{"entry":{"slug":"bg-chapter-13","title":"Bhagavad Gīta Chapter 13 — Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña Yoga","devanagari":"क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञविभागयोग","iast":"kṣetra-kṣetrajña-vibhāga-yoga","type":"bg-chapter","url":"https://thecodex.expert/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/chapter-13/","codex":"sanatana-dharma","last_verified":"2026-05","confidence":"high"},"chapter":{"number":13,"name":"Kṣetra-kṣetrajña-vibhāga-yoga","name_translation":"The Yoga of the Distinction between the Field and the Knower of the Field","verses":34,"speaker_primary":"Kṛṣṇa (throughout)","key_verses":["13.2","13.5–13.6","13.7–13.11","13.12–13.18","13.19","13.27–13.28","13.33"]},"kshetra_kshetrajna":{"kshetra_field":"Everything experienced: 5 great elements, ego, intellect, the unmanifest (avyakta), 10 senses, 1 mind, 5 sense objects, desire, aversion, pleasure, pain, the aggregate, intelligence, fortitude. The body-mind-Prakṛti complex in totality — everything that can be an object of awareness.","kshetrajna_knower":"The pure witnessing consciousness (Ātman) that knows the Field. Never itself an object; always the subject. BG 13.2: Kṛṣṇa identifies himself with the Kṣetrajña in all Kṣetras — the same witnessing consciousness in every body.","shankaras_reading":"The identity of the individual Kṣetrajña (Ātman in a particular Field) with the supreme Brahman (the Kṣetrajña in all Fields) — same as the Mahāvākyas. The twenty qualities of knowledge (13.7–13.11) are not knowledge itself but conditions that make its recognition possible."},"twenty_qualities_of_jnana":{"ref":"BG 13.7–13.11","qualities":["Amānitvam — absence of pride","Adambhitvam — absence of pretension","Ahiṃsā — non-injury","Kṣāntiḥ — patience","Ārjavam — uprightness","Ācāryopāsanam — service to the teacher","Śaucam — purity","Sthairyam — steadiness","Ātma-vinigrahaḥ — self-restraint","Indriyārtheṣu vairāgyam — dispassion toward sense objects","Anahaṅkāraḥ — absence of ego-sense","Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam — perceiving the evil in birth/death/old-age/disease/sorrow","Asaktir anabhiṣvaṅgaḥ — non-attachment non-clinging","Sama-cittatvam — equanimity in all situations","Mayi cānanya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicāriṇī — unswerving devotion to Kṛṣṇa through non-otherness","Vivikta-deśa-sevitvam — fondness for solitary places","Aratir jana-saṃsadi — absence of delight in company of people","Adhyātma-jñāna-nityatvam — constancy in self-knowledge","Tattva-jñānārtha-darśanam — perception of the purpose of the knowledge of truth","Etaj jñānam iti proktam — 'this is knowledge; what is contrary is ignorance'"]},"key_verses_detail":{"BG_13_19":{"iast":"prakṛtiṃ puruṣaṃ caiva viddhy anādī ubhāv api","translation":"Know both Prakṛti and Puruṣa as beginningless.","note":"Neither is derived from the other temporally. Their interaction (Puruṣa appearing enmeshed in Prakṛti) causes Saṃsāra; recognising them as distinct is the path to liberation."},"BG_13_27_28":{"iast_27":"samaṃ sarveṣu bhūteṣu tiṣṭhantaṃ parameśvaram / vinaśyatsv avinaśyantaṃ yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati","translation":"One who sees the supreme Lord equally dwelling in all beings, the imperishable within the perishable — that one truly sees. (13.27)","iast_28":"samaṃ paśyan hi sarvatra samavasthitam īśvaram / na hinasty ātmanātmānaṃ tato yāti parāṃ gatim","translation":"Seeing the same Lord equally established everywhere, one does not injure the self by the self — and therefore reaches the highest goal. (13.28)","note":"The liberating recognition: the same Ātman/Brahman is present as the Knower of every Field. Equal-vision grounded in metaphysical unity."},"BG_13_33":{"iast":"yathā prakāśayaty ekaḥ kṛtsnaṃ lokam imaṃ raviḥ / kṣetraṃ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṃ prakāśayati bhārata","translation":"Just as the one sun illuminates this entire world — so the Lord of the Field illuminates the entire Field, O Bhārata.","note":"The single Ātman/Kṣetrajña/Brahman is present as the illuminating witness-consciousness in every body-mind Field. Bodies differ; the witnessing consciousness within them is the same."}},"the_knowable_jneyam":"BG 13.12: anādi mat-param brahma na sat tan nāsad ucyate — The beginningless supreme Brahman is said to be neither existent nor non-existent. Described apophatically. BG 13.13–13.17: hands/feet/eyes everywhere; unattached yet sustaining all; without Guṇas yet experiencing them; inside and outside; the sustainer, devourer, and originator.","sources":[{"tier":1,"citation":"BG 13.1–13.34 with Śaṅkara Gītābhāṣya · Gambhirananda (Advaita Ashrama, 2006), pp. 554–594"},{"tier":2,"citation":"Zaehner (OUP, 1969), pp. 324–344"}],"navigation":{"previous":{"chapter":12,"url":"/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/chapter-12/","name":"Bhakti Yoga"},"next":{"chapter":14,"url":"/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/chapter-14/","name":"Guṇa-traya-vibhāga Yoga"}},"provenance":{"confidence":"high","last_verified":"2026-05","citation":"\"BG Chapter 13 — Sanātana Dharma Codex\", thecodex.expert/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/chapter-13/, last updated May 2026."}}