Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Verse 3

Chapter 13 – Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

क्षेत्रज्ञं चापि मां विद्धि सर्वक्षेत्रेषु भारत ।
क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोर्ज्ञानं यत्तज्ज्ञानं मतं मम ॥

Transliteration

kṣetrajñaṃ cāpi māṃ viddhi sarvakṣetreṣu bhārata .
kṣetrakṣetrajñayorjñānaṃ yattajjñānaṃ mataṃ mama ॥

Meaning

Know Me also to be the knower of the field in all fields, O Bharata. The knowledge of the field and its knower — that alone is true knowledge in My view.

Word meanings

क्षेत्रज्ञम् – the knower of the field
च अपि – and also
माम् – Me
विद्धि – know
सर्वक्षेत्रेषु – in all fields (bodies)
भारत – O descendant of Bharata
क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोः – of the field and the knower of the field
ज्ञानम् – knowledge
यत् – which
तत् – that
ज्ञानम् – (true) knowledge
मतम् – is considered
मम – by Me, My

Anvaya (word order)

भारत, सर्वक्षेत्रेषु क्षेत्रज्ञम् च अपि माम् विद्धि । क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोः यत् ज्ञानम् तत् ज्ञानम् मम मतम् ।

Explanation

Having said that whoever knows the body is its knower, Krishna now takes a breathtaking step: ‘Know Me to be the knower in all fields.’ Bodies are countless, experiences are endlessly varied, yet the awareness that illumines every one of them is ultimately the Lord’s own. This is among the most profound statements of the Gita, and the schools of Vedanta have read it with great care.

For Shankara this is a direct declaration of non-duality: the knower who appears as an individual soul is not different from the Supreme; difference appears only because of limiting adjuncts such as body and mind, just as space seems divided by pots. Ramanuja reads it through the body-soul relationship: the Lord dwells in every individual self as its inner controller, the selves form his body, and so he can speak of them as ‘Me’ without erasing their distinct reality. Madhva holds that the Lord is the supreme knower and ruler of all fields, while individual souls remain eternally distinct and dependent.

The second line matters just as much: knowledge of the field and its knower is, in Krishna’s own judgement, knowledge in the full sense. Other learning — sciences, arts, even scriptural scholarship — has its value, but without discerning the seer from the seen it stays incomplete. The Upanishads speak of the same inner witness, the unseen seer and unheard hearer within all beings (Brihadaranyaka 3.7), and this verse places that vision at the heart of the chapter.

Context

Verse 2 defined the field and its knower. Here Krishna identifies himself as the knower in all fields and calls this discrimination true knowledge. In the next verse he promises to explain the field and its knower in brief.

Life lesson

The same light of awareness shines in every being, and seeing this naturally breeds respect and compassion. Real education leads us toward the witness within. Let the growth of information be matched by the growth of self-knowledge.

Key terms

Sarva-kshetra: All fields, the bodies and experience of all beings
Antaryamin: The inner controller, the Supreme dwelling within all
Jnana: Here, the discerning knowledge of the field and its knower