KSHETRA
Listen and I will explain to you what that field is and what its nature is.
I will also explain how change takes place within it, from what it was
created, who the knower of the field of activities is, and what his powers
are.
Bhagavad Gita 13.5 onwards
Great sages have sung the truth about the field and the knower of the field
in manifold ways. It has been stated in various Vedic hymns, and especially
revealed in the Brahma Sūtra, with sound logic and conclusive evidence. The
field of activities is composed of the five great elements, the ego, the
intellect, the unmanifest primordial matter, the eleven senses (five
knowledge senses, five working senses, and mind), and the five objects of
the senses. Desire and aversion, happiness and misery, the body,
consciousness, and the will—all these comprise the field and its
modifications. Humbleness; freedom from hypocrisy; non-violence;
forgiveness; simplicity; service of the Guru; cleanliness of body and mind;
steadfastness; and self-control; dispassion toward the objects of the
senses; absence of egotism; keeping in mind the evils of birth, disease,
old age, and death; non-attachment; absence of clinging to spouse,
children, home, and so on; even-mindedness amidst desired and undesired
events in life; constant and exclusive devotion toward Me; an inclination
for solitary places and an aversion for mundane society; constancy in
spiritual knowledge; and philosophical pursuit of the Absolute Truth—all
these I declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to it, I call
ignorance. I shall now reveal to you that which ought to be known, and by
knowing which, one attains immortality. It is the beginningless Brahman,
which lies beyond existence and non-existence. Everywhere are His hands and
feet, eyes, heads, and faces. His ears too are in all places, for He
pervades everything in the universe. Though He perceives all sense-objects,
yet He is devoid of the senses. He is unattached to everything, and yet He
is the sustainer of all. Although He is without attributes, yet He is the
enjoyer of the three modes of material nature. He exists outside and inside
all living beings, those that are moving and not moving. He is subtle, and
hence, He is incomprehensible. He is very far, but He is also very near.
Bhagavad Gita 13.17 He is indivisible, yet He appears
to be divided amongst living beings. Know the Supreme Entity to be the
Sustainer, Annihilator, and Creator of all beings. He is the source of
light in all luminaries, and is entirely beyond the darkness of ignorance.
He is knowledge, the object of knowledge, and the goal of knowledge. He
dwells within the hearts of all living beings. I have thus revealed to you
the nature of the field, the meaning of knowledge, and the object of
knowledge. Only My devotees can understand this in reality, and by doing
so, they attain My divine nature. Know that prakṛiti (material nature) and
puruṣh (the individual souls) are both beginningless. Also know that all
transformations of the body and the three modes of nature are produced by
material energy.
Bhagavad Gita 13.21 In the matter of creation, the
material energy is responsible for cause and effect; in the matter of
experiencing happiness and distress, the individual soul is declared
responsible. When the puruṣh (individual soul) seated in prakṛiti (the
material energy) desires to enjoy the three guṇas, attachment to them
becomes the cause of its birth in superior and inferior wombs. Within the
body also resides the Supreme Lord. He is said to be the Witness, the
Permitter, the Supporter, Transcendental Enjoyer, the ultimate Controller,
and the Paramātmā (Supreme Soul). Those who understand the truth about
Supreme Soul, the individual soul, material nature, and the interaction of
the three modes of nature will not take birth here again. They will be
liberated regardless of their present condition. Some try to perceive the
Supreme Soul within their hearts through meditation, and others try to do
so through the cultivation of knowledge, while still others strive to
attain that realization by the path of action. There are still others who
are unaware of these spiritual paths, but they hear from others and begin
worshipping the Supreme Lord. By such devotion to hearing from saints, they
too can gradually cross over the ocean of birth and death.
Bhagavad Gita 13.27 O best of the
Bharatas, whatever moving or unmoving being you see in existence, know it
to be a combination of the field of activities and the knower of the field.
They alone truly see, who perceive the Paramātmā (Supreme Soul)
accompanying the soul in all beings, and who understand both to be
imperishable in this perishable body. Those, who see God as the Supreme
Soul equally present everywhere and in all living beings, do not degrade
themselves by their mind. Thereby, they reach the supreme destination. They
alone truly see who understand that all actions (of the body) are performed
by material nature, while the embodied soul actually does nothing. When
they see the diverse variety of living beings situated in the same material
nature, and understand all of them to be born from it, they attain the
realization of the Brahman. The Supreme Soul is imperishable, without
beginning, and devoid of any material qualities, O son of Kunti. Although
situated within the body, It neither acts, nor is It tainted by material
energy. Space holds everything within it, but being subtle, does not get
contaminated by what it holds. Similarly, though its consciousness pervades
the body, the soul is not affected by the attributes of the body. Just as
one sun illumines the entire solar system, so does the individual soul
illumine the entire body (with consciousness). Those who perceive with the
eyes of knowledge the difference between the body and the knower of the
body, and the process of release from material nature, attain the supreme
destination.
