Bg 13.34
yathā prakāśayaty ekaḥ kṛtsnaṁ lokam imaṁ raviḥ
kṣetraṁ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṁ prakāśayati bhārata
Bg 13.35
kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor evam antaraṁ jñāna-cakṣuṣā
bhūta-prakṛti-mokṣaṁ ca ye vidur yānti te param
Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu
brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde
kṣetra-kṣetrajñayogo nāma trayodadaśosdhyāyaha
Translation
34. Just as the one Sun illumines the whole world, so also the Lord-of-the-Field (PARAMATMAN) illumines the whole "Field, " O Bharata.
35. They who, with their eye-of-wisdom come to know the distinction between the "Field" and the "Knower-of-the-Field, " and of the liberation from the "PRAKRITI of the being, " go to the Supreme.
Commentary
Here is one of the most striking examples in our scriptural literature, given to us by the Divine Charioteer. It conveys to our intellectual comprehension the exact relationship of the Consciousness, the Eternal Principle-of-Life, with reference to the various worlds-of-matter and their expressions. Just as the one Sun illumines the entire Universe from afar, and at all times, so too the Consciousness merely illumines the world-of-objects, the body, the mind, and the intellect.
Though generally in our everyday talks we attribute the ACTIVITY of lighting up the world of the Sun, we find on close examination that we cannot attribute any such ACTIVITY to the Sun. An action is that which has a beginning and an end and it is generally undertaken to fulfil a deep desire, or a silent purpose. The Sun does not illumine the world in this sense of the term. On the other hand, "light" itself is the nature of the Sun, and in its presence everything gets illumined. Similarly, Consciousness is of the nature of awareness and in Its presence, everything becomes known --- illumined.
In the world there is only one Sun and it illumines everything, good and bad, the vicious and the virtuous, the ugly and the beautiful. And yet the Sun is not sullied by the ugly, the vicious and the bad, nor is it blessed by the good, the virtuous or the beautiful. So too, in our inner life, the Ever-perfect and Joyous Consciousness functions through the equipments and illumines them, but It never gets contaminated by the sins of the mind, by the perversions of the intellect, or by the crimes of the physical body. It only illumines. This illumination of the Self, playing upon our thoughts and emotions, gets splashed to form the ever changing patterns of the multiple individuals, with their ever-changing behaviours.
THIS DOCTRINE OF THE "FIELD" AND THE "KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD," BOTH PLAYING IN THE SUPREME, DISCUSSED IN THIS CHAPTER IS
CONCLUDED IN THE FOLLOWING STANZA:
After explaining that the Spirit is the Illuminator, and that, being the Illuminator, It cannot be tainted by the qualities of the illumined, here Lord Krishna directly advocates that man's life is fulfilled only when he, in his subtle discrimination, successfully meditates upon and realises the constitution, behaviour and relationship among the "Field," "the Knower-of-the-Field," and the "Supreme Self" in himself. This can be done only with a well-integrated instrument, a combination of a fully developed head-and-heart, which alone can apprehend the Invisible, Imperishable, One. The faculty that comes to experience this divine infinitude is often termed as "intuition," and in the language of the Hindu Shastras, it is called the "Eye-of-Wisdom."
They who realise and perceive the nature and the essential distinction between the "Field," the "Knower-of-the-Field" and the "Supreme," and thus come to experience the non-existence of the "Field" (Prakriti or Avidya or Avyakta), and, therefore, the "Knower-of-the-Field" (the individuality, the ego, the samsarin, the limited), theirs is the Knowledge Absolute. The "Field" is the material-cause, which has no existence apart from mere imaginations and hallucinations. Non-apprehension of Reality gives rise to mis-apprehensions of It. To realise the non-existence of the very material-cause is to live the Infinite Nature of the Supreme Self in ourselves, as ourselves.
Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad-Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA, in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, the thirteenth discourse ends entitled:
THE FIELD AND THE KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD
This is one of the most brilliant chapters in the Geeta which gives us a direct subjective method of meditating upon and realising the Imperishable and the Eternal in ourselves. To wake up from our dream is to end all the sorrow that we might have suffered in the dream-state-of-Consciousness. There is no traffic between the frontiers that clearly mark out the worlds of waking, dreaming and the deep-sleep. In the same way, the Knower-of-the-Field suffers the sorrows and the imperfections of the "Field" but when through analysis the "Knower-of-the-Field" understands its own real nature apart from the "Field," it rediscovers its own Divine Nature and, in this awakening, the dream that it was as the Knower-of-the-Field, ends.
The plurality and the sorrows are all the tearful details in the dream-plot. To rediscover Pure Awareness and to realise that it is the Self, which, dressed up in the "Field," becomes the agitated "Knower-of-the-Field" --- is to know all that is to be known. In the entire Geeta, we fail to come across a clearer and more direct indication of Reality.
