Bhagavad Gita · 13.19 · Yoga through Distinguishing the Field and the Knower of the Field·19 of 35
इति क्षेत्रं तथा ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं चोक्तं समासतः।मद्भक्त एतद्विज्ञाय मद्भावायोपपद्यते ॥
iti kṣhetraṁ tathā jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ choktaṁ
samāsataḥ mad-bhakta etad vijñāya mad-bhāvāyopapadyate
Sanskrit recitation
Matter, spirit, and freedom · 13.19–13.35 · Teaching
Translation
Thus, the field, as well as knowledge and the knowable, have been briefly stated. My devotee, knowing this, enters into My being.
Meaning
He whohas controlled his mind and organs, who has the knowledge of the field and the knowable, and who fixes his mind on Me becomes one with Me.Thus the field described above (beginning with the great elements and ending with firmness, verses 5 and 6), knowledge described above (beginning with humility and ending with perception of the end of true knowledge in verses 7 to 11) and the knowable described in verses 12 to 17 -- these have briefly been stated.He who has singleminded devotion unto Me, who takes Me (Vaasudeva, the Supreme Lord, the omniscient, and the supreme Guru) as the Self of everything, he who thinks and feels that all that he sees, hears and touches is nothing but the Lord and he who has the right knowledge described above enters into My Being or attains release from birth and death.
After Swami Sivananda
Matter, spirit, and freedom· 13.19–13.35→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
13.19Thus, the field, as well as knowledge and the knowable, have been briefly stated. My devotee, knowing this, enters into My being.
- 13.20Know that Nature (matter) and the Spirit are both beginningless, and know also that all modifications and qualities are born from Nature.
- 13.21In the production of the effect and the cause, Nature (matter) is said to be the cause; in the experience of pleasure and pain, the soul is said to be the one responsible.
- 13.22The soul seated in Nature experiences the qualities born of Nature; attachment to the qualities is the cause of its birth in good and evil wombs.
- 13.23The Supreme Soul in this body is also called the observer, the permitter, the sustainer, the enjoyer, the great Lord, and the Supreme Self.
- 13.24He who thus knows the Spirit and Matter together with their qualities, in whatever condition he may be, he is not reborn.
- 13.25Some behold the Self within themselves through meditation, others through the Yoga of knowledge, and still others through the Yoga of action.
- 13.26Others, too, who do not know thus, worship, having heard of It from others; they, too, cross beyond death, regarding what they have heard as the supreme refuge.
- 13.27Wherever a being is born, whether unmoving or moving, know thou, O best of the Bharatas (Arjuna), that it is from the union of the field and its knower.
- 13.28He who sees the Supreme Lord existing truly in all beings, the imperishable within the perishable, sees indeed.
- 13.29For he who truly sees the same Lord dwelling everywhere does not destroy the Self by the self; rather, he attains the highest goal.
- 13.30He sees, who sees that all actions are performed solely by Nature and that the Self is without action.
- 13.31When a person sees all beings as resting in the One and emanating from the One alone, they then become Brahman.
- 13.32Being without beginning, devoid of any qualities, the Supreme Self, imperishable, though dwelling in the body, O Arjuna, neither acts nor is tainted.
- 13.33As the all-pervading ether is not tainted, due to its subtlety, so the Self seated everywhere in the body is not tainted either.
- 13.34Just as the one sun illuminates the entire world, so too does the Lord of the field (Supreme Self) illuminate the entire field, O Arjuna.
- 13.35They who, by the eye of knowledge, perceive the distinction between the field and its knower, as well as the liberation from the Nature of being, go to the Supreme.
Word-by-word→
- cha
- and
- iti
- thus
- etat
- this
- uktam
- revealed
- tathā
- and
- jñeyam
- the object of knowledge
- jñānam
- the meaning of knowledge
- vijñāya
- having understood
- kṣhetram
- the nature of the field
- upapadyate
- attain
- samāsataḥ
- in summary
- mat-bhaktaḥ
- my devotee
- mat-bhāvāya
- my divine nature
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