Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Verse 4

Chapter 13 – Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

तत्क्षेत्रं यच्च यादृक्च यद्विकारि यतश्च यत् ।
स च यो यत्प्रभावश्च तत्समासेन मे शृणु ॥

Transliteration

tatkṣetraṃ yacca yādṛkca yadvikāri yataśca yat .
sa ca yo yatprabhāvaśca tatsamāsena me śṛṇu ॥

Meaning

Hear from Me in brief what that field is, what its nature is, what its modifications are, and from what cause each effect arises; and also who the knower is and what his powers are.

Word meanings

तत् – that
क्षेत्रम् – field
यत् – what it is
च – and
यादृक् – of what nature
च – and
यद्विकारि – with what modifications
यतः – from what (cause)
च – and
यत् – what (effect arises)
सः – he (the knower)
च – and
यः – who he is
यत्प्रभावः – of what powers or glory
च – and
तत् – all that
समासेन – in brief
मे – from Me
शृणु – hear

Anvaya (word order)

तत् क्षेत्रम् यत् च यादृक् च यद्विकारि यतः च यत्, सः च यः यत्प्रभावः च, तत् समासेन मे शृणु ।

Explanation

This verse reads like the opening of a well-prepared lesson. Before entering the subject, Krishna sets out the questions he will answer. About the field there are four: what it is, what its character is, what modifications it undergoes, and which effects arise from which causes. About the knower there are two: who he is, and what his power or glory is.

The word samasena, ‘in brief’, is significant. Krishna is not delivering a full treatise of Sankhya cosmology; he gives only what the seeker needs for liberation. Shankara notes that the discussion of cause and effect within the field has a practical purpose: once one sees that body and mind are products of Prakriti, it becomes clear that they cannot be the self. By the ‘powers’ of the knower he understands the capacities — seeing, hearing, knowing — that function only by the light of its awareness.

Ramanuja relates the field to the self as the instrument of its experience, and the knower to its own essential nature and its relationship with the Lord. The promise made here is fulfilled step by step: verses 6 and 7 list the constituents and modifications of the field, and later verses describe the knowable Brahman and Purusha. The verse thus serves as a map for the entire chapter.

Context

In verse 3 Krishna called the knowledge of field and knower true knowledge. Now he outlines which aspects of it he will explain briefly. In the next verse he points to the authoritative tradition — the sages, the Vedas and the Brahma Sutras — that has already sung of this truth.

Life lesson

Before you try to understand anything deeply, frame clear questions: what, of what kind, why and from where. Bring the same discipline to self-study — examine the nature and causes of your body and mind so that you can rise above identification with them.

Key terms

Vikara: Modification, an evolute arising from primordial nature
Prabhava: The glory and power of the knower
Samasa: Brief, condensed statement