II This body, O son of Kuntī! is called Kṣetra, and the
learned call him who knows it the Kṣetrajña.. And know me also, O
descendant of Bharata! to be the Kṣetrajña in all Kṣetras. The knowledge of
Kṣetra and Kṣetrajña is deemed by me (to be real) knowledge. Now hear from
me in brief what that Kṣetra (is), what (it is) like, what changes (it
undergoes), and whence (it comes), and what is he, and what his powers,
(all which) is sung in various ways by sages in numerous hymns, distinctly,
and in well-settled texts full of argument, giving indications or full
instruction about the Brahman. The great elements, egoism, the
understanding, the unperceived also, the ten senses, and the one, and the
five objects of sense, desire, aversion, pleasure, pain, body,
consciousness, courage, thus in brief has been declared the Kṣetra with
changes. Absence of vanity, absence of ostentatiousness, absence of
hurtfulness, forgiveness, straightforwardness, devotion to a preceptor,
purity, steadiness, self-restraint, indifference towards objects of sense,
and also absence of egoism; perception of the misery and evil of birth,
death, old age, and disease; absence of attachment, absence of
self-identifying regard for son, wife, home, and so forth; and constant
equability on the approach of (both what is) agreeable and (what is)
disagreeable; unswerving devotion to me, without meditation on any one
else; resorting to clean places, distaste for assemblages of men, constancy
in knowledge of the relation of the individual self to the supreme,
perception of the object of knowledge of the truth, this is called
knowledge; that is ignorance which is opposed to this. I will declare that
which is the object of knowledge, knowing which, one reaches immortality;
the highest Brahman, having no beginning nor end, which cannot be said to
be existent or non-existent. It has hands and feet on all sides, it has
eyes, heads, and faces on all sides, it has ears on all sides, it stands
pervading everything in the world. Possessed of the qualities of all the
senses, (but) devoid of all senses, unattached, it supports all, is devoid
of qualities, and the enjoyer of qualities. It is within all things and
without them; it is movable and also immovable; it is unknowable through
(its) subtlety; it stands afar and near. Not different in (different)
things, but standing as though different, it should be known to be the
supporter of (all) things, and that which absorbs and creates (them). It is
the radiance even of the radiant (bodies); it is said (to be) beyond
darkness. It is knowledge, the object of knowledge, that which is to be
attained to by knowledge, and placed in the heart of al. Thus in brief have
Kṣetra, knowledge, and the object of knowledge been declared. My devotee,
knowing this, becomes fit for assimilation with me. Know nature and spirit
both (to be) without beginning, and know all developments and qualities (to
be) produced from nature. Nature is said to be the origin of the capacity
of working (residing) in the body and the senses; and spirit is said (to
be) the origin of the capacity of enjoying pleasures and pains. For spirit
with nature joined, enjoys the qualities born of nature. And the cause of
its birth in good or evil wombs is the connexion with the qualities. The
supreme spirit in this body is called supervisor, adviser, supporter,
enjoyer, the great lord, and the supreme self also. He who thus knows
nature and spirit, together with the qualities, is not born again, however
living. Some by concentration see the self in the self by the self; others
by the Sāṅkya-yoga; and others still by the Karma-yoga others yet, not
knowing this, practise concentration, after hearing from others. They, too,
being (thus) devoted to hearing (instruction) cross beyond death. Whatever
thing movable or immovable comes into existence, know that to be from the
connexion of Kṣetra and Kṣetrajña, O chief of the descendants of Bharata!
He sees (truly) who sees the supreme lord abiding alike in all entities,
and not destroyed though they are destroyed. For he who sees the lord
abiding everywhere alike, does not destroy himself by himself, and then
reaches the highest goal. He sees (truly), who sees (all) actions (to be)
in every way done by nature alone, and likewise the self (to be) not the
doer. When a man sees all the variety of entities as existing in one, and
(all as) emanating from that, then he becomes (one with) the Brahman. This
inexhaustible supreme self, being without beginning and without qualities,
does not act, and is not tainted, O son of Kuntī! though stationed in the
body. As by (reason of its) subtlety the all-pervading space is not
tainted, so the self stationed in everybody is not tainted. As the sun
singly lights up all this world, so the Kṣetrajña, O descendant of Bharata!
lights up the whole Kṣetra. Those who, with the eye of knowledge, thus
understand the difference between Kṣetra and Kṣetrajña, and the destruction
of the nature of all entities, go to the supreme.
III One who can understand the Prakriti and the
Purushaa as Kshetra and Kshatriya soul and the body attains the realization
so easily. As long as the owner of the kshetra is in existence the kshetra
the matter is indestructible. Then Maya is nothing but matter appearing and
disappearing in many shapes. If the field and the knower of the field can
be understood as separate entities through the process of meditation, one
can get himself detached from the sheath of matter and consequently from
the joys and sorrows associated with it. Thereby, the knower of the field
who was the experiencer of the sorrows and joys of the material world
himself becomes the experiencer of the Absolute Bliss just as the driver
himself becomes an ordinary person without any designation when he is
enjoying the pleasure of being with his own family. The knower minus the
field of the known becomes the Pure Knowledge, Itself being always
perfect. This Chapter, therefore, leads us to deep spiritual insights
enabling us to realize the Imperishable and the Eternal within ourselves.
When the knower of the field understands his real nature which is apart
from the field, he rediscovers his own Divine nature. He realizes that he
is the Self which, when enveloped by the field, becomes the knower of the
field full of agitations.
K Rajaram IRS 1425
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