Bhagavad Gita · 13.10 · Yoga through Distinguishing the Field and the Knower of the Field·10 of 35
असक्ितरनभिष्वङ्गः पुत्रदारगृहादिषु।नित्यं च समचित्तत्वमिष्टानिष्टोपपत्तिषु ॥
asaktir anabhiṣhvaṅgaḥ putra-dāra-gṛihādiṣhu
nityaṁ cha sama-chittatvam iṣhṭāniṣhṭopapattiṣhu
Sanskrit recitation
The field and the knower · 13.1–13.18 · Teaching
Translation
Non-attachment, non-identification of the Self with son, wife, home, and the rest, and constant even-mindedness in the face of the attainment of both desirable and undesirable.
Meaning
When a man thinks, This object is mine, the idea of mineness enters his mind. He develops Abhimana (false identification). Then he begins to love the objects. He clings to them and gets attached to them. Asakti is nonattachment to objects. There is absence of liking for the objects.Anabhishvangah There is intense attachment to wife, son or mother, etc. There is complete identification of the Self with another. He feels happy or miserable when that person is happy or miserable. Govindan feels miserable when his wife is dead because he was very much attached to her but he does not feel anything when his neighbours wife is dead. A man of wisdom has no attachment to his home. He considers his home as a public inn on the side of a public road.And the rest Others who are very dear relatives or other dependants.Constant evenmindedness or equanimity is an index of knowledge. The man of wisdom is neither elated when he gets the desirable or pleasant objects, nor grieves when he attains the undesriable or painful objects.Nonattachment, absence of affection and equanimity are all conducive to the attainment of knowledge of the Self. They are designated as knowledge because they are the means of attaining knowledge.
After Swami Sivananda
The field and the knower· 13.1–13.18→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 13.1Arjuna said, "I wish to learn about Nature and the Spirit, the field and the knower of the field, knowledge and that which ought to be known, O Kesava."
- 13.2The Blessed Lord said, "O Arjuna, this body is called the field; he who knows it is called the knower of the field by those who know them."
- 13.3Do thou also know Me as the knower of the field in all fields, O Arjuna. Knowledge of both the field and the knower of the field is considered by Me to be the knowledge.
- 13.4Hear from Me in brief what the field is, of what nature it is, what its modifications are, whence it is, who He is, and what His powers are.
- 13.5Sages have sung in many ways, with various distinctive chants and also with suggestive words indicative of the Absolute, full of reasoning and decisive.
- 13.6The great elements, egoism, intellect, and also the Unmanifested Nature, the ten senses, and one mind, and the five objects of the senses.
- 13.7Desire, hatred, pleasure, pain, the aggregate (body), intelligence, and fortitude—the field has thus been briefly described with its modifications.
- 13.8Humility, unpretentiousness, non-injury, forgiveness, uprightness, service to the teacher, purity, steadfastness, and self-control.
- 13.9Indifference to the objects of the senses and also absence of egoism; perceiving the evil in birth, death, old age, sickness, and pain.
13.10Non-attachment, non-identification of the Self with son, wife, home, and the rest, and constant even-mindedness in the face of the attainment of both desirable and undesirable.
- 13.11Unswerving devotion to Me through the Yoga of non-separation, resorting to solitary places, and a distaste for the company of people.
- 13.12Constancy in Self-knowledge, the perception of the end of true knowledge—this is declared to be knowledge, and what is opposed to it is ignorance.
- 13.13I will declare that which is to be known, knowing which one attains immortality; the beginningless Supreme Brahman, which is neither being nor non-being.
- 13.14With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads, and mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere, He exists in the worlds, enveloping all.
- 13.15Shining by the functions of all the senses, yet without being attached to them; unattached, yet supporting all; devoid of qualities, yet the experiencer of them.
- 13.16It is within and without all beings, both the unmoving and the moving; It is subtle and unknowable, and It is near and far away.
- 13.17Undivided yet, It exists as if divided in beings; It is to be known as the supporter of beings; It devours and It generates.
- 13.18That Light of all lights is said to be beyond darkness: knowledge, the knowable, and the goal of knowledge, seated in the hearts of all.
Word-by-word→
- cha
- and
- dāra
- spouse
- putra
- children
- nityam
- constant
- asaktiḥ
- non-attachment
- iṣhṭa
- the desirable
- aniṣhṭa
- undesirable
- upapattiṣhu
- having obtained
- sama-chittatvam
- even-mindedness
- gṛiha-ādiṣhu
- home, etc
- anabhiṣhvaṅgaḥ
- absence of craving
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