Gita for Youth - Yoga of the Field and the Knower (Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga)

 Chapter 13: The Field and the Knower of the Field

The Lord now began discourse on one of the most difficult philosophical concepts, that what is called a field and a knower of the field. It may be that Arjuna had explicitly asked him on the difference but some of the original versions of the Gita do not contain that question. Sri Krishna said that the body is called Kshetra or field and one who knows this is called Kshetrajna or the knower of the field. He said, “Know Me to be the knower of the field for all fields, oh Bharata. The knowledge of this field and its knower is the true knowledge according to Me.”

But what is this field? The Lord further continued, “What is this field, what are its properties, what are the modifications, what are the effects, who He is and is His power, hear all that in brief from Me. Many sages have sung in different metres about this principle (i.e. they have diverse opinions), in different sutras related to the Brahman or the Supreme Being, by the aid of reasons and logic and with certainty and conviction.”

He said that the fivefold gross elements (space or akashah, wind or pranah, fire or tejas, water or apah and earth or bhumih), the Ego, the Intellect and the Unmanifest (avyakt), the ten organs (of sense and action), the mind and the five objects of senses, the pairs of opposites like desire and aversion, happiness and sorrow, the aggregate of body, mind and senses i.e the individual self, the consciousness or will, the fortitude or application of the will, together consist of the Kshetra or the field. These are all presented briefly along with their modifications.

The elements join together to constitute all matter and hence are modifiable. The Ego, Intellect, senses and the mind enter that matter and form the conscious object which belong to the realm of the pairs of opposites like pleasure and pain, desire and aversion, being subjected to the threefold qualities of nature (gunas). Their aggregate, together with the conscious will and the fortitude, comprises of the individual with the two bodies – the outer gross body and the inner subtle body or the spirit. The Unmanifest forms the third component of the body – called causal body. All these have their own modifications as they are subjected to the modifiable qualities of the nature. Even a causal body dies. The subtle body also undergoes various changes. The mind changes by becoming purer or more impure, ego changes by increasing or decreasing, intellect sharpens or deteriorates, senses become stronger or weaker, the pairs of opposites gain importance at each other’s expense, viz. happiness at the expense of misery, will changes, fortitude may change with time. Therefore all these, taken together become the body of the individual which undergoes various forms of changes.