If the body is merely a 'field' — an object known — then who or what is the 'I' that says 'my body hurts' or 'I am tired'? What changes in your daily experience when you sit with that question?

This body is called the field, Arjuna, and the one who knows it the knowers call the field-knower. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/13/1.

Rāmānuja's bhāṣya notes that even those who mistake themselves for the body still experience 'I know this body' — the very act of knowing proves you are not what you know. Can you catch this witnessing in a moment of physical pain or pleasure today?

This body is called the field, Arjuna, and the one who knows it the knowers call the field-knower. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/13/1.

The traditions agree on the kṣetra/kṣetrajña distinction but diverge sharply on whether the kṣetrajña is ultimately one (Advaita), qualified-one (Viśiṣṭādvaita), or many (Dvaita). What is at stake — practically, not just philosophically — in each answer?

This body is called the field, Arjuna, and the one who knows it the knowers call the field-knower. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/13/1.

Chapter 13 opens by framing the body as a 'field' (kṣetra) — something cultivated, sown, and harvested. What are you currently sowing in your field of body-mind, and who is doing the sowing?

This body is called the field, Arjuna, and the one who knows it the knowers call the field-knower. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/13/1.

Rāmānuja observes that the deluded cannot see the knower because the knower is not accessible to the senses — only to a mind purified by yoga. What practices in your life cultivate the quality of attention that can 'see the seer'?

This body is called the field, Arjuna, and the one who knows it the knowers call the field-knower. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/13/1.

The Dvaita school insists Viṣṇu alone is the independent Knower of all fields simultaneously. If true, what does it mean that your partial, finite knowing is itself a derivative expression of omniscience? Does that feel like constraint or like participation?

This body is called the field, Arjuna, and the one who knows it the knowers call the field-knower. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/13/1.

Śuddhādvaita reframes the body as a site of divine play rather than a cage. What single concrete aspect of your physical life would shift if you held it as Kṛṣṇa's līlā-field rather than your problem to manage?

This body is called the field, Arjuna, and the one who knows it the knowers call the field-knower. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/13/1.

BG 13.1 — Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 13.1Chapter 13 · Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña-Vibhāga-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · Kaunteya · anuṣṭubh

इदं शरीरं कौन्तेय क्षेत्रमित्यभिधीयते ।

एतद् यो वेत्ति तं प्राहुः क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विदः ॥

idaṃ śarīraṃ kaunteya kṣetram ity abhidhīyate

etad yo vetti taṃ prāhuḥ kṣetrajña iti tad-vidaḥ

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

This body is called the field, Arjuna, and the one who knows it the knowers call the field-knower.

ekras · bhāṣya

This shariram, kaunteya, is called the kshetra. The one who knows it — the knowing-ones call him kshetrajna. The verse names two terms that the chapter will operate with: kshetra and kshetrajna. The body is the field; the one who knows the field is the field-knower.

Shankara reads the verse with characteristic precision. The body — and by extension all that pertains to it — is named the kshetra. The knower is named the kshetrajna. The two are distinct in principle even when entangled in experience; the chapter's whole task is to make the distinction clear and operative.

Madhusudana reads with characteristic precision: the verse opens the chapter's central technical distinction. Kshetra and kshetrajna are the two terms whose relationship the chapter will explore; the relationship dissolves the samsara-confusion when properly understood.

Ramanuja reads with characteristic warmth: the kshetra-kshetrajna distinction is the structure for understanding why Bhagavan is the antaryamin of every body without being any of them.

Madhva reads on the bheda-frame: the eternally distinct jiva is the kshetrajna of its body; svatantra Hari is the supreme kshetrajna of all bodies.

Vallabha reads through pushti-marga: the kshetra is Krishna's lila-display; the kshetrajna is the chid-amsha that knows it.

Shridhara reads cleanly: body is field, knower is field-knower; the chapter's two operative terms.

Context

where

Chapter 13 · Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña-Vibhāga-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna · vocative Kaunteya

What's going on

This body is called the field, Arjuna, and the one who knows it the knowers call the field-knower.

Sūtras through this verse · hub (54)

ĀnandagiriclassicalG

Anūdyate, na vidhīyatebetween

12.12Bhakta's gradient read as description.───→here13.1───→13.7Twenty jñāna-qualities: still description.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)between

10.42One fragment props all.───→here13.1───→13.2Field and knower both predicate Me.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

9.1Single-verse prelude names the secret of secrets.───→here13.1───→13.2Architectural claim: the Lord's own bhāṣya.

show all 54

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asistation · anchor

───→here13.1───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousstation · anchor

───→here13.1───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisstation

───→here13.1───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsstation

───→here13.1───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyastation

───→here13.1───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firststation

───→here13.1───→

RāmānujaclassicalC

Three ṣaṭkas (1–6 / 7–12 / 13–18)station

───→here13.1───→

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsbetween

9.27Karma-as-frame. 'Yat karoshi yad ashnasi yaj juhoshi dadasi yat, yat tapasyasi K───→here13.1───→13.7Itihasa stories and the witness virtues. 'Amanitvam adambhitvam ahimsa kshantir

