Shrimad Bhagavad Gita l English l Chapter 13

 

 

 

Shrimad Bhagavad Gita 


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Chapter 13 - The Yoga of the Distinction Between The Field and the Knower of the Field

1. Arjuna Uvaacha:
Prakritim purusham chaiva kshetram kshetrajnameva cha;
Etadveditumicchaami jnaanam jneyam cha keshava.

Arjuna said:
 I wish to learn about Nature (matter) and the Spirit (soul), the Field and the Knower of theField, knowledge and that which ought to be known.

2. Sri Bhagavaan Uvaacha:
Idam shareeram kaunteya kshetramityabhidheeyate;
Etadyo vetti tam praahuh kshetrajna iti tadvidah.

The Blessed Lord said:
 This body, O Arjuna, is called the Field;
 he who knows it is called the Knower of the Fieldby those who know of them, that is, by the sages.

3. Kshetrajnam chaapi maam viddhi sarvakshetreshu bhaarata;
Kshetrakshetrajnayor jnaanam yattat jnaanam matam mama.

 Do thou also know Me as the Knower of the Field in all fields, O Arjuna! Knowledge ofboth the Field and the Knower of the Field is considered by Me to be the knowledge.

4. Tat kshetram yaccha yaadrik cha yadvikaari yatashcha yat;
Sa cha yo yatprabhaavashcha tatsamaasena me shrinu.

 What the Field is and of what nature, what its modifications are and whence it is, and alsowho He is and what His powers are—hear all that from Me in brief.

5. Rishibhirbahudhaa geetam cchandobhirvividhaih prithak;
Brahmasootrapadaishchaiva hetumadbhirvinishchitaih.

 Sages have sung in many ways, in various distinctive chants and also in the suggestivewords indicative of the Absolute, full of reasoning and decisive.

6. Mahaabhootaanyahankaaro buddhiravyaktameva cha;
Indriyaani dashaikam cha pancha chendriyagocharaah.

 The great elements, egoism, intellect and also unmanifested Nature, the ten senses andone, and the five objects of the senses,COMMENTARY: Great elements: earth, water, fire, air and ether are so called becausethey pervade all modifications of matter. The ten senses are: the five organs of knowledge (ears,skin, eyes, tongue and nose), and the five organs of action (hand, feet, mouth, anus and generativeorgan).The one: this is the mind. The five objects of the senses are sound, touch, form colour, tasteand smell.

7. Icchaa dweshah sukham duhkham sanghaatashchetanaa dhritih;
Etat kshetram samaasena savikaaramudaahritam.

 Desire, hatred, pleasure, pain, the aggregate (the body), fortitude and intelligence—theField has thus been described briefly with its modifications.

8. Amaanitwam adambhitwam ahimsaa kshaantiraarjavam;
Aachaaryopaasanam shaucham sthairyamaatmavinigrahah.

 Humility, unpretentiousness, non-injury, forgiveness, uprightness, service of the teacher,purity, steadfastness, self-control,

9. Indriyaartheshu vairaagyamanahankaara eva cha;
Janmamrityujaraavyaadhi duhkhadoshaanu darshanam.

 Indifference to the objects of the senses, also absence of egoism, perception of (orreflection on) the evil in birth, death, old age, sickness and pain,

10. Asaktiranabhishwangah putradaaragrihaadishu;
Nityam cha samachittatwam ishtaanishtopapattishu.

 Non-attachment, non-identification of the Self with son, wife, home and the rest, andconstant even-mindedness on the attainment of the desirable and the undesirable,

11. Mayi chaananyayogena bhaktiravyabhichaarinee;
Viviktadesha sevitwam aratir janasamsadi.

 Unswerving devotion unto Me by the Yoga of non-separation, resort to solitary places,distaste for the society of men,

12. Adhyaatma jnaana nityatwam tattwa jnaanaartha darshanam;
Etajjnaanamiti proktam ajnaanam yadato’nyathaa.

 Constancy in Self-knowledge, perception of the end of true knowledge—this is declaredto be knowledge, and what is opposed to it is ignorance.

13. Jneyam yattat pravakshyaami yajjnaatwaa’mritamashnute;
Anaadimatparam brahma na sattannaasaduchyate.

 I will declare that which has to be known, knowing which one attains to immortality, thebeginningless supreme Brahman, called neither being nor non-being.

14. Sarvatah paanipaadam tat sarvato’kshishiromukham;
Sarvatah shrutimalloke sarvamaavritya tishthati.

 With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, with earseverywhere, He exists in the worlds, enveloping all.

15. Sarvendriyagunaabhaasam sarvendriyavivarjitam;
Asaktam sarvabhricchaiva nirgunam gunabhoktru cha.

 Shining by the functions of all the senses, yet without the senses;
 unattached, yetsupporting all;
 devoid of qualities, yet their experiencer,

16. Bahirantashcha bhootaanaam acharam charameva cha;
Sookshmatwaat tadavijneyam doorastham chaantike cha tat.

 Without and within (all) beings, the unmoving and also the moving;
 because of Hissubtlety, unknowable;
 and near and far away is That.

17. Avibhaktam cha bhooteshu vibhaktamiva cha sthitam;
Bhootabhartru cha tajjneyam grasishnu prabhavishnu cha.

 And undivided, yet He exists as if divided in beings;
 He is to be known as the supporterof beings;
 He devours and He generates also.

18. Jyotishaamapi tajjyotistamasah paramuchyate;
Jnaanam jneyam jnaanagamyam hridi sarvasya vishthitam.

 That, the Light of all lights, is beyond darkness;
 it is said to be knowledge, the Knowableand the goal of knowledge, seated in the hearts of all.

