Word meanings
- kṣetra-jñam
- the knower of the field
- ca
- also
- api
- only
- mām
- me
- viddhi
- know
- sarva
- all
- kṣetreṣu
- in individual fields of activities
- bhārata
- scion of Bharat
- kṣetra
- the field of activities
- kṣetra-jñayoḥ
- of the knower of the field
- jñānam
- understanding of
- yat
- which
- tat
- that
- jñānam
- knowledge
- matam
- opinion
- mama
- my
Translations
Do thou also know Me as the knower of the field in all fields, O Arjuna. Knowledge of both the field and the knower of the field is considered by Me to be the knowledge.
I am the omniscient Self that abides in the realm of matter; knowledge of matter and of the all-knowing Self is wisdom.
And, O scion of the Bharata dynasty, understand Me to be the 'Knower of the field' in all the fields. In My opinion, that is Knowledge which is the knowledge of the field and the knower of the field.
हे भरतवंशोद्भव अर्जुन ! तू सम्पूर्ण क्षेत्रोंमें क्षेत्रज्ञ मेरेको ही समझ; और क्षेत्र-क्षेत्रज्ञका जो ज्ञान है, वही मेरे मतमें ज्ञान है।Commentary
The fields are different but the knower of the field is one. The individual souls (Jivatmas) are different but the Supreme Soul (Paramatma) is one. Wherever there is mind, there are lifreath, egoism and the individual consciousness or reflected intelligence side by side. He who has the sense of duality will take birth again and again. This delusion of dulaity can only be removed by knowledge of the identity of the individual soul and the Absolute. I am happy? I am miserable? I am the doer of this action, and I am the enjoyer of this experience -- these are the experiences of all human beings.
Therefore the individual soul is bound to Samsara and is subject to pleasure and pain, and the individual souls are in different bodies. But, the Supreme Soul is free from pleasure and pain. It is not bound to Samsara. It is eternally free. It is one without a second. If there is only one individual soul in all bodies, all should have the same experience at the same time. If Rama suffers from abdominal colic? Krishna also should experience the pain at the same time. If John experiences joy?
Jacob also should have a similar experience. If Choudhury is stung by a scorpion? Banerjee also should suffer from the pain. But this is not the case. When Rama suffers? Krishna rejoices. When John is jubilan? Jacob is depressed. When Choudhury suffers from the sting of a scorpion? Banerjee is enjoying his breakfast. Fields are different, bodies are different, minds are different and the individual souls are different from each other. But the knower in all these fields is one.
Pleasure and pain are the Dharmas (functions) of the mind only. The individual soul is in essence identical with the Supreme Soul. The knower of the field or the Self is not affected by pleasure and pain, virtue and vice. He is the silent witness only. Pleasure and pain are the functions of the mind. They are ascribed to the Self through ignorance. The ignorant man regards the physical body as the Self. He is swayed by the two currents of likes and dislikes, he does virtuous and vicious actions and reaps the fruits of these actions, viz., pleasure and pain, and takes birth again and again.
But the sage who knows that the Kshetrajna or the knower of the field or the Self is distinct from the body is not swayed by likes and dislikes. He identifies himself with the pure, eternal? Absolute or the Supreme Self and is always happy and actionless, though he performs actions for the welfare of humanity. The disease of Timira (partial blindness) which causes perception of what is contrary to truth pertains to the eye but not to the man who perceives. If the disease is removed by proper treatment he perceives things in their true light.
Even so ignorance, doubt, pleasure and pain, virtue and vice, likes and dislikes, false perceptions as well as their cause belong to the instrument (the mind) but not to the silent witness, the knower of the field, the Self. In the state of liberation wherein there is annihilation of the mind, there is no ignorance and the play of the two currents of likes and dislikes does not exist there. If false perception, ignorance, pleasure and pain, doubt, bondage, delusion, sorrow, etc., were the essential properties of the Self, just as heat is the essential property of fire, they could not be got rid of at any time.
But there have been sages of Selfrealisation in the past like Sankara? Dattatreya? Jada Bharata and Yajnavalkya who possessed extraordinary supersensual or intuitional knowledge, who were free from false perception, doubt, fear, delusion, sorrow, etc. They were not conscious of Samsara but they had perfect awareness of the Self. Therefore, we will have to conclude that the Self is ever free, pure, perfect, eternal and that ignorance inheres in the instrument (the mind) and not in the Self.
Ignorance born of Tamas acts as a veil and prevents man from knowing his essential nature as, the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. It causes perception of what is ite the contrary of truth and causes doubt or nonperception of truth. As soon as knowledge of the Self dawns these three forms of ignorance vanish in toto. Therefore these three forms of ignorance are not the attributes of the Self. They belong to the mind, the organ or the instrument. Mind is only an effect or a product of ignorance.
The wheel of Samsara or the worldprocess rotates on account of ignorance. It exists only for the ignorant man who perceives the world as it appears to him. There is no Samsara for a liberated sage. Any disease of the eye cannot in any way effect the sun (the dity presiding over the eye). The breaking of the pot will not in any way affect the ether or space in the pot. The water of the mirage cannot render the earth moist. Even so ignorance and its effecs cannot in the least affect the pure, subtle, attributeless, formless, limbless, partless and selfluminous Kshetrajna or the Self.
Ignorance does not touch the Self. (Cf.X.20XIII.32XVIII.61)