The Field and Its Knower — Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga

Krishna! I fain would know what is this "field" That men do speak of, and the "knower" too; What is true knowledge, and what that which waits To be known; tell me, Keshava! the scope Of Nature and of Spirit, and of these The qualities, the powers, and the bounds.

This body, son of Kunti! is the Field; He who doth know it is the Knower named By sages who have searched the truth of things. I am that Knower, in all mortal frames, O Bharata! and knowledge of the Field And knowledge of the Knower of the Field I hold to be the sum of wisdom true.

What the Field is, and of what form, and whence It cometh, and what changes work in it, And by what power, and who that Knower is And what his might — learn these from Me! In brief This Field hath been described by ancient seers In many a Vedic chant, and in the songs Of holy Brahma-sutras, firmly set With reasons meet and subtleties of speech.

The elements, the conscious life, the mind, The unseen vital force, the nine strange gates Of the body, and the five domains of sense; Desire, dislike, pleasure and pain, and thought Deep-woven, and persistency of being — These all are wrought on Matter by the Soul Compact of qualities — the Field, in brief. Such is the Field, with all that groweth there.

Humbleness, truthfulness, and harmlessness, Patience and honour, reverence for the wise, Purity, constancy, self-governance, Contempt of sense-delights, self-sacrifice, Perception of the certitude of ill In birth, death, age, disease, and suffering; Freedom from ties of children, wife, and home, Anate unchanging heart, whether the lot Be good or evil; steadfast loyalty Of love unwavering for Me alone, Frequenting groves of solitude, apart From noise and worldly throngs — these qualities I reckon true knowledge: all beside Is ignorance! That which is knowable I will now teach thee — knowing which, the soul Attaineth bliss undying: the Supreme, The Brahma, without end and unbegun, Which is not said to be, nor not to be.

It hath its hands and feet on every side, Its eyes and heads, its ears and mouths in all; Wrapping the world, It standeth. Not itself Possessing any sense, yet shining through All faculties of sense; detached, yet bearing All things; of qualities devoid, yet still Taster of qualities; within all forms, Without; unmoved, yet moving; too fine To be perceived, yet near and far away. Undivided, yet in all things dwelling As though divided; Maker and Sustainer Of all that lives, and Swallower of all.

Light of all lights, It is, beyond the dark; Knowledge, and Knowledge's aim, and that which waits In every heart to be grasped by knowledge. Thus the Field, Knowledge, and the known Are briefly told. My faithful one, who knows These things, entereth to My peace.

Know this: that Nature and the Spirit both Have no beginning! Know that qualities And changes are but born of Nature's womb. Nature is cause in all that acts and moves; The Spirit, dwelling in the flesh, is cause Of tasting pleasure and of suffering pain. For the Spirit, set in Nature, shares The qualities that Nature hath; and so Its linking with these qualities is cause For births in good or evil wombs, they say.

Yet in this body, watching over all, Consenting, bearing, ruling, there dwelleth The Master-Loss, the Lord Supreme — called "Highest Soul," Purushottama! He who thus knows The Spirit and Nature with its qualities, In every state of being, shall not be born Again; for he hath known the truth of things.

Some by deep-searching meditation find The Soul within themselves; some come to it By the philosophy of Sankhya; some By following the path of selfless works; And others, who discern not these high roads, Hear from the lips of teachers, and give heed To worship Me; and these, too, pass beyond The shadow of mortality, if they But listen faithfully.

Wherever any creature comes to be, Moving or motionless, know thou, O Prince! It springeth from the union of the Field And Knower of the Field. He seeth well Who seeth the Supreme Lord dwelling alike In all that lives, undying in the dying. For, seeing Him the same, the living Lord, In all that lives, he hurts not self by self; And so goes forth unto the Highest Path. He seeth well who seeth that all acts Are wrought by Nature, and the self of each Doeth nought. Then, when he sees the varied forms Of being rooted in the One, and growing Forth from it, then he wins to Brahma's peace. This Spirit, being without beginning, free Of qualities, imperishable, dwells — Though in the body — neither acts nor stains Its nature, Kunti's Son! As the all-spreading Ether, too fine for any sense to seize, So the Soul, everywhere suffused, is stainless; And as one sun doth light the whole of heaven, So doth the Owner of the Field illume The whole of this wide Field, from end to end! They who by wisdom's eye discern the Field From him who knows the Field — and how from Nature Being is freed — these go unto the Highest.