Bhagavad-gītā 13.3

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat]

kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānaṁ yat taj jñānaṁ mataṁ mama [Bg 13.3]

[break] [leads chanting of synonyms]

kṣetrajñam—the knower; ca—also; api—certainly; mām—Me; viddhi—know; sarva—all; kṣetreṣu—in bodily fields; bhārata—O son of Bharata; kṣetra—field of activities (the body); kṣetrajñayoḥ—the knower of the field; jñānam—knowledge; yat—that which is taught; tat—that; jñānam—knowledge; matam—opinion; mama—that.

[01:31]

Translation: "O scion of Bhārata, you should also understand that I am also the knower in all bodies, and to understand this body and its owner is called knowledge. That is My opinion."

Prabhupāda: So Arjuna inquired from Kṛṣṅa six things: kṣetra, kṣetrajña, prakṛti, puruṣa, jñānam, jñeyam. What is knowledge and what is the object of knowledge, jñānam jñeyam. And kṣetra, field of activities; kṣetrajña, the worker on that field; kṣetra, kṣetrajña and prakṛti, nature; and the puruṣa. Material nature and puruṣa means the enjoyer. Six question. Of course, Bhagavad-gītā is, each and every word and letter, is full of knowledge. But these six inquiries, if actually can understand the six items, he becomes the perfect knower. That is said by Kṛṣṅa: yat taj jñānaṁ mataṁ mama. Jñānam means knowledge. So if anyone can understand the six items, then he is in full knowledge.

Yat taj jñānaṁ mataṁ mama. "You have asked Me, Arjuna..." And bhagavān uvāca, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead speaking. Not only speaking; He says, just like a gentleman... Whatever He says is perfect, but still He says, "This is My opinion." "This is My opinion." Now my opinion you can take or not take, that is up to you. But who can give better opinion than Kṛṣṅa? That is another knowledge. Why Kṛṣṅa? Arjuna is asking Kṛṣṅa. Because in the beginning he has said that "Nobody can make solution of my problem. You are the best." So following the footsteps of Arjuna, if we accept Kṛṣṅa's words, not blindly but with good logic, good scientific research, if we actually try to understand what Kṛṣṅa speaks, then all our problems are solved.

Now in the previous verse, śrī bhagavān uvāca. Vyāsadeva could have said kṛṣṅa uvāca, "Kṛṣṅa said." No. He has purposefully said bhagavān. Kṛṣṅa, you may not like, but He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān, with six opulences. One of the opulence is full knowledge. Aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ sriyaḥ jñāna [Viṣṅu Purāṅa 6.5.47].

[Full wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation—these are the six opulences of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.]

Kṛṣṅa is complete in knowledge. Sarvajña. Janmādy asya yataḥ anvayad itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ [SB 1.1.1]. God means abhijñaḥ. He knows everything. You cannot hide anything from God. That is abhijñaḥ. Vāsudeva. Vāsudevah sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ. One who can understand Vāsudeva, sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ, such great saintly person is very rare who can understand Kṛṣṅa.

Now, preliminary understanding. Kṛṣṅa said in the previous verse that idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya kṣetram ity abhidhīyate [Bg 13.2]. Idaṁ śarīram, this body, is called kṣetra, field of activities. Idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya kṣetram ity abhidhīyate etad yo vetti: anyone who understands. [Tam] sa prāhuḥ kṣetrajñaḥ iti tad-vidaḥ. He is kṣetrajñaḥ, or the knower of the... Just like we are sitting in this room. It is very easy; still the rascals, they cannot understand. We are sitting in this room. So the room, the floor is called kṣetra, field. It is also field, a small field. And every one of us, we know that we are sitting on this floor. Nobody will say, "I am the floor." Will anybody say, any sane man will say that "I am the floor"? Nobody will say. It is common sense. So if you try to understand from this simple example, that I am one identity and this field, that is another identity; so I know that I am sitting on this floor.

Similarly, this body is one identity and I am another identity. So knowledge means when we can understand that it is "my body," not "I body." Not this nonsense. Nobody says "I body." Everyone says "my body." This is knowledge. But these rascals, these rascals of modern age, they are saying "I body," "I am this body." What you are? "I am this body." What is your interest? "Now anything which is interested with my body." He's not "I body"; still, he's interested with everything with this bodily relation. There are thousands of girls, women, but a particular woman with whom I have got my bodily relation, that is my wife. That is mine. And combination, the child comes out, "my child." In this way, "my house," "my property," "my body," "my relative," "my friend," "my brother," "my nation," my, my, my, my, my. But the rascal does not understand that the beginning of "my" philosophy has begun from this body, which I am not.

