Ksetra Ksetrajna Vibhaaga Yoga

Arjuna said: I want to understand nature and the Self, the field and the knower of the field. I want to know what knowledge is, and what is worth knowing.

The Blessed Lord said: Arjuna, this body is called the field. The one who knows it, those who see the truth call the knower of the field.

Know me also as the knower of the field, in every field. In my view, the knowledge of the field and the knower of the field is true knowledge.

Hear from me in brief what that field is, what its nature is, how it changes, where it comes from, and what it is. And who the knower is, and what his powers are.

The sages have sung of this in many ways, in the various hymns of the Vedas, each apart. They have set it down too in the reasoned and conclusive words that point to Brahman.

The great elements, the ego, discernment, and the unmanifest; the ten senses and the one more; and the five objects of the senses.

Desire and aversion, pleasure and pain, the aggregate of the body, sentience, and fortitude. This is the field, briefly described, along with its changes.

Humility, freedom from pretense, non-violence, forbearance, sincerity, service to the teacher, purity, steadiness, and self-control.

Detachment from the objects of the senses, and absence of ego. Seeing clearly the suffering and the flaw in birth, death, old age, and disease.

Non-attachment, no clinging to children, spouse, home, and the rest. A steady evenness of mind, whether what comes is welcome or unwelcome.

Unwavering devotion to me alone, with undivided practice. A liking for solitary places, and no taste for crowds.

Steadfastness in the knowledge of the Self, and keeping the goal of true knowledge in view. This is called knowledge. What is contrary to it is ignorance.

I shall now reveal what is to be known. Knowing it, one attains immortality. It is the supreme Brahman, without beginning. It is called neither being nor non-being.

Its hands and feet are everywhere. Its eyes, heads, and faces are everywhere. Its ears are everywhere. It exists, pervading all things in the world.

It shines through the working of all the senses, yet is free of the senses. It is unattached, yet supports everything. It is beyond the qualities, yet it experiences them.

It is outside all beings and within them. It is unmoving, yet it moves. It is so subtle that it cannot be known. It is far away, yet near.

Though undivided, it appears as if divided among all beings. It is to be known as the sustainer of all beings. It devours them, and it brings them forth.

It is the light of all lights. It is said to be beyond darkness. It is knowledge, the thing to be known, and what is reached through knowledge. It dwells in the hearts of all.

So the field, knowledge, and what is to be known have been told in brief. Understanding this, my devotee becomes fit for my state.

Know that both nature and the self are without beginning. And know that the modifications and the qualities are born of nature.

Nature is said to be the cause in the matter of cause and effect. The self is said to be the cause in the experiencing of pleasure and pain.

Seated in nature, the self experiences the qualities born of nature. Its attachment to these qualities is the cause of its birth in good and evil wombs.

The witness, the permitter, the sustainer, the experiencer, the great Lord, the one also called the Supreme Self: this is the supreme Person in this body.

Whoever knows the self and nature together with the qualities in this way is not born again, no matter how he lives.

Some see the Self within themselves through meditation. Others reach it through the path of knowledge, and still others through the path of action.

Others, who do not know this, worship after hearing it from others. They too, devoted to what they hear, cross beyond death.

Whatever comes into being, moving or unmoving, know that it arises from the union of the field and the knower of the field.

Whoever sees the Supreme Lord present alike in all beings, the imperishable within the perishable, truly sees.

Seeing the Lord present everywhere alike, such a person does not injure the Self by the Self. So he reaches the supreme goal.

Whoever sees that all actions are done by Nature alone, and that the Self does nothing, truly sees.

When a person sees the many separate states of beings as resting in the One, and spreading out from That alone, then he becomes Brahman.

Without beginning and without qualities, this imperishable Supreme Self does not act and is not tainted, even though it dwells in the body.

As all-pervading space is not tainted, because it is subtle, so the Self, present everywhere in the body, is not tainted.

As the one sun lights up this whole world, so the knower of the field lights up the entire field.

Those who, with the eye of knowledge, see the difference between the field and the knower of the field, and the release of beings from Nature, reach the Supreme.