Kshetrajna
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Kshetrajna (
Overview
The kshetra or the field refers to the body which is material, mutable, transitory and perishable, the kshetrajna refers to the conscious knower of the body who is of the same essence as knowledge, immutable, eternal and imperishable, the knower of the body is the soul residing in the body. Kshetra is
Kshetra (the Field)
In the opening shloka of Chapter XIII of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna defines kshetra and establishes the identity of the individual soul, the conscious knower of the kshetra, with the Universal Soul.
- इदं शरीरं कौन्तेय क्षेत्रमित्यभिधीयते |
- एतद्यो वेत्ति तं प्राहुः क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विदः || (XIII.1)
- "This body, Arjuna, is termed as the Field (kshetra); and him who knows it, the sages discerning the truth about both refer to as the knower of the Field (kshetrajna)"
Thereafter, he explains that - the five elements, the ego, the intellect, the Unmanifest (Primordial Matter), the ten organs (of perception and action), the mind, and the five objects of sense (sound, touch, colour, taste and smell); also desire, aversion, pleasure, pain, the physical body, consciousness, firmness, this is the kshetra with its evolutes (XIII.5-6).[6]
Jnana (Knowledge)
Arjuna is told that – absence of pride, freedom from hypocrisy, non-violence, forbearance, straightness of the body, speech and mind, devout service of the preceptor, internal and external purity, steadfastness of mind and control of body, mind and the senses, dispassion towards the objects of enjoyment of this world and the next, and also absence of egotism, pondering again and again on the pain and evils inherent in birth, death, old age and disease; absence of attachment and the feeling of mineness in respect of son, wife, home etc., and constant equipoise of mind both in favourable and unfavourable circumstances; unflinching devotion to God through exclusive attachment, living in secluded and holy places, and finding no enjoyment in the company of men; fixity in self-knowledge and seeing God as the object of true knowledge – all this is declared as knowledge; and what is other than this is called ignorance (XIII 7-11).[7]
Knower of kshetras
Krishna tells Arjuna that:-
- क्षेत्रज्ञ चापि मां विद्धि सर्वक्षेत्रेषु भारत |
- क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोर्ज्ञानं यत्तज्ज्ञानं मतं मम || (13.3)
- "Know Myself to be the kshetrajna (knower of field) in all the kshetras, O descendant of Bharata. It is the knowledge of kshetra and kshetrajna which I consider as the ultimate knowledge."
Having identified Himself as the kshetrajna of all kshetras, Krishna proceeds to describe in detail Him who is sat (being) and asat (non-being) both, the Sole Witness who is eternal and present everywhere and in all things, and failing to reach Whom, speech together with the mind returneth (
Vedic concept
The concept of “Sameness” or “Oneness” of the individual soul and the Universal Soul emphasized by the
- त्रीणि त आहुर्दिवि बन्धनानि त्रीण्यप्सु त्रीण्यन्तः समुद्रे |
- उतेव मे वरुणश्छन्त्स्यर्वन्यत्रा त आहुः परमं जनित्रम् ||
- "O enlightened One ! The place of your origin or birth is the same as that of mine; O the finest One ! if you are endowed with strength I too possess the same kind of strength (of the same magnitude); O the bright One (Agni) ! if you so happen to exist in three states or forms so does water (the finest divine aspects) and the earth (the gross supporting aspect) and all objects (the entire transformation of the First Cause) dispersed in space (existing outside and within all) have three forms, O learned One ! if your birth and knowledge is divine so is mine."
This unique awareness of Sameness which is actually the awareness of Oneness is the knowledge of Reality, the true knowledge of existence, gaining which knowledge the true seeker of knowledge ceases to see difference in this wide world which difference is seen only as so many names echoing and re-echoing persistently in one’s mind.[13]
Commentary
Adi Shankara, in his commentary on Chapter XIII of the Bhagavad Gita with regard to the distinction between Ishvara and Jiva since the identification of the prajna (the self in deep sleep-state) with Ishvara is problematic, states:- “Now as to the objections that Ishvara would be a samsarin if He be one with kshetrajna, and that if Kshetrajnas be one with Ishvara there can be no samsara because there is no samsarin: these objections have been met by saying that knowledge and ignorance are distinct in kind and effects, - that all that is knowable is the kshetra, and kshetrajna is the knower and none else.” And, therefore, avarna dosha (obscuration of intellect) which is the basic feature of deep sleep affects only individual beings and not God.[14]
References
- ^ Kshetra and Kshetragna, www.thehindu.com
- ^ Kshetrajna, www.wisdomlib.org
- ^ Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 13, Verse 2
- ISBN 9788177552577.
- ^ Bhagavad Gita Bhasya of Sankaracarya. Sri Ramakrishna Math. pp. 254–255.
Bhagavad Gita Slokas VII.4-5
- ^ Jayadayal Goyandaka. Srimadbhagavadgita Tattvavivecani. Gita Press, Gorakhpur. pp. 547–551.
- ^ Jayadayal Goyandaka. Srimadbhagavadgita Tattvavivecani. Gita Press, Gorakhpur. pp. 552–556.
- ^ Bhagavad Gita Bhasya of Sankaracarya. Sri Ramakrishna Math. pp. 429–430.
Bhagavad Gita Slokas XIII.11-12
- ^ Jayadayal Goyandaka. Srimadbhagavadgita Tattvavivecani. Gita Press, Gorakhpur. pp. 552, 566.
- ISBN 9781845193461.
- ISBN 9788177558708.
- ISBN 9781434951717.
- OCLC 470877223.
- ISBN 9780791462515.