This is knowledge. This is called brahma-jñāna. If anyone understands the simple thing, that "I am not this body..." But education is given, "No, I am this body." The... This nationalism, this nationalism also the same mistake, but they are fighting so much. Great, great, big, big men. In this country, Napoleon fought. In Germany, Hitler fought. And so many others, in our country Gandhi fought. But he is in ignorance. All these big, big leaders, they are ignorance, andha, blind. Blind. They do not know that he is not this body, and neither this land belongs to him. But they fight. The whole history of the world means this mistaken idea, "I" and "mine."

Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, yat taj jñānam. Kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor yat taj-jñānaṁ mataṁ mama. Kṛṣṅa is giving that one should know what he is and one should know what is his body; then he is in knowledge. The matter cannot understand this. The dogs, cats, cannot understand this. But a human being can understand this. Bhagavad-gītā is meant for the human being, not for the cats and dogs. Therefore, the human society should take care of this knowledge. Then his life will be successful.

So it is very simple thing, that kṣetra... As I have given the example, that I am sitting on this floor. The floor is different identity from me. No sane man will say that "I am this floor" or "I am this room." Nobody will say. It is my room, my floor. Similarly, this body, we say "my," "my finger," "my head," "my leg." Nobody says that "I leg," "I finger," "I head." No. This is knowledge. Don't identify yourself with this body. This is knowledge. This is beginning of spiritual life. The cats and dogs, they cannot understand. The cat cannot understand that he's not body. The dog cannot understand that he is not body. It is the human being who can understand. So if in the human life one does not try to understand this simple knowledge, then he remains like cats or dogs. He's no better than cats and dogs.

This is one point: that I am not this body; I am not this material world. I am a spiritual identity, part and parcel of God. Qualitatively we are one. As God is spirit, so I am also spirit. But His body is very big, gigantic, the universal body, which Kṛṣṅa showed to Arjuna, the virāṭa-rūpa. But my body is not gigantic. It is small. Maybe we call the elephant's body gigantic or similar other animal's body, but still God's body is still more gigantic. You cannot compare. Eleventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā you'll know how gigantic body has Kṛṣṅa. So as I have got this body but my spiritual identity is very small, if we study in this way, it is very easy to understand what is God, what I am, what is this world.

Just like I am..., I am not this body; I am within the body. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe [Bg 2.13].

[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.]

I am the proprietor of the body. But what is my magnitude? Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 5.9].

[When the upper point of a hair is divided into one hundred parts and again each of such parts is further divided into one hundred parts, each such part is the measurement of the dimension of the spirit soul.]

You just take the top of the hair and divide it into ten thousand parts. That one part is your identity. So in these material ideas, we cannot understand that such a small particle, smaller than the atom, has got so power. Therefore, because it is so small, these so-called rascal scientist, they cannot find it, where it is; therefore say, "There is no soul." The rascals will not admit their inefficiency to know, and still they will say, "No soul." And if there is no soul, then how it is working? They have no even common sense.

Similarly, as I am very small, smaller than the atom, and I am living within this body and my body is working so nicely, my brain is working so nicely, similarly, Kṛṣṅa is also, according to our conception, Kṛṣṅa is person, individual, but He has got a very gigantic body. This is the material world, material expression. That is expressed in the next verse: kṣetra-jñaṁ cā..., kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi. I am also kṣetrajñam. As you are knower of your body, the bodily pains and pleasure you know, I know. I do not know your bodily pains and pleasure, neither you know my bodily pains and pleasure. But Kṛṣṅa says that kṣetrajña, kṣetra-jñaṁ ca api māṁ viddhi: "I am also kṣetrajña," means "I also know the field."

So how He knows? Sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata. Sarva-kṣetreṣu. He is within every body. He knows what is the ant is doing. He knows what Brahmā is doing. He knows what you are doing. He knows what I am doing. Vedāhaṁ samatītāni [Bg 7.26], Kṛṣṅa says in another place: "I know everything." Just like... It is very easy to understand. Just like you know everything—not everything; at least eighty percent you know what is going on in your body. You do not know everything. If I know everything, then why should I go to a physician when there is something wrong in my body? I do not know. I am eating, but I do not know how the eatables are being digested within the stomach, and they are being divided into different secretion. The rejected part is becoming stool and urine, and the other parts, they're becoming blood, and the blood is distributed all over the body, through the veins. How the veins are, what do we know, although I am claiming "my body"? But I do not know everything, what is going on in my body, in my brain. The brains are made of so fine tissues. What do we know?

