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Chapter 13 · Nature, the Enjoyer and Consciousness · 35 verses

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How to study this verse, in six steps
  1. 1Remember who is speaking. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. Take the verse as He directs.
  2. 2Say the verse and its words. Read the Sanskrit, then each word with its meaning.
  3. 3Read the translation as it is. Let the translation say what it says, without adding your own meaning.
  4. 4Read the purport. Hear the verse through the disciplic succession.
  5. 5Bring your own question. Ask: where does this verse meet my life, my trouble, my doubt?
  6. 6Act on it, remembering Kṛṣṇa. Carry one instruction into your work today.
Read the full guide: how to read the Bhagavad-gītā ›
Soul & knowledgeChapter 13 · Nature, the Enjoyer and Consciousness
13.313.5

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 13.4

The body, its knower and the field of knowledge

Prakṛti · Material nature

तत्क्षेत्रं यच्च‍ यादृक्‍च यद्विकारि यतश्च यत् ।

स च यो यत्प्रभावश्च तत्समासेन मे श‍ृणु ॥ ४ ॥

tat kṣetraṁ yac ca yādṛk ca

yad-vikāri yataś ca yat

sa ca yo yat-prabhāvaś ca

tat samāsena me śṛṇu

Translation

Now please hear My brief description of this field of activity and how it is constituted, what its changes are, whence it is produced, who that knower of the field of activities is, and what his influences are.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

3 study points

The Field and Its Knower

  1. 1

    The Lord asks us to hear about the field of activity, its makeup, changes and origin, and its knower and his influences.

  2. 2

    Prabhupāda explains that we must understand the body and distinguish the individual soul from the Supersoul, whose powers differ.

  3. 3

    Learn directly from the Lord’s description in Bhagavad-gītā, without treating the individual soul as equal to the Supreme Lord.

Key points from the purport

Krishna proposes to explain 5 points about the field of activity (Ksetra)

1

How the body is constituted (Explained in Text 13.6 and 13.7)

2

What changes the body undergoes (Text 13.7 and 13.20)

3

How, when and where the body is produced (Text 13.6, 13.21, 13.22 and 13.30)

4

Identity of the knower of the field of activities (Text 13.14-13.18 and 13.23)

5

The influence of the knower (Texts 13.14 – 13.18)

a

Best way to solve these issues mentioned in translation

Just understand this Bhagavad-gita as per the description given by Supreme Personality of Godhead

CAUTION! Do not consider the Supreme Personality in every body to be one with individual soul, the jiva

Analogy: It would be like equating the potent and the impotent

Further reading

Arjuna’s Six Questions & Krishna Explains The Field Of

ACTIVITIES AND THE KNOWER OF THE FIELD (Text 13.2 – 13.7 answers the 3rd, 4th and 5th questions)

Krishna explains the field of activities as the body, by which the soul engages within his allotted sphere of activities within the material world

The soul, the knower of the field, has knowledge of his own field of activities

Krishna, as the Supersoul, is the knower of all fields of activity of all living entities

Knowledge is to know the field and its knowers

Chapter 13, section I: Arjuna’s Six Questions & Krishna Explains The Field Of
2

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. tatthat
  2. kṣetramfield of activities
  3. yatwhat
  4. caalso
  5. yādṛkas it is
  6. caalso
  7. yathaving what
  8. vikārichanges
3

Key ideas in this verse

The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.

Key ideas: ātmā, jñāna.

4

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What does BG 13.4 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to soul & knowledge?

Practice

Spend five minutes reflecting on what in you does not change.

5

Related verses

Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.

BG 13.1The body, its knower and the field of knowledgeBG 13.2The body, its knower and the field of knowledgeBG 2.13The self endures bodily changeBG 4.34The humility of real inquiry
Live this todayKnow the Two KnowersA practice from BG 13.3, close to this verse

Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.

  1. Learn
  2. Live
  3. Lead
Next in Learn · 4 of 9 · 10 minChapters & storiesGo chapter by chapter, with the Mahābhārata stories that explain what is happening.Back · LearnPrabhupāda's Introduction