Sacred Scripture / Chapter 13
34 published verses from Srimad Bhagavad Gita (क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञविभागयोगः). The Yoga of Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga. Krishna introduces the body as the field and its knower as the knower of the field, also identifying Himself as knower in all fields. He lists the field’s bodily and psychological components, then presents humility, nonviolence, honesty, restraint, devotion and steady inquiry as qualities of knowledge. The knowable is described as Brahman through all-pervading and transcendent attributes. The discussion turns to beginningless prakriti and purusha, nature’s activity, experience and attachment to the gunas. Meditation, discerning knowledge, action and faithful hearing are named as approaches. The closing teaching connects equal vision, nonagency, unity and the untainted Self with liberation through discerning knowledge.
Explore original Sanskrit, word-by-word padartha, trilingual translations, commentary, reflections, and modern life applications.
34 verses
Verse 13.1
idaṃ śarīraṃ kaunteya kṣetramityabhidhīyate | etadyo vetti taṃ prāhuḥ kṣetrajña iti tadvidaḥ ||1||
The Lord said: Kaunteya, this body is called the field. Those who understand this call the one who knows it the knower of the field.
Verse 13.2
kṣetrajñaṃ cāpi māṃ viddhi sarvakṣetreṣu bhārata | kṣetrakṣetrajñayorjñānaṃ yattajjñānaṃ mataṃ mama ||2||
Bharata, know Me also as the knower in all fields. Knowledge of the field and its knower is what I regard as knowledge.
Verse 13.3
tatkṣetraṃ yacca yādṛkca yadvikāri yataśca yat | sa ca yo yatprabhāvaśca tatsamāsena me śṛṇu ||3||
Hear briefly from Me what that field is, what it is like, its changes and origin, and who that knower is and what its power is.
Verse 13.4
ṛṣibhirbahudhā gītaṃ chandobhirvividhaiḥ pṛthak | brahmasūtrapadaiścaiva hetumadbhirviniścitaiḥ ||4||
Sages have sung of this in many ways, separately in various sacred hymns, and in reasoned, well-established statements concerning Brahman.
Verse 13.5
mahābhūtānyahaṅkāro buddhiravyaktameva ca | indriyāṇi daśaikaṃ ca pañca cendriyagocarāḥ ||5||
The great elements, ego, understanding and the unmanifest; the ten senses and the one mind, and the five objects of the senses—
Verse 13.6
icchā dveṣaḥ sukhaṃ duḥkhaṃ saṅghātaścetanā dhṛtiḥ | etatkṣetraṃ samāsena savikāramudāhṛtam ||6||
—desire, aversion, happiness, sorrow, the bodily aggregate, sentience and steadiness: the field, together with its changes, has thus been described briefly.
Verse 13.7
amānitvamadambhitvamahiṃsā kṣāntirārjavam | ācāryopāsanaṃ śaucaṃ sthairyamātmavinigrahaḥ ||7||
Humility, freedom from pretence, nonviolence, patience, straightforwardness, reverent service to the teacher, purity, steadiness and self-restraint;
Verse 13.8
indriyārtheṣu vairāgyamanahaṅkāra eva ca | janmamṛtyujarāvyādhiduḥkhadoṣānudarśanam ||8||
Dispassion toward sense objects and freedom from ego; repeated contemplation of the suffering and limitations of birth, death, old age and illness;
Verse 13.9
asaktiranabhiṣvaṅgaḥ putradāragṛhādiṣu | nityaṃ ca samacittatvamiṣṭāniṣṭopapattiṣu ||9||
Nonattachment, freedom from clinging to children, spouse, home and the like, and constant evenness of mind when desired or undesired events arise;
Verse 13.10
mayi cānanyayogena bhaktiravyabhicāriṇī | viviktadeśasevitvamaratirjanasaṃsadi ||10||
Unwavering devotion to Me through undivided yoga, a preference for secluded places, and lack of delight in crowds;
Verse 13.11
adhyātmajñānanityatvaṃ tattvajñānārthadarśanam | etajjñānamiti proktamajñānaṃ yadato'nyathā ||11||
Constancy in knowledge of the self, and insight into the aim of knowledge of reality: this is declared to be knowledge; what differs from it is ignorance.
Verse 13.12
jñeyaṃ yattatpravakṣyāmi yajjñātvāmṛtamaśnute | anādimatparaṃ brahma na sattannāsaducyate ||12||
I will explain what is to be known, knowing which one attains deathlessness: beginningless, supreme Brahman, which is called neither being nor nonbeing.
Verse 13.13
sarvataḥ pāṇipādaṃ tatsarvato'kṣiśiromukham | sarvataḥ śrutimalloke sarvamāvṛtya tiṣṭhati ||13||
With hands and feet everywhere, eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, and ears everywhere in the world, it stands encompassing all.
Verse 13.14
sarvendriyaguṇābhāsaṃ sarvendriyavivarjitam | asaktaṃ sarvabhṛccaiva nirguṇaṃ guṇabhoktṛ ca ||14||
It shines through the functions of every sense, yet is without any senses; unattached, yet sustaining all; free from the gunas, yet experiencing the gunas.
Verse 13.15
bahirantaśca bhūtānāmacaraṃ carameva ca | sūkṣmatvāttadavijñeyaṃ dūrasthaṃ cāntike ca tat ||15||
It is outside and inside beings, unmoving and moving. Because of its subtlety it is difficult to know; it is far away and also near.