But Kṛṣṅa is not like that. Kṛṣṅa knows everything in detail. Anvayad itarataś ca artheṣv abhijñaḥ [SB 1.1.1]. Throughout the whole universe, throughout the whole creation, in any corner, in any place, whatever is going on, Kṛṣṅa knows. That is the difference between Kṛṣṅa and myself. I do not know even what is going on within my body, and still I am claiming I am God. How rascal, just see, imagine. God's one opulence is that His full knowledge. Aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ sriyaḥ jñānam [Viṣṅu Purāṅa 6.5.47].

[Full wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation—these are the six opulences of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.]

This rascal God, so-called God, you ask him, "Can you say what I am feeling now, or what is my pains and pleasure?" Can he say? And still he's claiming God. But Kṛṣṅa says, kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata: "I am in every..., every body." I am also within this body and Kṛṣṅa is also within this body. Kṛṣṅa... As you are within your body, similarly Kṛṣṅa is also within your body.

So myself, I am called ātmā, and Kṛṣṅa is called Paramātmā. Therefore there are two words: Paramātmā and ātmā. Ātmā is also individual. Paramātmā is also individual. But because both of us, we are knower, kṣetrajña, vibha[?], the living entity is kṣetrajna, he has got knowledge. And Kṛṣṅa says, kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi. "I am also knower." Both of them, we are knower. We have got knowledge. My knowledge may be limited; Kṛṣṅa's knowledge unlimited, complete. But both of us, we are knower. We can understand. We can know. Therefore, we are called kṣetrajña. But the difference is, Kṛṣṅa knows everything all over the creation; I even do not know what is going on in my body. That is the difference.

So how one can become God? Rascal. How one can become God? That is not possible. God knows everything. If one knows everything, then you can accept him as God. Otherwise, don't accept. As soon as somebody says, "I am God," kick him on his face. Yes. "Yes, you are God, I am God. I am the kicking God." [laughter] That should be the answer. "I am the shoe-beater God. Now you protect yourself if you are God." Don't accept this false God. Kṛṣṅa, kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28].

[All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.]

Kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam. That is the verdict, all. Just like Vyāsadeva, the giver of the Vedic knowledge, he says, bhagavān uvāca: God says. So we have to follow that.

So kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata.

[aside:] Don't do that.

And this perception, kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānam, if we can understand what is kṣetra and what is kṣetrajña... Kṣetra means field of activities. There are field of activities in so many ways, not only of this body: body, mind, intelligence. They are all kṣetra. I am living entity, I am working with them. Similarly, I am working outside also. Not within, not outside. I am running my ca... That is also kṣetra. The world is kṣetra. The car is kṣetra. But the doer, the driver, is kṣetrajña. And that knowledge is lacking. A child may think that the airplane, big airplane, 447 [sic] is running. No, it is not running automatically. There is a pilot—kṣetrajña. He knows the machine, how to work on it. Everywhere you study, there is kṣetra and kṣetrajña.

So Kṛṣṅa says, kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānam. One who knows how this kṣetra and kṣetrajña is working... Not only in individual body, in gigantic body, in everything, there are two things: kṣetra and kṣetrajña. If one knows this secret of knowledge, that means he is in perfect knowledge. Taj-jñānam. That is jñānam. Not that a big professor says that when after the finishing of this body, everything is finished. He's a rascal. He's identifying... Everyone is identifying, just like cats and dogs, with this body. The body is kṣetra. Body is not the person. A child in ignorance may say that this fine, nice motorcar is running automatically. But it is not running automatically. There is a driver. He does not know it. Similarly, the whole universal activities is going on. Don't think it is going on automatically. No, that is foolish knowledge, that nature is working automatically. No. There is kṣetrajña, Kṛṣṅa. Sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata. Everywhere is Kṛṣṅa is working.

In another place it is said, mayādhyakṣeṅa [Bg 9.10].

[This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.]

