Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Verse 1

Chapter 13 – Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga · Speaker: Arjuna

Sanskrit verse

अर्जुन उवाच ।
प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव क्षेत्रं क्षेत्रज्ञमेव च ।
एतद्वेदितुमिच्छामि ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं च केशव ॥

Transliteration

arjuna uvāca .
prakṛtiṃ puruṣaṃ caiva kṣetraṃ kṣetrajñameva ca .
etadveditumicchāmi jñānaṃ jñeyaṃ ca keśava ॥

Meaning

Arjuna said: O Keshava, I wish to know about Prakriti and Purusha, the field and the knower of the field, and also about knowledge and that which is to be known.

Word meanings

अर्जुन उवाच – Arjuna said
प्रकृतिम् – Prakriti, primordial nature, matter
पुरुषम् – Purusha, the conscious spirit
च एव – and also
क्षेत्रम् – the field (the body)
क्षेत्रज्ञम् – the knower of the field
एव च – and indeed
एतत् – all this
वेदितुम् – to know
इच्छामि – I wish
ज्ञानम् – knowledge
ज्ञेयम् – that which is to be known
च – and
केशव – O Keshava (Krishna, slayer of the demon Keshi, or the one with beautiful hair)

Anvaya (word order)

अर्जुनः उवाच — केशव, प्रकृतिम् पुरुषम् च एव क्षेत्रम् क्षेत्रज्ञम् एव च ज्ञानम् ज्ञेयम् च एतत् वेदितुम् इच्छामि ।

Explanation

The twelfth chapter closed with a tender portrait of the devotee dear to the Lord, but it also mentioned those who worship the imperishable, unmanifest Absolute. Arjuna now wants the ground beneath both paths made clear: what exactly is the self that worships, and what is the world in which it lives? He frames his question as three pairs — Prakriti and Purusha, the field and its knower, knowledge and the knowable. These six words function as a table of contents for the whole chapter.

A textual note is in order. This verse is not found in every edition of the Gita. Adi Shankaracharya does not comment on it, and many popular editions therefore begin the chapter with ‘idam shariram kaunteya’ and count thirty-four verses. Editions that include it, like this one, have thirty-five verses, so every verse number in this chapter runs one ahead of those editions. This is also why the total count of the Gita is sometimes given as 700 and sometimes as 701.

Philosophically the three pairs look at one truth from three angles. Prakriti and Purusha describe the cosmic division between insentient matter and conscious spirit. The field and its knower bring that division home to personal experience: the body-mind complex and the witness who is aware of it. Knowledge and the knowable turn toward practice — the qualities through which truth is realised, and the truth itself. Krishna answers in exactly this spirit: he defines the field, lists twenty marks of true knowledge, describes Brahman as the knowable, and finally explains Prakriti and Purusha.

The acharyas read the inquiry through their own lenses. For Shankara, discriminating the field from its knower leads to the recognition that the knower is none other than Brahman. Ramanuja sees here the distinction of the individual self from the body, with the Supreme as the inner controller of both. Madhva stresses the eternal difference between the individual soul and the Lord who governs all fields. Whatever the reading, the verse models what good spiritual inquiry looks like: precise, orderly and sincere.

Context

This verse opens the thirteenth chapter after the twelfth, on devotion, has ended. It marks the shift from the devotion-centred middle six chapters toward the knowledge-centred final six. In the next verse Krishna begins his answer by declaring the body to be the field.

Life lesson

Clarity in asking is the beginning of wisdom. Learn to distinguish between what you are and what you experience. Bring your real questions honestly to a teacher instead of carrying vague confusion.

Key terms

Prakriti: Primordial nature, the changing material cause of body, mind and world
Purusha: The conscious principle that experiences Prakriti
Kshetra-Kshetrajna: The field (body-mind) and its knower (the witnessing self)
Jnana-Jneya: Knowledge (its means and marks) and the knowable (the Supreme truth)