arjuna uvāca prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva kṣetraṁ kṣetrajñam eva ca |
etad veditum icchāmi jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ ca keśava ||
Arjuna said: I wish to know this, Keśava (Krsna)! prakṛti and puruṣa; the field and the knower of the field; the means of knowledge and what is to be known.
Arjuna wants to know three pairs of words. What is meant by prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ. Similarly he wants to know what is meant by kṣetraṁ and kṣetrajñam. So too, jñānaṁ and jñeyaṁ.
Literal meaning of jñeyaṁ - what is to be known. In this context the meaning of
jñeyaṁ - what must be known in one's life which is brahman. The purpose of human birth is to know one's own limitless nature, so there is no more desire for another birth. Arjuna also wants to know what kind of mind is able to know - jñānaṁ, this knowledge. Here jñānaṁ is the inner instrument endowed with values like amānitvam etc. The mind endowed with the values that are going to be listed in this chapter itself is the means by which this knowledge is gained, therefore called jñānaṁ.
In the seventh chapter, two types of prakrti - nature of Īśvara were mentioned briefly. aparā-prakrti (lower nature) comprises three guna which is entire universe with names and forms, and parā-prakrti (higher nature) which is sat-cit-ānanda, by which the entire manifested world is supported. This two-fold prakrti accounts for Īśvara being the cause for this entire world. Another word for aparā-prakrti is ksetra - field and for parā-prakrti is ksetrajña - knower of the field. kṣetra and kṣetrajña are assembled in the form of jīva endowed with body-mind-sense-complex for the purpose of accomplishing enjoyment and freedom. These two words are seen from the individual level, compare to parā-prakrti and aparā-prakrti which is seen from total level. Therefore Lord Krsna starts with "idam śarīram" to begin unfolding of what exactly is the svarūpa - nature of this kṣetra and kṣetrajña, using the subject-object method of inquiry.
śrībhagavān uvāca idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya kṣetram ityabhidīyate |
etadyo vetti taṁ prāhuḥ kṣetrajña iti tadvidaḥ |13.1||
Śrībhagavān said: Kaunteya (Arjuna)! This body is called "field". The one who knows this (field) is "the knower of the field", thus say those who know that.
In his answer, Lord Krsna chooses to define kṣetra and kṣetrajña first, even they are the same meaning as prakṛti and puruṣa. Since this body is the closest to us and the locus where we make mistakes is to be addressed first. Also they are less confused as they do not have the connotations imposed upon prakṛti and puruṣa by sānkya.
idaṁ śarīraṁ - this body, which is not remote either in time or by space, is called kṣetram - kṣetram ityabhidīyate. The word śarīraṁ in sanskrit language is derived from sīyamāna svabhāva - that which has nature of disintegrated. Another word for body is deha (dahana yogya) - that which subject to be burned. These two meaning sounds that this body is a worthless thing, but actually with this human body alone, we are capable to have free will to follow dharma, and therefore gathering punya will save one from falling into the body of a lower life form, and it is capable to gain moksa also, therefore it is called ksetra - pilgrimage.
General meaning of kṣetra is a place of cultivation, generally a place where we reap fruit, a field. The Gītā opens with "dharmaksetre kuruksetre". This body is called ksetra, the place where one can reap the fruits of punya and pāpa, therefore dharma-ksetra. Even though the literal meaning of dharma-ksetra in the mahabhārata war is the battle field of dharma, but the teaching of Gītā is to address the battle field in the mind caused by non-discrimination between ātmā and anātmā of every individual jīva.
Dhrtarāstra addresses Arjuna's army as Pāndu - the name of Arjuna's father, it also literally means white, symbolises proper discrimination - viveka, and his son's army is māmakāh - that which belonging to me, symbolises I-ness (ahankāra) and mine-ness which rooted in ignorance. The outcome of the struggle between these two forces that is taking place in this body is what follows the entire Gītā.
etadyo vetti taṁ prāhuḥ kṣetrajña - the one who knows this body is kṣetrajña. How does one know the body? The entire body is known as me because I lend the consciousness to every part of the body. Because of this lending consciousness, the body which is the matter reveals the cainya-ātmā which is exactly the nature of the kṣetrajña. And because of kṣetrajña which is self-revealing and capable to reveal others, the body is also become an object of knowledge. Actually this discrimination is not taught to us, we know naturally. But we know only to certain extent that the one who knows this body as ksetra is the ksetrajña. This is not all that is to be known. The fact of this ksetra and ksetrajña has to be revealed by śāstra.
kṣetrajñaṁ cāpi mām viddhi sarvakṣetreṣu bhārata |
kṣetrakṣetrajñayorjñānaṁ yattajjñānaṁ mataṁ mama ||13.2||
Bhārata (Arjuna)! May you know Me as the knower of the body in all the bodies. That (which is) knowledge of the body and of the knower of the body, is (truly) the knowledge. (This is) My vision.
kṣetrajñaṁ cāpi mām viddhi - may you know Me - Īśvara as the ksetrajña, here indeed is what śāstra has to reveal. That body-mind-sense-complex is to be understood as Me - Īśvara, who is not subject to samsāra. Everyone understands the ksetrajña to be samsārī jīva, but here he says that ksetrajña is identical to Īśvara. And he is not just the ksetrajña in one given body but in all the ksetra - sarvakṣetreṣu. Whenever one says, "this is my body", there is Īśvara who obtains in every body. One Īśvara is seemingly divided into countless forms beginning from Brahmāji (Īśvara in the form of creator) to a clump of grass. It is seemingly divided by upādhi, not essentially. Just like one sun is reflected in many mirrors, and appears as many suns, but the reality is only one which is free from all differences brought about by upādhi.
This ksetrajña is the pratyagātma - inner self which is identified as Īśvara. Thus this verse is mahāvākya, unfolding the equation between jagad, jīva and Īśvara.
Ksetrajña and ksetra together cover everything, nothing is left out. Therefore by knowing this alone, nothing remains to be known, it is the knowledge for moksa - yattajjñānaṁ.
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