Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Verse 34

Chapter 13 – Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

यथा प्रकाशयत्येकः कृत्स्नं लोकमिमं रविः ।
क्षेत्रं क्षेत्री तथा कृत्स्नं प्रकाशयति भारत ॥

Transliteration

yathā prakāśayatyekaḥ kṛtsnaṃ lokamimaṃ raviḥ .
kṣetraṃ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṃ prakāśayati bhārata ॥

Meaning

O Bharata, just as the one sun illumines this whole world, so the Lord of the field illumines the whole field.

Word meanings

यथा – just as
प्रकाशयति – illumines
एकः – the one, alone
कृत्स्नम् – the whole
लोकम् – world
इमम् – this
रविः – the sun
क्षेत्रम् – the field (body and Nature)
क्षेत्री – the owner of the field, the knower
तथा – so
कृत्स्नम् – the whole
प्रकाशयति – illumines
भारत – O descendant of Bharata (Arjuna)

Anvaya (word order)

भारत, यथा एकः रविः इमं कृत्स्नं लोकं प्रकाशयति, तथा क्षेत्री कृत्स्नं क्षेत्रं प्रकाशयति ।

Explanation

Having shown the Self's freedom from taint through the image of space, Krishna now offers the image of the sun, which reveals the Self as the illuminator. One sun lights mountains, rivers, forests and cities alike. It reveals good and bad, beautiful and ugly, without distinction, and yet it is not affected by any of them. Without the sun everything would still be there, but nothing could be seen.

In the same way the kshetri, the knower and owner of the field, illumines the whole field: body, senses, mind, intellect, pleasure and pain, desire and aversion, all of which were listed in verses 6-7 of this chapter. These are insentient in themselves; the consciousness that makes them knowable is the Self. The eye sees forms, the mind directs the eye, and the Self knows even the mind. The Katha Upanishad says that by its light alone all this shines.

The analogy also confirms the two preceding ideas. The sun lights up all the world's activity, yet itself performs none of it; this is the Self's non-agency. The sun shines on mud without becoming muddy; this is the Self's freedom from taint. In a single image Krishna gathers the teaching of verses 30 to 33.

Shankara emphasises the word ekah, one, to show that the illuminating Self is one in all bodies. Ramanuja reads the verse as the individual self illumining its own body with knowledge: just as the sun, located in one place, spreads light far and wide, the self's consciousness pervades the entire body. Both readings agree that awareness is never a product of the field but is always its light.

Context

After the analogy of space in verse 33, Krishna gives Arjuna the analogy of the sun to show the illuminating nature of the knower of the field. The next verse concludes the chapter by stating the fruit of knowing the distinction between field and knower.

Life lesson

All our experiences, joy and sorrow, success and failure, are illumined, but we ourselves are the light that knows them. Remembering this, we are not swept away by experiences but remain at peace as their witness.

Key terms

Kshetri: the owner of the field, the knowing Self
Prakashaka: the illuminator, that which reveals all
Ravi: the sun