He is not working like foolish man. He is working as the superintendent. Every details He's taking account, how you are doing. That is said in the Bhagavad-gītā: mayā-adhyakṣeṅa. Kṛṣṅa says, "You do this"; immediately, nature will do that. Kṛṣṅa says, "You do this"; immediately... Not only nature. We are also doing under Kṛṣṅa's direction. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, Fifteenth Chapter, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo [Bg 15.15]:

[I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.]

"I am sitting in everyone's heart." Here also, the same thing. Sarva kṣetreṣu. Not only I am sitting, but Kṛṣṅa is also sitting. So Kṛṣṅa is sanctioning. Kṛṣṅa is giving permission. Then I am doing. I cannot alone do it.

So Kṛṣṅa is always ready to give you direction. He's there for direction. But unfortunately, we do not obey Him. That is our material disease. If we obey Kṛṣṅa, if we act according to Kṛṣṅa, then there is no problem. Because Kṛṣṅa cannot be mistaken. I am imperfect; I can be mistaken. But Kṛṣṅa cannot be mistaken. Therefore, if we act according to the direction of Kṛṣṅa, then our life is successful. And to give you direction, Kṛṣṅa is sitting within your heart, side by side. As I am sitting, you are sitting within this heart, the soul is within the heart. Therefore when the soul goes away, these rascals say "heart failure." Not heart failure; the soul has gone from the heart. Heart is also mechanical thing, but the sitting place of the soul is there. So heart failure means the soul has gone from the heart. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi. Hṛdi means heart. The location also being specified—here is soul and Supersoul. Find out, if you have got such scientific method. But they cannot find it out. Therefore, the rascal says there is no God, there is no soul, simply this lump of matter, that's all.

So anyone who thinks like that, he's described as go-khara. Go-khara means..., go means cows and khara means asses. Those who are identifying with this body as the self, yasyātmā buddhi-kunape tri-dhātuke... Kunape. This body is a bag of bones and flesh, with urine and stool and blood and so many other things. But if you are scientist, advanced, then I can supply you immense bones, immense blood, immense urine, immense stool. Manufacture one body, if you are scientist. I give you ingredient. Immense, any quantity. But you just manufacture one ant. And still you are thinking that "science, science." You cannot do anything.

Prakṛteḥ kriyamānāni guṅaiḥ karmāṅi sarvaśaḥ [Bg 3.27].

[The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.]

Everything is done by prakṛti under the direction of Kṛṣṅa. This is the position. So there are so many thing. If you have got little brain, try to understand. Then knowledge is perfect. Even by studying..., simply by studying these two or three lines in this Thirteenth Chapter, you can become a perfect knower. And if you follow Kṛṣṅa's instruction... He is giving you instruction. He's ready to give you instruction, from inside and outside also. Inside He's sitting. He's ready to give you instructions. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo [Bg 15.15]:

[I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.]

"I am sitting in everyone's heart." Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānaṁ apohanaṁ ca: "From Me, one remembers, one forgets."

When you forget something, that is also Kṛṣṅa's trick. Because... Just like there are some persons who are devotee and some persons who are demons. So if anyone wants to become a demon, Kṛṣṅa is within. He'll give him intelligence in such a way that he becomes a first-class demon. What is the duty of the first-class demon? That he'll never understand Kṛṣṅa. [laughter] That is first-class demon. And if you want to hear Kṛṣṅa, then He will give you such instruction as you will be relieved from this miserable condition of material life and go back to home, back to Godhead. He's ready.

But He does not speak, generally, to the nondevotee. If you become a devotee, pure devotee, without any motive, then Kṛṣṅa is sitting within your heart. He says, teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam [Bg 10.10]:

[To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.]

"Persons who are twenty-four hours engaged in My service with love and faith," buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam, "I give him such intelligence by which he can come back to home, back to Godhead." He'll give you. Because He knows. But if you don't like to take His instruction, then He gives instruction to the material nature to get you all right.

And what is the main business of material nature? Just to beat you with shoes. That is the nature. Therefore we are suffering in this material world, because we have taken shelter of the material nature. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyam asad-grahāt [SB 7.5.5].

[Prahlāda Mahārāja replied: O best of the asuras, King of the demons, as far as I have learned from my spiritual master, any person who has accepted a temporary body and temporary household life is certainly embarrassed by anxiety because of having fallen in a dark well where there is no water but only suffering. One should give up this position and go to the forest [vana]. More clearly, one should go to Vṛndāvana, where only Kṛṣṅa consciousness is prevalent, and should thus take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.]

