arjuna uvāca
prakṛtiḿ puruṣaḿ caiva
kṣetraḿ kṣetra-jñam eva ca
etad veditum icchāmi
jñānaḿ jñeyaḿ ca keśava

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
idaḿ śarīraḿ kaunteya
kṣetram ity abhidhīyate
etad yo vetti taḿ prāhuḥ
kṣetra-jña iti tad-vidaḥ

Translation

Arjuna said: O my dear Krishna, I wish to know about prakriti [nature], purusha [the enjoyer], and the field and the knower of the field, and of knowledge and the object of knowledge.

kṣetra-jñaḿ cāpi māḿ viddhi
sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata
kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānaḿ
yat taj jñānaḿ mataḿ mama

Translation

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

tat kṣetraḿ yac ca yādṛk ca
yad-vikāri yataś ca yat
sa ca yo yat-prabhāvaś ca
tat samāsena me śṛṇu

Translation

Now please hear My brief description of this field of activity and how it is constituted, what its changes are, whence it is produced, who that knower of the field of activities is, and what his influences are.

ṛṣibhir bahudhā gītaḿ
chandobhir vividhaiḥ pṛthak
brahma-sūtra-padaiś caiva
hetumadbhir viniścitaiḥ

Translation

That knowledge of the field of activities and of the knower of activities is described by various sages in various Vedic writings. It is especially presented in Vedanta-sutra with all reasoning as to cause and effect.

mahā-bhūtāny ahańkāro
buddhir avyaktam eva ca
indriyāṇi daśaikaḿ ca
pañca cendriya-gocarāḥ

icchā dveṣaḥ sukhaḿ duḥkhaḿ
sańghātaś cetanā dhṛtiḥ
etat kṣetraḿ samāsena
sa-vikāram udāhṛtam

Translation

The five great elements, false ego, intelligence, the unmanifested, the ten senses and the mind, the five sense objects, desire, hatred, happiness, distress, the aggregate, the life symptoms, and convictions—all these are considered, in summary, to be the field of activities and its interactions.

amānitvam adambhitvam
ahiḿsā kṣāntir ārjavam
ācāryopāsanaḿ śaucaḿ
sthairyam ātma-vinigrahaḥ

indriyārtheṣu vairāgyam
anahańkāra eva ca
janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-
duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam

asaktir anabhiṣvańgaḥ
putra-dāra-gṛhādiṣu
nityaḿ ca sama-cittatvam
iṣṭāniṣṭopapattiṣu

mayi cānanya-yogena
bhaktir avyabhicāriṇī
vivikta-deśa-sevitvam
aratir jana-saḿsadi

adhyātma-jñāna-nityatvaḿ
tattva-jñānārtha-darśanam
etaj jñānam iti proktam
ajñānaḿ yad ato ’nyathā

Translation

Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification; absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest; even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance.

jñeyaḿ yat tat pravakṣyāmi
yaj jñātvāmṛtam aśnute
anādi mat-paraḿ brahma
na sat tan nāsad ucyate

Translation

I shall now explain the knowable, knowing which you will taste the eternal. Brahman, the spirit, beginningless and subordinate to Me, lies beyond the cause and effect of this material world.

sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaḿ tat
sarvato ’kṣi-śiro-mukham
sarvataḥ śrutimal loke
sarvam āvṛtya tiṣṭhati

Translation

Everywhere are His hands and legs, His eyes, heads and faces, and He has ears everywhere. In this way the Supersoul exists, pervading everything.

sarvendriya-guṇābhāsaḿ
sarvendriya-vivarjitam
asaktaḿ sarva-bhṛc caiva
nirguṇaḿ guṇa-bhoktṛ ca

Translation

The Supersoul is the original source of all senses, yet He is without senses. He is unattached, although He is the maintainer of all living beings. He transcends the modes of nature, and at the same time He is the master of all the modes of material nature.

bahir antaś ca bhūtānām
acaraḿ caram eva ca
sūkṣmatvāt tad avijñeyaḿ
dūra-sthaḿ cāntike ca tat

Translation

The Supreme Truth exists outside and inside of all living beings, the moving and the nonmoving. Because He is subtle, He is beyond the power of the material senses to see or to know. Although far, far away, He is also near to all.