Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Verse 35

Chapter 13 – Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोरेवमन्तरं ज्ञानचक्षुषा ।
भूतप्रकृतिमोक्षं च ये विदुर्यान्ति ते परम् ॥

Transliteration

kṣetrakṣetrajñayorevamantaraṃ jñānacakṣuṣā .
bhūtaprakṛtimokṣaṃ ca ye viduryānti te param ॥

Meaning

Those who, with the eye of knowledge, thus know the difference between the field and its knower, and the liberation of beings from Prakriti, reach the Supreme.

Word meanings

क्षेत्र – the field (body and Nature)
क्षेत्रज्ञयोः – and of the knower of the field (of both)
एवम् – thus
अन्तरम् – difference, distinction
ज्ञानचक्षुषा – by the eye of knowledge
भूत – of beings
प्रकृति – from Prakriti
मोक्षम् – liberation
च – and
ये – who
विदुः – know
यान्ति – go, reach
ते – they
परम् – the Supreme

Anvaya (word order)

ये एवं ज्ञानचक्षुषा क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोः अन्तरं भूतप्रकृतिमोक्षं च विदुः, ते परं यान्ति ।

Explanation

This verse concludes the thirteenth chapter and gathers its entire teaching into a single sentence. At the start of the chapter Krishna declared that knowledge of the field and its knower is true knowledge. Now he states its final fruit: whoever, with jnana-chakshu, the eye of knowledge awakened through scripture and the teacher's guidance, discerns the distinction between the two, reaches the Supreme.

Two things are named as worth knowing. The first is the antaram, the difference, between field and knower: the field is insentient, changing, seen and subject to modification; the knower is conscious, changeless, the seer and eternal. The second is bhuta-prakriti-moksha, the release of beings from Prakriti. The acharyas interpret this phrase somewhat differently. Shankara reads it as freedom from Prakriti in the form of ignorance, that is, liberation through the destruction of avidya. Ramanuja takes it as knowledge of the means of release from Prakriti, namely the virtues such as humility listed in verses 8-12 under the name of knowledge. Madhva understands it as release from the bondage of Prakriti by the grace of the Lord.

The phrase eye of knowledge is significant. In chapter 11 Arjuna was given a divine eye to behold the cosmic form; here Krishna teaches that to see the Self one needs the eye of knowledge. Physical eyes perceive forms; the eye of wisdom perceives reality.

Thus the chapter's journey is complete: the definition of the field, the disciplines that constitute knowledge, the description of Brahman to be known, the discrimination of Prakriti and Purusha, and finally the fruit of right vision. In chapter 14, Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga, Krishna will expand on the three gunas of Prakriti, sattva, rajas and tamas, which bind the Purusha, and show the way to transcend them.

Context

This is the final verse of the Kshetra-Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga, in which Krishna tells Arjuna the fruit of the whole chapter's knowledge. Verse 34 described the knower as the illuminating sun; now the result of discriminating knowledge, attainment of the Supreme, is declared. The fourteenth chapter, Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga, follows, detailing the three gunas of Prakriti and liberation from them.

Life lesson

Learning to tell apart what changes from what knows is the key to spiritual life. This discernment must not remain merely something read; it must be awakened in daily experience, for only then does it set us free.

Key terms

Jnana-chakshu: the eye of knowledge, discriminating vision
Kshetra-kshetrajna antara: the distinction between the insentient field and the conscious knower
Bhuta-prakriti-moksha: the release of beings from the bondage of Prakriti
Param: the Supreme, Brahman