Om Om Om Om Om
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
yathā prakāśayaty ekaḥ kṛtsnaṁ lokam imaṁ raviḥ
kṣetraṁ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṁ prakāśayati bhārata
Bg 13.35
kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor evam antaraṁ jñāna-cakṣuṣā
bhūta-prakṛti-mokṣaṁ ca ye vidur yānti te param
Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu
brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde
kṣetra-kṣetrajñayogo nāma trayodadaśosdhyāyaha
Translation
34. Just as the one Sun illumines the whole world, so also the Lord-of-the-Field (PARAMATMAN) illumines the whole "Field, " O Bharata.
35. They who, with their eye-of-wisdom come to know the distinction between the "Field" and the "Knower-of-the-Field, " and of the liberation from the "PRAKRITI of the being, " go to the Supreme.
Commentary
Here is one of the most striking examples in our scriptural literature, given to us by the Divine Charioteer. It conveys to our intellectual comprehension the exact relationship of the Consciousness, the Eternal Principle-of-Life, with reference to the various worlds-of-matter and their expressions. Just as the one Sun illumines the entire Universe from afar, and at all times, so too the Consciousness merely illumines the world-of-objects, the body, the mind, and the intellect.
Though generally in our everyday talks we attribute the ACTIVITY of lighting up the world of the Sun, we find on close examination that we cannot attribute any such ACTIVITY to the Sun. An action is that which has a beginning and an end and it is generally undertaken to fulfil a deep desire, or a silent purpose. The Sun does not illumine the world in this sense of the term. On the other hand, "light" itself is the nature of the Sun, and in its presence everything gets illumined. Similarly, Consciousness is of the nature of awareness and in Its presence, everything becomes known --- illumined.
In the world there is only one Sun and it illumines everything, good and bad, the vicious and the virtuous, the ugly and the beautiful. And yet the Sun is not sullied by the ugly, the vicious and the bad, nor is it blessed by the good, the virtuous or the beautiful. So too, in our inner life, the Ever-perfect and Joyous Consciousness functions through the equipments and illumines them, but It never gets contaminated by the sins of the mind, by the perversions of the intellect, or by the crimes of the physical body. It only illumines. This illumination of the Self, playing upon our thoughts and emotions, gets splashed to form the ever changing patterns of the multiple individuals, with their ever-changing behaviours.
THIS DOCTRINE OF THE "FIELD" AND THE "KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD," BOTH PLAYING IN THE SUPREME, DISCUSSED IN THIS CHAPTER IS
CONCLUDED IN THE FOLLOWING STANZA:
After explaining that the Spirit is the Illuminator, and that, being the Illuminator, It cannot be tainted by the qualities of the illumined, here Lord Krishna directly advocates that man's life is fulfilled only when he, in his subtle discrimination, successfully meditates upon and realises the constitution, behaviour and relationship among the "Field," "the Knower-of-the-Field," and the "Supreme Self" in himself. This can be done only with a well-integrated instrument, a combination of a fully developed head-and-heart, which alone can apprehend the Invisible, Imperishable, One. The faculty that comes to experience this divine infinitude is often termed as "intuition," and in the language of the Hindu Shastras, it is called the "Eye-of-Wisdom."
They who realise and perceive the nature and the essential distinction between the "Field," the "Knower-of-the-Field" and the "Supreme," and thus come to experience the non-existence of the "Field" (Prakriti or Avidya or Avyakta), and, therefore, the "Knower-of-the-Field" (the individuality, the ego, the samsarin, the limited), theirs is the Knowledge Absolute. The "Field" is the material-cause, which has no existence apart from mere imaginations and hallucinations. Non-apprehension of Reality gives rise to mis-apprehensions of It. To realise the non-existence of the very material-cause is to live the Infinite Nature of the Supreme Self in ourselves, as ourselves.
Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad-Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA, in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, the thirteenth discourse ends entitled:
THE FIELD AND THE KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD
This is one of the most brilliant chapters in the Geeta which gives us a direct subjective method of meditating upon and realising the Imperishable and the Eternal in ourselves. To wake up from our dream is to end all the sorrow that we might have suffered in the dream-state-of-Consciousness. There is no traffic between the frontiers that clearly mark out the worlds of waking, dreaming and the deep-sleep. In the same way, the Knower-of-the-Field suffers the sorrows and the imperfections of the "Field" but when through analysis the "Knower-of-the-Field" understands its own real nature apart from the "Field," it rediscovers its own Divine Nature and, in this awakening, the dream that it was as the Knower-of-the-Field, ends.
The plurality and the sorrows are all the tearful details in the dream-plot. To rediscover Pure Awareness and to realise that it is the Self, which, dressed up in the "Field," becomes the agitated "Knower-of-the-Field" --- is to know all that is to be known. In the entire Geeta, we fail to come across a clearer and more direct indication of Reality.
Om Om Om Om Om
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
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