We have taken shelter of this material nature; therefore we are full of anxieties and full of miserable condition of life. This is the position. So long you'll be under the control of the... You are under the control. You cannot be independent. You rascal, don't think that ever you shall be independent. Your position is to remain dependent. If you don't depend on Kṛṣṅa, then you have to depend on the material nature, that's all. You cannot become independent. That is not possible.

So these people, these rascals, they are trying to become independent. They are therefore thinking... One of our student has written "theomania." "Theomania." Therefore, one... Because he cannot become independent, artificially he thinks, "Now let me become God, then I'll become..." But artificial thinking God will help you—no. If you artificially think that "This bank, this big bank belongs to me," so you can think like that, but does the bank belong to you? So these Māyāvādī philosophers are like... They meditate, "I am God. I am God. I am moving the world. I am moving the universe." They say like that. But actually does he do so? No. This is false thinking.

Real thinking is that I am also individual soul. Kṛṣṅa is also individual, but He is Supersoul, Supreme. I am also person, He is also person, but the Supreme Person. What is the difference between me and Him? I am also person, that's all right, but He is Supreme Person. That is explained in the Vedas, that eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13]. For providing myself, my body and soul together, I have to work so much. But Kṛṣṅa, He is providing millions and trillions of living entities without any endeavor. He is... In Africa, there are millions of elephants. Kṛṣṅa is supplying food. Yes. There are gorillas, Kṛṣṅa is supplying food. Why you are anxious for a morsel of bread? Will not supply Kṛṣṅa? He's perfect, He can supply huge quantity of food to the elephant, and a particular type of food to the gorillas. You know? We have read in a book that in Africa where the gorillas live, there are trees, the fruits of that tree, harder than the bullet. It is so hard. And the gorillas take those fruits and chews like peanuts. [laughter] Yes. Kṛṣṅa has given them. Kṛṣṅa's living entity. He's also living entity. He has got this body like a gorilla. So Kṛṣṅa: eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He supplies food for everyone. All the..., not only food; all the necessities. Every life, the necessity.

What is that necessities? We require food, we require shelter, we require sex, we require defense. Kṛṣṅa provides. Kṛṣṅa provides. Even birds' and beasts' life. In every birds and beast there are so many children, both male and female. With the birth they are supplied. Because there is no marriage, there is no seeking out with, but with the birth of a bird and beast there is another male and female. And so far food is concerned, everyone is getting. Shelter is concerned, everyone is getting. So food, shelter, sex and defense. The defense... The birds and beasts they have got their defensing means. Even a small bird, even a small ant, he has got his defensing measures, six legs. And the birds, they have got their nails. And the tiger has got jaws, or the cats and... Everyone has got defensive. You may have atom bomb, but it is defense. It is not intelligence.

Four things are already supplied you require to keep your body fit. That is supplied by God, by Kṛṣṅa. He has given everyone. So why you are bothering? You are human being, you have got so much nice brain, civilized. Why you are so much busy for these four things? If God has supplied these four things to the animals, beasts, birds, is He very miserly that He'll not supply to the human being? No. There is food. You have got your particular type of teeth for eating fruits, flowers, grains. You haven't got canine teeth. Why you should eat meat? This is not your food.

So in this way we have to acquire knowledge. Not like blind men. But unfortunately, we prefer to become a servant of a blind leader instead of Kṛṣṅa. This is our disease. We shall serve. I asked this question to Professor Kotovsky, that "Your Communist philosophy and our Kṛṣṅa consciousness, where is the difference? You have selected your leader and you have sold yourself to the orders of Lenin. And we have also bowed down to Kṛṣṅa and we have sold ourselves to Kṛṣṅa. So on principle, where is the difference?" There is no difference. You have to select one leader. We have also selected one... Now, if the leader is perfect, then my life is perfect. If the leader is wrong, then your life is wrong. So he could not answer this.

The principle is there. You have to select one leader and you have to act by his order. That is, that is our nature. Because Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṅa-dāsa [Cc Madhya 20.108-109]. Every living entity is eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa. When he forgets Kṛṣṅa he becomes servant of māyā. That is our position. We have to serve. Therefore self-realization means to understand oneself that "I am dependent on Kṛṣṅa. I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa. Let me engage myself to the service of the Lord." That is perfection of knowledge.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya... [end]