“The Blessed Lord then said: This body, O son of Kunti, is called the field, and one who knows this body is called the knower of the field.” (Bhagavad-gita, 13.2)

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श्रीभगवानुवाच
इदं शरीरं कौन्तेय क्षेत्रमित्यभिधीयते
एतद्यो वेत्ति तं प्राहु: क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विद:

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya
kṣetram ity abhidhīyate
etad yo vetti taṁ prāhuḥ
kṣetra-jña iti tad-vidaḥ

“Can you explain the knower and the field, as described in Bhagavad-gita? I think it is really interesting, as it gives a different perspective on religion. More of a focus on science as opposed to just faith and belief.”

In the following hypothetical situation, you are a young man. You are old enough to live on your own, to attend university far away from home, but still too young to own a vehicle. As a student you lack the means to purchase your own vehicle. Parents help you in moving around. They loaded the family van to bring all of your supplies to the first day of the semester. They stuck around for orientation, but after that you were on your own.

After several months pass, it is the first extended break of the first semester. The residence halls are closing, so you need someone to pick you up. Your parents are busy, but they have enlisted the assistance of one of your cousins. This person is close to you. You are fond of their association. You have known each other since childhood. On the day of departure, your cousin pulls up in a large truck. This is different from what they usually drive. As soon as you get inside, they begin to explain.

Your cousin wanted a larger presence on the road. They wanted to feel safe in the unforeseen circumstances, such as a collision. They also enjoy the comfort. They can drive for many hours now without feeling tired. Your cousin really loves this car. They have given the car a nickname. They act as if the car is a member of the family. You have to clear off the soles of your sneakers before entering. You have to carefully pack your items without making a dent in the rear section.

In this circumstance, your cousin is the exact same person. They have not changed based on the switch in vehicles. They may have a fondness for their new acquisition. They may feel different. They may approach life with increased confidence. They feel safer and more secure. Nevertheless, the car does not determine who they are.

The car in our example is the field. The driver is the knower of the field. The car does not know anything on its own. For sure, there are advancements in technology that can facilitate what is known as autonomous driving, but even then there is an operator. With artificial intelligence at the helm, there had to be a living being to inject the intelligence into the machine. The machine would know nothing, otherwise. It needs information to work off of.

It might be difficult to notice and easy to overlook, but the same dichotomy applies at the individual level. The body is the car. The individual is the driver. I dictate what my body does. Sometimes, it feels as if I am not in control. When learning how to swim, it feels like the water takes over. It decides whether I sink or swim, but in truth the operator is everything. I steer the vehicle, whether for a carefully thought out maneuver such as playing a sport or something supposedly involuntary, like a reflex. The presence of the operator is a necessary requirement for the valid operation of the machine.

Bhagavad-gita uses the words kshetra and kshetrajna. Kshetra refers to the fields. Kshetrajna is the person knowing the field. The manifest realm is sort of like an amusement park filled with patrons. There are countless instances of this knower-and-field pair. There are two immediate takeaways from learning this principle. One is that the field can change. In fact, it is always changing. It never stays the same, though we only tend to notice after considerable gaps in time. The timelapse video is another tool used to show a significant transformation which otherwise takes place gradually.

देहिनो ऽस्मिन् यथा देहे
कौमारं यौवनं जरा
तथा देहान्तर-प्राप्तिर्
धीरस् तत्र न मुह्यति

dehino ‘smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.13)

The second takeaway is that the kshetrajna is local to the field in question. I am not the knower inside of your field. You are not the knower inside of my field. We only know about other fields through communication. The knower remains the same throughout the changes, which continue into future iterations of an existence. This movement of the knower might go by names such as transmigration and reincarnation, but it is not too radical of a concept to accept.

Above the entire system is the universal knower. This is one way to understand God. He is the knower inside of all fields. He is actually responsible for the results to action, as well. I think that I am in charge of the field, since I am the knower, but I cannot make anything happen on my own. I am like seated on a machine. Revisiting the example of the car, just by turning the key the operation is not guaranteed. There has to be proper construction along with functioning parts. In the grand scheme, there is a coordinator responsible for all of the results witnessed on the many fields within the material universe.

ईश्वरः सर्व-भूतानां
हृद्-देशे ऽर्जुन तिष्ठति
भ्रामयन् सर्व-भूतानि
यन्त्रारूढानि मायया

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
hṛd-deśe ‘rjuna tiṣṭhati
bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni
yantrārūḍhāni māyayā

“The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 18.61)

From a simple teaching like the distinction between the fields and its knower, we have both an entryway into the spiritual science and a glimpse into the conclusion. If we simply remember that universal knower and understand how He is above everything, including the laws of nature and the compelling force of rebirth, then we have reached a level of knowledge sufficient to stop the association with future fields, altogether.

जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यम्
एवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः
त्यक्त्वा देहं पुनर् जन्म
नैति माम् एति सो ऽर्जुन

janma karma ca me divyam
evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
naiti mām eti so ‘rjuna

“One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 4.9)

In Closing:

New car to buy,
Different experience to try.

My identity remaining the same,
Despite brand of different name.

With the field of body consider,
How knower not completely to deliver.

Nature and another above it all,
Transcendental as Krishna to call.

Categories: questions

Tags: bhagavad-gita, dailyprompt, life, poem, poems, poetry