" Knower-of-the-Field " understands its own real nature apart from the " Field, " it

rediscovers its own Divine Nature and, in this awakening, the dream that it was

as the Knower-of-the-Field, ends.

 

The plurality and the sorrows are all the tearful details in the dream-plot. To

rediscover Pure Awareness and to realise that it is the Self, which, dressed up

in the " Field, " becomes the agitated " Knower-of-the-Field " --- is to know all

that is to be known. In the entire Geeta, we fail to come across a clearer and

more direct indication of Reality.

 

Om Om Om Om Om

 

Hari Om Tat Sat

Iti Srimad Bhagavadgeetaasoopanishatsu Brahmavidyaayaam

Yogashaastre Sri Krishnaarjunasamvaade

Kshetrakshetrajnavibhaagayogo Naama Trayodasho'dhyaayah

 

Thus in the Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita, the science of the

Eternal, the scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna,

ends the thirteenth discourse entitled:

 

" The Yoga of the Distinction Between The Field and the Knower of the Field "

 

 

 

 

 

Hare Krishna!!!