Verse 13.3

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 13.3:

क्षेत्र-ज्ञं चापि मां विद्धि सर्व-क्षेत्रेषु भारत ।
क्षेत्र-क्षेत्रज्ञयोर् ज्ञानं यत् तज् ज्ञानं मतं मम ॥ ३ ॥

kṣetra-jñaṃ cāpi māṃ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata |
kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānaṃ yat taj jñānaṃ mataṃ mama || 3 ||

kṣetra-jñam–the knower of the field; ca–and; api–only; mām–Me; viddhi–understand; sarva-kṣetreṣu–within all the fields; bhārata–O descendant of Bharata; kṣetra–the field (in the form of the body); kṣetra-jñayoḥ–(of the living entity and the Supersoul) knowers of the field; jñānam–knowledge; yat–which; tat–that; jñānam–knowledge; matam–opinion; mama–is My.

O Bhārata, understand that I alone am the knower within the bodies of all living beings. This knowledge–of the body as the field and of the living entity and the Supersoul as the knowers of the field–is actual knowledge. This is My opinion.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

Thus the living entity is called kṣetra-jña (the knower of the field) because he has knowledge of kṣetra, the material body. But Paramātmā fully knows all fields, more so than the living entities. This verse, beginning with kṣetra-jñam, explains His quality of knowing all bodies. Śrī Bhagavān says, “Know Me, Paramātmā, who am situated as the Controller in all bodies, to be kṣetra-jña. The living entity is the kṣetra-jña of his individual body only. Furthermore, his knowledge of that body is incomplete. However, I alone am the perfect and complete knower of all bodies. Consider this to be My speciality.”

What is real knowledge, or jñāna? Anticipating this question, Śrī Bhagavān says, “Knowledge of kṣetra (the body) and kṣetra-jña (the knowers of the body–the individual soul and the Supersoul), is indeed called jñāna. I accept this as actual knowledge.”

Of the two puruṣas, or persons who know the field of the body, the Supersoul is superior. Some persons explain that there is only one soul. This is rejected here, and it also contradicts a later statement of the Gītā (15.17).

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

Although the word kṣetra-jña, the knower of the field, was used in the previous verse to indicate the living entity situated within the body, in the present verse Śrī Bhagavān, who is the indwelling witness in all, the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Director and Controller, and the Supersoul, explains that it is He who is the complete knower of the field, not the living entity.

The essence of Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa’s commentary on this verse is as follows: “The multitude of jīvas remain situated in the body, just like subjects, even though the jīva, as kṣetra-jña, has knowledge of his own body as a means of enjoyment and liberation. But I alone am the controller and maintainer of everyone and, because I know all bodies, I am the complete knower of the field. Thus, I remain situated there like a king.”

It is also seen in the Smṛtis:

kṣetrāṇi hi śarīrāṇi bījaṃ cāpi śubhāśubhe
tāni vetti sa yogātmā tataḥ kṣetra-jña ucyate

The entire body is like a field, and righteous and unrighteous actions are like the seeds of that field, in that they are its cause. Paramātmā knows the truth of all bodies. He is therefore called the complete kṣetra-jña.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (8.3.13) also says:

kṣetra-jñāya namas tubhyaṃ sarvādhyakṣāya sākṣiṇe
puruṣāyātma-mūlāya mūla-prakṛtaye namaḥ

I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto You, who are the Supersoul, the superintendent of everything, and the witness of all that occurs. You are the Supreme Person, the origin of material nature and of the total material energy. You are also the owner of the material body. Therefore, You are the supreme complete. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.*

In his commentary on this verse, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura writes, “kṣetraṃ dehadvayaṃ tattvena jānātīti kṣetrajño ’antaryāmī–Antaryāmī, the indwelling witness in all, knows the tattva of both the subtle and gross body and is called kṣetra-jña.” Furthermore, Śrī Bhagavān says in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (8.17.11), “kṣetra-jñaḥ sarva bhūtānāmi–one who knows all living beings is called the knower of the field.”

The import of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s statement is that true knowledge means to know the field in the form of the body; the knower of this field, that is, the living entity‚ conditioned or liberated; and the Supersoul, Paramātmā, who is the original knower of the field, being situated within all. However, Paramātmā is different from the conditioned and liberated souls, and He is superior to them. Therefore, the conception that the living entity and the Supersoul are one is imaginary; it is opposed to the conclusion of the scriptures.

Also the Śruti statement, nityo nityānāṃ cetanaś cetanānām eko bahūnāṃ yo vidadhāti kāmān, describes Paramātmā as being superior to all living, conscious, eternal entities. It also describes Him as being their controller and prompter. This conclusion is verified throughout the Gītā. Śrī Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, “Because you are a jīva, you forget this fact again and again, but as the Supreme Lord, I never forget it.” According to the statement, mamaivāṃśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ, the jīva is an insignificant part of Bhagavān. The jīva is eternally His part; in no state can he become one with Bhagavān by merging with Him.

The statement that brahma, the Absolute Truth, has become a living entity due to ignorance, and when freed from ignorance, the living entity again becomes brahma, is incorrect from the perspective of reason, logic and scripture. Ignorance can never touch Parabrahma, the Supreme Absolute Truth, who, in any state, is intrinsically composed of knowledge. It is said in the Śrutis, “satyaṃ jñānam anantaṃ brahma–Parabrahma is never overpowered by the deluding potency and falls into ignorance.” Thousands of Vedic statements give evidence of this.

Therefore, in this material body, there are two knowers of the field: the living entity and the Supersoul, Paramātmā. Paramātmā is the controller, prompter and imminent witness of the different living entities, who are situated in different bodies as localized knowers of the field. Paramātmā and the jīva can never be one.

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura quotes Kṛṣṇa as saying, “In regard to kṣetra (the field) and kṣetra-jña (the knower of the field), there are three prin-ciples: the Lord (Īśvara), the living entity (jīva) and inert matter (jaḍa). Know that just as there is one kṣetra-jña, the living entity, in each body, I, Īśvara, am the principal kṣetra-jña of this entire inert world. By My controlling potency as the Supersoul, I am the knower of all other knowers. The knowledge of those who have understood these three principles by deliberating on kṣetra and kṣetra-jña is indeed realized knowledge.”