Bhagavad Gita 13.3
Spoken by Krishna ☆ Key verse · Verse 3 of 34
क्षेत्रज्ञं चापि मां विद्धि सर्वक्षेत्रेषु भारत। क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोर्ज्ञानं यत्तज्ज्ञानं मतं मम ॥
kṣetrajñaṃ cāpi māṃ viddhi sarvakṣetreṣu bhārata| kṣetrakṣetrajñayorjñānaṃ yattajjñānaṃ mataṃ mama ||
Know Me as the kṣetrajña in ALL fields — and the knowledge of field + knower is true knowledge!
Word by word (3)
- kṣetrajñaṃ cāpi māṃ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata
- — Know Me also as the kṣetrajña in all fields, O Bhārata · kṣetrajñam = the kṣetrajña (accusative; the one who knows the field). ca api = also, in addition (ca = and; api = also; caiva/cāpi = 'also'; the 'also' is crucial: not ONLY the individual ātman is kṣetrajña, but ALSO Krishna). māṃ = Me (accusative of aham = I; Krishna explicitly includes Himself). viddhi = know (imperative of √vid; 'know you' = know definitively). sarva-kṣetreṣu = in all fields (sarva = all; kṣetreṣu = locative plural of kṣetra = in-all-fields; not just your body-field but EVERY body, EVERY material formation, EVERY kṣetra). bhārata = O Bhārata (Arjuna as descendant of Bharata). The statement: there is only ONE kṣetrajña in all fields — Krishna/Brahman. Each individual's ātman that witnesses its own body-field is the SAME Brahman. There are not 8 billion different kṣetrajñas — there is ONE kṣetrajña everywhere, recognized as many.
- kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānaṃ yat taj jñānaṃ mataṃ mama
- — The knowledge of kṣetra and kṣetrajña — that I consider to be TRUE knowledge · kṣetra-kṣetrajñayoḥ = of kṣetra and kṣetrajña (genitive dual: the knowledge belonging to or concerning both of them together). jñānaṃ = knowledge. yat = which. tat = that. jñānaṃ = knowledge (repeated: 'that knowledge = knowledge'). mataṃ = considered, deemed (past participle of √man = to think; mataṃ = thought/considered/regarded). mama = My (genitive of aham). The sentence structure is emphatic: the knowledge of kṣetra + kṣetrajña together — THAT is what I consider jñāna (true knowledge). Not learning Sanskrit, not studying all the Vedas, not accumulating information — but the living recognition of which is field (changing, material, owned by no-self) and which is field-knower (unchanging, conscious, the true self). This is the definition of the only knowledge that liberates.
- māṃ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu (zoomed)
- — Know Me in all fields · This phrase is one of the most compact non-dual statements in the Gita. sarva-kṣetreṣu = in ALL fields = in every body, every organism, every material configuration that exists. Māṃ = Me = Krishna = Brahman. To 'know Me in all fields' = to recognize Brahman as the witnessing-consciousness present in every living being and every body. This is not pantheism (the world is God) but pan-entheism with a non-dual edge: the kṣetrajña-aspect in all kṣetras is ONE. The sage who sees this — 'seeing the same Lord in all beings' (13.28) — is said to truly see. This verse is therefore the seed from which the chapter's culminating teaching (V27-28) grows.
Know Me also as the knower of the field in all fields, O Bhārata. The knowledge of the field and its knower — that I hold to be true knowledge.
A modern analogy
Like discovering that the electricity powering every lamp in a city is coming from one source. Each lamp (kṣetra/body) appears separate, but the current (kṣetrajña/consciousness) is the same throughout. You've been thinking 'I have my own consciousness' — but the teaching that Krishna is the field-knower in every field says it's one current everywhere.
Sit with this: This verse says Krishna IS the kṣetrajña in ALL fields. Does this mean there is literally one consciousness in all beings? Or is this saying something subtler about the nature of awareness? What would change in how you treat others if you truly saw the same kṣetrajña in every kṣetra?
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
And do thou also know Me as Kshetrajna in all Kshetras, O Bharata. The knowledge of Kshetra and Kshetrajña is deemed by Me as the knowledge. [1]
Me do thou also know, O descendant of Bharata, to be Kshetrajna in all Kshetras. The knowledge of Kshetra and Kshetrajna is considered by Me to be the knowledge. [4]
I am that Knower in all fields; I deem / The true 'Kshetrajna' lore to be My Light. [7]
And know me also, O descendant of Bharata! to be the Kshetrajña in all Kshetras. The knowledge of Kshetra and Kṣhetrajña is deemed by me (to be real) knowledge. [9]
Know me, O Bharata, to be Kshetrajnas. The knowledge of Kshetra and Kshetrajna I regard to be (true) knowledge. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Who sees the Supreme Lord equally in all beings — the undying in the dying — TRULY sees.
I am the ātman, O Guḍākeśa, seated in the heart of all beings — their beginning, middle, and end.
Beyond both stands the uttama Puruṣa — Paramātmā, the inexhaustible Lord pervading and sustaining all three worlds.
You grieve for those who should not be grieved for — and call it wisdom.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
Steady wisdom begins here: when all desires fall away and the Self finds fullness in itself alone.
Verse 3 of 34 · back to Chapter 13