The thirteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is Ksetra Ksetrajna Vibhaaga Yoga. The word kshetra means the field, and the kshetrajna means the knower of the field. We can think of our material body as the field and our immortal soul as the knower of the field. In this chapter, Krishna discriminates between the physical body and the immortal soul. He explains that the physical body is temporary and perishable whereas the soul is permanent and eternal. The physical body can be destroyed but the soul can never be destroyed. The chapter then describes God, who is the Supreme Soul. All the individual souls have originated from the Supreme Soul. One who clearly understands the difference between the body, the Soul and the Supreme Soul attains the realization of Brahman.
प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव क्षेत्रं क्षेत्रज्ञमेव च |
एतद्वेदितुमिच्छामि ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं च केशव ||१३-१||
arjuna uvāca .
prakṛtiṃ puruṣaṃ caiva kṣetraṃ kṣetrajñameva ca .
etadveditumicchāmi jñānaṃ jñeyaṃ ca keśava ||13-1||
Simple English
Primary Translation
Arjuna said: I wish to know about nature and the individual soul, and about the field and the knower of the field, and about knowledge and what is worth knowing, O Keshava.
And know me as the knower of the field in all fields, O scion of the Bharata dynasty. Knowledge of the field and the knower of the field, that I consider to be true knowledge.
असक्तिरनभिष्वङ्गः पुत्रदारगृहादिषु |
नित्यं च समचित्तत्वमिष्टानिष्टोपपत्तिषु ||१३-१०||
asaktiranabhiṣvaṅgaḥ putradāragṛhādiṣu .
nityaṃ ca samacittatvamiṣṭāniṣṭopapattiṣu ||13-10||
Simple English
Primary Translation
non-attachment and absence of clinging to son, wife, home, and the rest, and constant evenness of mind in the arrival of the desired and the undesired,
constant steadiness in the knowledge of the self, seeing the goal of the knowledge of reality, this is declared to be knowledge. Whatever is other than this is ignorance.
ज्ञेयं यत्तत्प्रवक्ष्यामि यज्ज्ञात्वामृतमश्नुते |
अनादिमत्परं ब्रह्म न सत्तन्नासदुच्यते ||१३-१३||
jñeyaṃ yattatpravakṣyāmi yajjñātvāmṛtamaśnute .
anādi matparaṃ brahma na sattannāsaducyate ||13-13||
Simple English
Primary Translation
I will now speak of what is worth knowing, by knowing which one attains immortality. The supreme Brahman is without beginning. It is called neither being nor non-being.
सर्वेन्द्रियगुणाभासं सर्वेन्द्रियविवर्जितम् |
असक्तं सर्वभृच्चैव निर्गुणं गुणभोक्तृ च ||१३-१५||
sarvendriyaguṇābhāsaṃ sarvendriyavivarjitam .
asaktaṃ sarvabhṛccaiva nirguṇaṃ guṇabhoktṛ ca ||13-15||
Simple English
Primary Translation
It appears to have the functions of all the senses, yet it is without any senses. It is unattached, yet it supports everything. It is without qualities, yet it experiences qualities.
बहिरन्तश्च भूतानामचरं चरमेव च |
सूक्ष्मत्वात्तदविज्ञेयं दूरस्थं चान्तिके च तत् ||१३-१६||
bahirantaśca bhūtānāmacaraṃ carameva ca .
sūkṣmatvāttadavijñeyaṃ dūrasthaṃ cāntike ca tat ||13-16||
Simple English
Primary Translation
It is outside and inside all beings. It is both moving and non-moving. It is not knowable because of its subtlety. It is far away, and it is also near.
अविभक्तं च भूतेषु विभक्तमिव च स्थितम् |
भूतभर्तृ च तज्ज्ञेयं ग्रसिष्णु प्रभविष्णु च ||१३-१७||
avibhaktaṃ ca bhūteṣu vibhaktamiva ca sthitam .
bhūtabhartṛ ca tajjñeyaṃ grasiṣṇu prabhaviṣṇu ca ||13-17||
Simple English
Primary Translation
Though undivided, it appears to exist as divided in all beings. It is the sustainer of all beings. It is also the one that absorbs and gives rise to all.
It is the light even among lights. It is said to be beyond darkness. It is knowledge, the object of knowledge, and what is attained through knowledge. It dwells in the heart of all.
Nature is said to be the cause in the production of body and the organs. The individual soul is said to be the cause in the experience of pleasure and pain.
पुरुषः प्रकृतिस्थो हि भुङ्क्ते प्रकृतिजान्गुणान् |
कारणं गुणसङ्गोऽस्य सदसद्योनिजन्मसु ||१३-२२||
puruṣaḥ prakṛtistho hi bhuṅkte prakṛtijānguṇān .
kāraṇaṃ guṇasaṅgo.asya sadasadyonijanmasu ||13-22||
Simple English
Primary Translation
Since the individual soul is seated in nature, it experiences the qualities born of nature. Attachment to these qualities is the cause of its birth in good and evil wombs.
Know, O best of the Bharata dynasty, that whatever being is born, moving or non-moving, arises from the union of the field and the knower of the field.
अनादित्वान्निर्गुणत्वात्परमात्मायमव्ययः |
शरीरस्थोऽपि कौन्तेय न करोति न लिप्यते ||१३-३२||
anāditvānnirguṇatvātparamātmāyamavyayaḥ .
śarīrastho.api kaunteya na karoti na lipyate ||13-32||
Simple English
Primary Translation
Because this supreme self is without beginning and without qualities, O son of Kunti, though it exists in the body, it does not act and is not affected.
क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोरेवमन्तरं ज्ञानचक्षुषा |
भूतप्रकृतिमोक्षं च ये विदुर्यान्ति ते परम् ||१३-३५||
kṣetrakṣetrajñayorevamantaraṃ jñānacakṣuṣā .
bhūtaprakṛtimokṣaṃ ca ye viduryānti te param ||13-35||
Simple English
Primary Translation
Those who know through the eye of wisdom the distinction between the field and the knower of the field, and the liberation from the nature of beings, they reach the supreme.