Chapter 13 · Verse 2

Yoga through Distinguishing the Field and the Knower of the Field

श्री भगवानुवाचइदं शरीरं कौन्तेय क्षेत्रमित्यभिधीयते।एतद्यो वेत्ति तं प्राहुः क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विदः

śhrī-bhagavān uvācha idaṁ śharīraṁ kaunteya kṣhetram ity abhidhīyate etad yo vetti taṁ prāhuḥ kṣhetra-jña iti tad-vidaḥ

Word Meanings

śhrī-bhagavān uvācha idam śharīram kaunteya kṣhetram iti abhidhīyate etat yaḥ vetti tam prāhuḥ kṣhetra-jñaḥ iti tat-vidaḥ

Translation

The Blessed Lord said: This body, O son of Kunti, is called the field, and one who knows it is called the knower of the field by those who understand this truth.

Commentary

इदम् this? शरीरम् body? कौन्तेय O son of Kunti (Arjuna)? क्षेत्रम् the field? इति thus? अभिधीयते is called? एतत् this? यः who? वेत्ति knows? तम् him? प्राहुः (they) call? क्षेत्रज्ञः the knower of the field? इति thus? तद्विदः the knowers of that.Commentary Kshetra literally means field. The body is so called because the fruits (harvest) of actions in the form of pleasure and pain are reaped in it as in a field. The physical? the mental and the causal bodies go to constitute the totality of the field. It is not the physical body alone that forms the field.He who knows the field and he who beholds it as distinct from himself through knowledge is the knower of the field or matter.Those who know them The sages.