Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 13

Yoga through Distinguishing the Field and the Knower of the Field

13.1Arjuna asks Krishna, whom he calls Keshava, to explain matter and spirit. He wants to know what the "Field" is and who the "Knower of the Field" is. He also asks what true wisdom is and what is most worth knowing.Arjuna
13.2Krishna explains that the body is called the "Field," and the one inside who is aware of it is called the "Knower of the Field."Krishna
13.3Krishna says he himself is the Knower present in every body. He says that knowing the difference between the body and the one who knows it is real wisdom.Krishna
13.4Krishna says he will now briefly explain what the Field, the body and world, is like, how it changes and where it comes from. He will also explain who the Knower is and what powers he has.Krishna
13.5Krishna notes that this truth has been sung by Rishis, ancient wise seers, in many different hymns. It has also been reasoned out in the Brahma-sutras, short sacred verses about the ultimate reality.Krishna
13.6Krishna lists what makes up the Field. It includes the basic elements, the sense of "I," the thinking mind and the hidden source of nature. It also includes the ten senses and organs of action, the mind, and the five kinds of things the senses experience.Krishna
13.7Krishna adds that wanting, disliking, pleasure, pain, the body as a whole, awareness and steadiness are also part of the Field. Feelings and mental states belong to the changing body-mind, not to the true Self.Krishna
13.8Krishna begins listing the qualities that make up true wisdom. They are humility, not showing off, not harming others, forgiveness, honesty, serving one's teacher, purity, steadiness and self-control.Krishna
13.9Krishna continues: wisdom also means not being pulled by sense pleasures and not being self-centered. It means seeing clearly the suffering that comes with birth, death, old age and sickness.Krishna
13.10Krishna adds that wisdom means not clinging, and not tying your whole identity to your children, spouse or home. It means staying calm whether what happens is wanted or unwanted.Krishna
13.11Krishna continues: wisdom also includes steady devotion to him with no other goal. It includes liking quiet, solitary places and not craving crowds and social life.Krishna
13.12Krishna finishes his list of what true wisdom is. It means staying steady in knowing your true Self and understanding what real knowledge points to. Anything opposed to this is ignorance.Krishna
13.13Krishna says he will now explain the one thing most worth knowing. Knowing it frees a person from death. It is the supreme Eternal, called Brahman, which has no beginning. It cannot be described as simply existing or simply not existing.Krishna
13.14Krishna describes this Eternal as present everywhere. It acts through every hand and foot, sees through every eye and hears everything. It surrounds and fills the whole world.Krishna
13.15The Eternal shines through all the senses, yet it has no senses of its own. It holds up everything without clinging to anything. It is beyond the three qualities of nature, yet it experiences them.Krishna
13.16The Eternal is both outside and inside every living being. It is both still and moving. It is so subtle that we cannot perceive it, and it is both very near and very far away.Krishna
13.17The Eternal is one and undivided, yet it seems split up among all beings. It supports all creatures. It brings them into being, keeps them alive and takes them back at the end.Krishna
13.18The Eternal is the light behind every light and lies beyond all darkness. It is knowledge itself, the thing to be known, and what knowledge leads to. It lives in the heart of everyone.Krishna
13.19Krishna says he has now briefly explained the Field (the body and the material world), true knowledge and the thing to be known. A devotee who understands this becomes one with Krishna's own being.Krishna
13.20Krishna explains that Matter (nature, called Prakriti) and Spirit (called Purusha) both have no beginning. All changes and all qualities in the world come from Matter.Krishna
13.21Matter is what produces the body, the senses and all causes and effects. Spirit is what experiences pleasure and pain.Krishna
13.22The Spirit lives in the body and experiences the qualities that come from nature. Because it gets attached to those qualities, it is born again and again, sometimes in good lives and sometimes in bad ones.Krishna
13.23Inside this body lives the supreme Spirit. It watches, gives permission, supports and experiences. It is called the great Lord and the supreme Self.Krishna
13.24Krishna says that whoever truly understands Spirit and Matter and its qualities will not be born again. This is true whatever kind of life that person is living.Krishna
13.25People find the Self in different ways. Some see it within themselves through meditation. Others reach it through the path of knowledge, called Sankhya, and others through selfless action.Krishna
13.26Some people do not know these paths themselves. They learn about them from others and worship with faith. They too go beyond death by holding firmly to what they heard.Krishna
13.27Krishna tells Arjuna that every creature that is born, whether it moves or stays still, comes from the joining of the Field (matter) and the Knower of the Field (spirit).Krishna
13.28The supreme Lord lives equally in every being. It never dies, even when bodies die. Whoever sees this truly sees.Krishna
13.29Whoever sees the same Lord living equally everywhere does not harm his own true Self. Such a person walks the highest path.Krishna
13.30Whoever sees that nature does all actions, and that the true Self does not act, sees truly.Krishna
13.31When a person sees that all the different beings come from One source and grow out of it, that person reaches the Eternal, Brahman.Krishna
13.32Krishna tells Arjuna (called Kaunteya, son of Kunti) that the highest Self has no beginning and no qualities, and it never dies. Even though it lives inside the body, it does not act and is not touched by what happens.Krishna
13.33Krishna explains that space is everywhere but nothing stains it, because it is so fine. In the same way, the Self is present all through the body but is not affected by it.Krishna
13.34Krishna says that just as one sun lights up the whole earth, the Self, the 'Lord of the Field', lights up the whole body and mind. The 'Field' means the body and everything we experience.Krishna
13.35Krishna says that people who see with wisdom the difference between the body (the Field) and the true Self that knows it (the Knower of the Field) become free from the hold of matter. Such people reach God, the Supreme.Krishna