Bhagavad Gita/Conversation 13. “Field” and “Knower of the Field”
Conversation 13.
“Field” and “Knower of the Field”
Arjuna said:
13:1. About prakriti and purusha, as well as about “field” and “Knower of the field”, about wisdom and about everything that is necessary to know, I would like to hear from You, O Keshava!
Lord Krishna said:
13:2. This body, O Kaunteya, is called “field”. The One, who knows it, is called by sages “Knower of the field”.
13:3. Know Me as the “Knower of the field” in all “fields”. True knowledge about the “field” and the “Knower of the field” is what I call wisdom, O Bharata!
13:4. What is this “field” and what is its nature, how it changes and where it is from, also who is He and what is His Power — all this I am going to tell you in brief.
13:5. All this was sung by sages in various hymns and in the words of Brahmasutra full of reason.
13:6. Knowing the great elements, the individual “I”, the mind, the Unmanifest, the eleven indriyas, and the five “pastures” of the indriyas,
13:7. humility, honesty, kindness, all-forgiveness, simplicity, serving the teacher, purity, steadfastness, self-control,
13:8. dispassion towards earthly objects, absence of egoism, understanding the essence of suffering and the evil of new births, of old age, and of sickness,
13:9. absence of worldly attachments, freedom from enslavement by children, wife, and home, being ever in the state of peace among desired or undesired events,
13:10. steadfast and pure love for Me, wholehearted intent to abandon vain relations with people, being self-sufficient,
13:11. constancy in spiritual search, striving to gain the true wisdom — all this is acknowledged as true, everything else is ignorance!
13:12. I will reveal to you what has to be known, and, having been known, brings one to Immortality: this is Supreme Brahman, Who has no origin and is beyond the limits of existence and non-existence (of beings).
13:13. His hands, feet, eyes, heads, mouths are everywhere, omniscient, He abides in the world, embracing everything.
13:14. He has no organs of perception, yet He perceives everything, having no attachments to anything, yet sustaining all beings, free from the three gunas and using the gunas,
13:15. inside and outside all beings, staying in calm and yet acting, elusive in His subtlety, being always near and yet at the unspeakable distance — such is imperishable He!
13:16. Not divided among beings and yet existing separately in everyone, He is cognized as the Helper of all. He embraces all beings with Himself and guides them in their development.
13:17. About Him, about the Light of all lights, it is said that He is beyond the darkness. He is Wisdom, the Purpose of every wisdom, cognized by wisdom, residing in the hearts of all!
13:18. Such are the “field”, the wisdom, and the object of wisdom, in brief. Having known them, My devoted disciple cognizes My Essence.
13:19. Know that both purusha and prakriti have no origin. Know also that advancement in the gunas happens thanks to one’s existence in prakriti.
13:20. Prakriti is considered as the source giving origin to causes and effects. And purusha is the cause of experiencing pleasant and unpleasant.
13:21. Being in prakriti, embodied purusha necessarily merges with the gunas that originate on prakriti. An attachment to a certain guna is the cause of incarnation of purusha in good or bad conditions.
13:22. Observing, Supporting, All-receiving, the Highest Ruler, also the Divine Atman — this is how one calls the Supreme Spirit in this body.
13:23. They who have cognized thus purusha, prakriti, and the three gunas — in whatever conditions they live — they are not subject to new births anymore!
13:24. Some, meditating in the Atman, cognize the Atman from within the Atman. Others (cognize the Atman) through Sankhya Yoga. Others yet (go to this) through Karma Yoga.
13:25. Even those who are unaware about this, but having heard from others, worship sincerely — they too become free from the way of death through partaking of what they have heard!
13:26. O best of the Bharatas! Know that all existing — moving and nonmoving — originates from interaction between the “field” and the “Knower of the field”!
13:27. The one who sees the Supreme Lord non-perishing in the perishing and equally present in all beings — the seeing of such one is true!
13:28. The one who really sees Ishvara equally present everywhere — such one cannot stray from the true Path!
13:29. The one who sees that all actions are realized only in prakriti and that the Atman remains in calm — such one truly sees!
13:30. Comprehending that the multifarious existence of beings is rooted in One and originates from Him, such a person attains Brahman.
13:31. The eternal and unbound by prakriti Divine Atman, though residing in bodies, does not act and cannot be influenced, O Kaunteya!
13:32. As the omnipresent void does not intermix with anything because of its subtlety, so the Atman residing in bodies intermixes with nothing.
13:33. But as the Sun illuminates the Earth, even so the Ruler of the “field” illuminates the entire “field”, O Bharata!
13:34. The one who sees with the eyes of wisdom this difference between the “field” and the “Knower of the field” and knows the process of liberating the indriyas from prakriti — such one approaches the Supreme Aim!
Thus in the Upanishads of the blessed Bhagavad Gita, the Science of Eternal, the Scripture of Yoga, says the thirteenth conversation between Shri Krishna and Arjuna, entitled:
“Field” and “Knower of the Field”.
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