Verse 1
Arjuna Uvaacha:
Prakritim purusham chaiva
Kshetram kshetrajnameva cha;
Etadveditumicchaami jnaanam
Jneyam cha keshava.
Arjuna said:
I wish to learn about Nature
(matter) and the Spirit (soul), the Field and the Knower of the Field,
knowledge and that which ought to be known.
Verse 2
Sri Bhagavaan Uvaacha:
Idam shareeram kaunteya
Kshetramityabhidheeyate;
Etadyo vetti tam praahuh
Kshetrajna iti tadvidah.
The Blessed Lord said:
His body, O Arjuna, is called the
Field; he who knows it is called the Knower of the Field by those who know of
them, that is, by the sages.
Sri Krishna starts the exposition
on the spirit and matter .
Idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya kṣetram ityabhidhīyate
“This body, this physical
embodiment of the human being, is technically called kṣhetra, or the field where some activity takes place. A
field is an area where something happens.
While this body, which is
physical in nature, is a field of operation, there must be somebody who carries
on this operation in the field. The field is the body; but the knower of this
body is the operator behind it.
This body is, no doubt, the
vehicle of action, but there is somebody who is conscious that there is a body
which is to be used for the purpose of some activity.
This body is an instrument of
action in this world, but this body cannot act by itself. It is inert,
constituted of the five inert elements—earth, water, fire, air and ether. Inert
instruments cannot act by themselves. Even a car cannot move unless there is a
driver. So is the case with this body.
So while this body may be
called kṣhetra, or field, the one who knows
this field is and is conscious of it, operates through it—lives in it, indwells
it, and handles it in a different manner—such a principle is called khṣetrajña.
Although Krishna uses the words
Kshetra and Kshetrajna, various other terms are also used as given below
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Kshetra
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Kshetrajna
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Soarer
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Sariri
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Deha
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Dehi
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Jada
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Chaitanya
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Deha and Sarira both mean the
body, while Dehi and Sariri both refer to the one who is in the body.
Since Matter is inert, it is
called Jada whereas the knower, the spirit is the Chaitanya.
Swami says,
“The Sanskrit word Sarira means
that which wastes away. It refers to the body. God has been called the Sariri,
the one who lives in the perishable body. He has also been called Dehi or the
one who lives in the Deha or Body, which is temporary in nature.
In the Gita, He has been called Kshetrajna, the knower of Kshetra, that which is inert and does not know of itself”
(Source- Message of the
Lord )
Kṣhetrajña iti tadvidaḥ:
“Arjuna, I am the knower of the field.” The Lord says, “I am the Pure
Consciousness that knows all things and operates these material forces; and I
am not merely in one body.
When I refer to the body, you may be thinking of some particular body, this body or that body, and there is a consciousness in each body. That may be so, that consciousness is inherently present in every body, within each person, but that is not the point.”
In a sense, it means that
the kṣhetra is the entire physical
universe.
The whole of creation can be considered as the kṣhetra, or the field of action;
and Omniscient Intelligence that
is operating in terms of this material manifestation is the kṣhetrajña.
Therefore, the question of the relationship between God and creation, consciousness and matter, kṣhetrajña and kṣhetra, purusha and prakriti—all mean, finally, one and the same thing.
Love.