Word meanings
- śrī-bhagavān uvāca
- the Supreme Divine Lord said
- idam
- this
- śarīram
- body
- kaunteya
- Arjun, the son of Kunti
- kṣetram
- the field of activities
- iti
- thus
- abhidhīyate
- is termed as
- etat
- this
- yaḥ
- one who
- vetti
- knows
- tam
- that person
- prāhuḥ
- is called
- kṣetra-jñaḥ
- the knower of the field
- iti
- thus
- tat-vidaḥ
- those who discern the truth
Translations
The Blessed Lord said, "O Arjuna, this body is called the field; he who knows it is called the knower of the field by those who know them."
Lord Shri Krishna replied: O Arjuna! The body of a person is the playground of the Self; and That which knows the activities of Matter, sages call the Self.
The Blessed Lord said, "O son of Kunti, this body is referred to as the 'field'. Those who are versed in this call him who is conscious of it the 'knower of the field'."
श्रीभगवान् बोले -- हे कुन्तीपुत्र अर्जुन ! 'यह' -- रूपसे कहे जानेवाले शरीरको 'क्षेत्र' कहते हैं और इस क्षेत्रको जो जानता है, उसको ज्ञानीलोग 'क्षेत्रज्ञ' नामसे कहते हैं।Commentary
Kshetra literally means field. The body is so called because the fruits (harvest) of actions in the form of pleasure and pain are reaped in it as in a field. The physical, the mental and the causal bodies go to constitute the totality of the field. It is not the physical body alone that forms the field. He who knows the field and he who beholds it as distinct from himself through knowledge is the knower of the field or matter. Those who know them The sages.