Lord Krishna
Divine TeacherThe Supreme Lord, the charioteer and divine guide of Arjuna. Krishna delivers the eternal wisdom of the Gita, revealing the nature of the soul, duty, and the path to liberation.
Speaking: Chapter 13, Verse 2
Verse 2
The Yoga of the Field and the Knower of the Field
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: O son of Kunti, this body is called the field. One who knows this body is called the knower of the field by those who know.
Context & Meaning
Krishna begins with the foundational distinction of the entire chapter: the body is the field (kṣetra), and the one who knows it is the knower of the field (kṣetrajña). The metaphor of the field is illuminating — a field is something that is cultivated, that produces results, that is known and worked by a farmer who stands apart from it. Just so, the body is the terrain of experience, and the soul is the one who knows and witnesses that terrain. This fundamental distinction — between the known and the knower, between matter and consciousness — is the key to liberation.
Scholar Commentaries
1 commentary · Public domainRamanujacharya
VishishtadvaitaThe word kṣetra — field — is an inspired metaphor. A field is something cultivated for a purpose by one who stands outside it. The body, similarly, is the medium through which the soul experiences the results of its past karma. The knower of the field is not absorbed into it; he remains always the witness, the conscious subject who knows the field without being the field.