Gita Chapter 13

The Yoga of the Distinction Between the Field and the Knower of the Field. In the thirteenth chapter, Lord Krishna says that the entire universe is a field for the play of god. This field has two parts. On the universal level it includes the whole of cosmic manifestation and on the individual level it consists of the body, mind, intellect and ego. The first cannot be separated from the other. It is only now that western science is coming to understand this truth. The Gita describes this all Knower or Supreme Consciousness as the kshetrajna or the knower of the field. The field may be composed of many items but the Knower is one. He is the Lord of all and is seated within the heart of every creature. “sarvatha panipadam tat sarvata shishiromukham, sarvathasrutimanloke, sarvamavritya thishtati.” This Being in whose embrace we live has feet of swiftness and hands of strength on all sides; It has faces, eyes and noses everywhere. It listens to both the throb of the universe as well as the silence of eternity. Though bodiless it has a million bodies. It is the perceiver of all things even though it has no sense organs. It is without attributes yet is the enjoyer and sustainer of all attributes. Attached to nothing, it supports all the action and movement of its Prakriti. It is at once the inner and the outer, the far and the near, the moving and the unmoving. It is the subtlest of the subtle, beyond the grasp of our minds as well as the density of matter which we can see and touch and smell and hear. It is the light of all lights beyond the darkness of ignorance. It is knowledge, the object of knowledge and the goal of knowledge. Despite its greatness it is seated in the hearts of all as the charioteer of our lives! At last the great teacher says to his disciple Arjuna, “O Arjuna, whatever exists whether movable or immovable know it to have come from the union of the kshetra and the kshetrajna, the field and the knower of the field”. This is the knowledge which will carry us beyond death to immortality. It is only when our inner eye opens and we see this truth that we can be called “seers”. This is that supreme consciousness about which western science is still to know. Without knowing that consciousness humankind can never know the meaning of true fulfillment or peace.