Verse 13.16
avibhaktaṃ ca bhūteṣu vibhaktamiva ca sthitam | bhūtabhartṛ ca tajjñeyaṃ grasiṣṇu prabhaviṣṇu ca ||16||
Undivided in beings, yet appearing as if divided, it is to be known as the sustainer of beings, their absorber and their source.
Verse 13.17
jyotiṣāmapi tajjyotistamasaḥ paramucyate | jñānaṃ jñeyaṃ jñānagamyaṃ hṛdi sarvasya viṣṭhitam ||17||
It is the light even of lights, said to be beyond darkness; knowledge, the knowable and that reached through knowledge, dwelling in everyone’s heart.
Verse 13.18
iti kṣetraṃ tathā jñānaṃ jñeyaṃ coktaṃ samāsataḥ | madbhakta etadvijñāya madbhāvāyopapadyate ||18||
Thus the field, knowledge and the knowable have been briefly explained. Understanding this, My devotee becomes fit to attain My being.
Verse 13.19
prakṛtiṃ puruṣaṃ caiva viddhyanādī ubhāvapi | vikārāṃśca guṇāṃścaiva viddhi prakṛtisambhavān ||19||
Know both prakriti and purusha to be beginningless; know also that changes and the gunas arise from prakriti.
Verse 13.20
kāryakāraṇakartṛtve hetuḥ prakṛtirucyate | puruṣaḥ sukhaduḥkhānāṃ bhoktṛtve heturucyate ||20||
Prakriti is said to be the cause in the production of effects and causes; purusha is said to be the cause in experiencing happiness and sorrow.
Verse 13.21
puruṣaḥ prakṛtistho hi bhuṅkte prakṛtijānguṇān | kāraṇaṃ guṇasaṅgo'sya sadasadyonijanmasu ||21||
Purusha, situated in prakriti, experiences the gunas born of prakriti. Attachment to these gunas causes its births in favorable and unfavorable wombs.
Verse 13.22
upadraṣṭānumantā ca bhartā bhoktā maheśvaraḥ | paramātmeti cāpyukto dehe'sminpuruṣaḥ paraḥ ||22||
The supreme purusha in this body is called the witness, the permitter, the sustainer, the experiencer, the great Lord, and also the supreme Self.
Verse 13.23
ya evaṃ vetti puruṣaṃ prakṛtiṃ ca guṇaiḥ saha | sarvathā vartamāno'pi na sa bhūyo'bhijāyate ||23||
One who thus knows purusha and prakriti together with the gunas is not born again, whatever the manner of that person’s life.
Verse 13.24
dhyānenātmani paśyanti kecidātmānamātmanā | anye sāṃkhyena yogena karmayogena cāpare ||24||
Some behold the Self within themselves through meditation, by themselves; others through the yoga of discerning knowledge, and still others through karma yoga.
Verse 13.25
anye tvevamajānantaḥ śrutvānyebhya upāsate | te'pi cātitarantyeva mṛtyuṃ śrutiparāyaṇāḥ ||25||
Others, not knowing in this way, hear from others and worship. They too cross beyond death, devoted to what they have heard.
Verse 13.26
yāvatsañjāyate kiñcitsattvaṃ sthāvarajaṅgamam | kṣetrakṣetrajñasaṃyogāttadviddhi bharatarṣabha ||26||
Foremost Bharata, know that whatever being arises, moving or unmoving, arises from the union of the field and its knower.
Verse 13.27
samaṃ sarveṣu bhūteṣu tiṣṭhantaṃ parameśvaram | vinaśyatsvavinaśyantaṃ yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati ||27||
One who sees the supreme Lord dwelling equally in all beings, imperishable within those that perish, truly sees.
Verse 13.28
samaṃ paśyanhi sarvatra samavasthitamīśvaram | na hinastyātmanātmānaṃ tato yāti parāṃ gatim ||28||
Seeing the Lord established equally everywhere, one does not harm the self by the self, and thereby reaches the highest goal.
Verse 13.29
prakṛtyaiva ca karmāṇi kriyamāṇāni sarvaśaḥ | yaḥ paśyati tathātmānamakartāraṃ sa paśyati ||29||
One who sees all actions being performed by prakriti alone, and likewise sees the Self as nonacting, truly sees.
Verse 13.30
yadā bhūtapṛthagbhāvamekasthamanupaśyati | tata eva ca vistāraṃ brahma sampadyate tadā ||30||
When one sees the distinct forms of beings resting in one and their expansion from that very one, one then attains Brahman.
Verse 13.31
anāditvānnirguṇatvātparamātmāyamavyayaḥ | śarīrastho'pi kaunteya na karoti na lipyate ||31||
Because it is beginningless and free from the gunas, this supreme Self is imperishable. Kaunteya, though dwelling in the body, it neither acts nor is tainted.
Verse 13.32
yathā sarvagataṃ saukṣmyādākāśaṃ nopalipyate | sarvatrāvasthito dehe tathātmā nopalipyate ||32||
As all-pervading space remains untainted because of its subtlety, so the Self, present throughout the body, remains untainted.
Verse 13.33
yathā prakāśayatyekaḥ kṛtsnaṃ lokamimaṃ raviḥ | kṣetraṃ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṃ prakāśayati bhārata ||33||
As the one sun illuminates this whole world, Bharata, so the knower of the field illuminates the entire field.
Verse 13.34
kṣetrakṣetrajñayorevamantaraṃ jñānacakṣuṣā | bhūtaprakṛtimokṣaṃ ca ye viduryānti te param ||34||
Those who know, through the eye of knowledge, the distinction between the field and its knower, and liberation from the nature of beings, reach the supreme.