19. Iti kshetram tathaa jnaanam jneyam choktam samaasatah;
Madbhakta etadvijnaaya madbhaavaayopapadyate.

 Thus the Field as well as knowledge and the Knowable have been briefly stated. Mydevotee, knowing this, enters into My Being.

20. Prakritim purusham chaiva viddhyaanaadee ubhaavapi;
Vikaaraamshcha gunaamshchaiva viddhi prakritisambhavaan.

Know thou that Nature and Spirit are beginningless;
and know also that allmodifications and qualities are born of Nature.

21. Kaaryakaaranakartrutwe hetuh prakritiruchyate;
Purushah sukhaduhkhaanaam bhoktritwe heturuchyate.

 In the production of the effect and the cause, Nature (matter) is said to be the cause;
 inthe experience of pleasure and pain, the soul is said to be the cause.

22. Purushah prakritistho hi bhungkte prakritijaan gunaan;
Kaaranam gunasango’sya sadasadyoni janmasu.

 The soul seated in Nature experiences the qualities born of Nature;
 attachment to thequalities is the cause of his birth in good and evil wombs.

23. Upadrashtaanumantaa cha bhartaa bhoktaa maheshwarah;
Paramaatmeti chaapyukto dehe’smin purushah parah.

 The Supreme Soul in this body is also called the spectator, the permitter, the supporter,the enjoyer, the great Lord and the Supreme Self.

24. Ya evam vetti purusham prakritim cha gunaih saha;
Sarvathaa vartamaano’pi na sa bhooyo’bhijaayate.

 He who thus knows Spirit and Matter, together with the qualities, in whatever conditionhe may be, he is not reborn.

25. Dhyaanenaatmani pashyanti kechidaatmaanamaatmanaa;
Anye saankhyena yogena karmayogena chaapare.

 Some by meditation behold the Self in the Self by the Self, others by the Yoga ofknowledge, and others by the Yoga of action.

26. Anye twevamajaanantah shrutwaanyebhya upaasate;
Te’pi chaatitarantyeva mrityum shrutiparaayanaah.

 Others also, not knowing thus, worship, having heard of it from others;
 they, too, crossbeyond death, regarding what they have heard as the supreme refuge.

27. Yaavat sanjaayate kinchit sattwam sthaavarajangamam;
Kshetrakshetrajnasamyogaat tadviddhi bharatarshabha.

 Wherever a being is born, whether it be unmoving or moving, know thou, O best of theBharatas (Arjuna), that it is from the union between the Field and its Knower.

28. Samam sarveshu bhooteshu tishthantam parameshwaram;
Vinashyatswavinashyantam yah pashyati sa pashyati.

 He sees, who sees the Supreme Lord, existing equally in all beings, the unperishingwithin the perishing.COMMENTARY: Birth is the root cause of the modifications of change, growth, decayand death. The other changes of state manifest after the birth of the body. But the Lord is changelessand He is birthless, decayless and deathless.

29. Samam pashyan hi sarvatra samavasthitameeshwaram;
Na hinastyaatmanaa’tmaanam tato yaati paraam gatim.

 Because he who sees the same Lord dwelling equally everywhere does not destroy theSelf by the self, he goes to the highest goal.

30. Prakrityaiva cha karmaani kriyamaanaani sarvashah;
Yah pashyati tathaa’tmaanam akartaaram sa pashyati.

 He sees, who sees that all actions are performed by Nature alone and that the Self isactionless.

31. Yadaa bhootaprithagbhaavam ekastham anupashyati;
Tata eva cha vistaaram brahma sampadyate tadaa.

 When a man sees the whole variety of beings as resting in the One, and spreading forthfrom That alone, he then becomes Brahman.COMMENTARY: A man attains to unity with the Supreme when he knows or realisesthrough intuition that all these manifold forms are rooted in the One. Like waves in water, like raysin the sun, so also all forms are rooted in the One.

32. Anaaditwaan nirgunatwaat paramaatmaayam avyayah;
Shareerastho’pi kaunteya na karoti na lipyate.

 Being without beginning and devoid of (any) qualities, the Supreme Self, imperishable,though dwelling in the body, O Arjuna, neither acts nor is tainted!

33. Yathaa sarvagatam saukshmyaadaakaasham nopalipyate;
Sarvatraavasthito dehe tathaatmaa nopalipyate.

 As the all-pervading ether is not tainted because of its subtlety, so the Self seatedeverywhere in the body, is not tainted.

34. Yathaa prakaashayatyekah kritsnam lokamimam ravih;
Kshetram kshetree tathaa kritsnam prakaashayati bhaarata.

 Just as the one sun illumines the whole world, so also the Lord of the Field (the SupremeSelf) illumines the whole Field, O Arjuna!

35. Kshetrakshetrajnayor evam antaram jnaanachakshushaa;
Bhootaprakritimoksham cha ye vidur yaanti te param.

 They who, through the eye of knowledge, perceive the distinction between the Field andits Knower, and also the liberation from the Nature of being, they go to the Supreme.COMMENTARY: They who know through the eye of intuition opened by meditation andthe instructions of the Guru and the scriptures, that the Field is insentient, the doer, changing andfinite, and that the Knower of the Field is pure Consciousness, the non-doer, unchanging andinfinite, and who also perceive the non-existence of Nature, ignorance, the Unmanifested, thematerial cause of being,—they attain the Supreme.

Hari Om Tat SatIti Srimad Bhagavadgeetaasoopanishatsu BrahmavidyaayaamYogashaastre Sri KrishnaarjunasamvaadeKshetrakshetrajnavibhaagayogo Naama Trayodasho’dhyaayah

Thus in the Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita, the science of the Eternal, thescripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, ends the thirteenth discourseentitled:“The Yoga of the Distinction Between The Field and the Knower of the Field”


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