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologybetween

9.29'Samo'ham sarva-bhuteshu na me dveshyo'sti na priyah.' I am equal in all beings;───→here13.1───→13.27'Samam sarveshu bhuteshu tishthantam parameshvaram.' The same Lord seated equal

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101between

9.27Dharma-as-offering pillar. 'Yat karoshi yad ashnasi yaj juhoshi dadasi yat.' Gau───→here13.1───→13.27Atman / Brahman pillar. 'Samam sarveshu bhuteshu tishthantam parameshvaram.' The

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netibetween

6.29'Sarva-bhuta-stham atmanam sarva-bhutani cha'tmani, ikshate yoga-yuktatma sarvat───→here13.1───→13.32'Anaditvan nirgunatvat paramatma'yam avyayah, sharira-stho'pi Kaunteya na karoti

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśabetween

7.13Modes hide the higher.───→here13.1───→13.20Both natures beginningless.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerbetween

7.25My power, not your blindness, hides Me.───→here13.1───→13.2Those who posit ajñāna in Brahman fail.

RāmānujaclassicalI

Vibhūti as evidence for antaryāminbetween

11.13Arjuna sees all at once.───→here13.1───→13.2The whole vibhūti clinches sāmānādhikaraṇya.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

12.20The devotee holds this teaching dearest.───→here13.1───→13.21Clinging to modes is why you are reborn.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

The three modes (sattva, rajas, tamas) at workbetween

7.12The modes come from the Lord, not in Him.───→here13.1───→13.21Clinging to modes causes any new birth.

RamsukhdasclassicalI

The Lord already inside the heartbetween

10.20I am the Self in every heart.───→here13.1───→13.17The Knowable lives as the inner light.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursbetween

6.3Body, senses, and mind: none of them yours.───→here13.1───→13.20Nature causes the act; you only experience.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here13.1───→

RāmānujaclassicalK

Tri-guṇa diagnostic for the bhaktaapproach

───→here13.1───→13.20Both natures cause the body's binding.

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidexit

12.12'Shreyo hi jnanam abhyasaj jnanad dhyanam vishishyate, dhyanat karma-phala-tyaga───→here13.1───→

AbhinavaguptaclassicalE

Field and field-knower as Parameśvarastation

───→here13.1───→

VallabhaclassicalJ

Strategic silence — pointers, not absencesstation

───→here13.1───→

Madhvaclassicalmadhva_pratibimba

Madhva Pratibimbabetween · other

9.9Like one detached, not actually───→here13.1───→13.30Seer of non-action by Hari's light

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

6.9Souls differ by nature not by accident alone.───→here13.1───→13.23Soul and Lord coexist in the body, not as one.

MadhvaclassicalT5

Mirror-and-image — how seeming-action worksbetween

9.9He sits like one detached, not actually detached.───→here13.1───→13.30The seer of non-action sees by Hari's light.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causebetween

12.12Anabhimlāna-śruti names every rung in order.───→here13.1───→13.25Three classes, one ladder, each class on a different rung.

ŚrīdharaclassicalA

The Gītā as raft across griefbetween

2.11Confusing self with body is the source of grief.───→here13.1───→13.2For their rescue, truth-knowledge is uttered.

ŚrīdharaclassicalI

His evenness as ground for refugebetween

9.29Even to all — yet near to those who turn.───→here13.1───→13.10A steady evenness is the seeker's mark.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spinebetween

12.1Form or formless: which is the better road?───→here13.1───→13.2I lift my devotees, so I now teach truth.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

7.1The bhakti-ṣaṭka opens the third stage.───→here13.1───→13.2The third ṣaṭka is the Lord's own bhāṣya.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personbetween

7.6From these two natures all beings come forth.───→here13.1───→13.2The kṣetra-knower in every field is the Lord himself.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentarybetween

7.1The gloss-stage opens with chapter seven.───→here13.1───→13.2The Lord himself writes the third ṣaṭka. .

ŚrīdharaclassicalG

Soul as His portion, neither cut nor identicalapproach

───→here13.1───→14.26Fit for the state of brahman, not fused.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerexit

11.34Already slain — the question is finally retired.───→here13.1───→

AbhinavaguptaclassicalC

Vision is the structural centerexit

11.49Cosmic returns to gracious; ananya means non-dual.───→here13.1───→

AbhinavaguptaclassicalD

Avatāra: appearance without departureexit

11.46Cosmic and gracious one self-luminous.───→here13.1───→

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionstation

───→here13.1───→

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

Three groups of six: you, the Lord, the joiningstation

───→here13.1───→

ŚaṅkaraclassicalE

Ignorance is the only enemybetween

5.13Body-self confusion is the only error.───→here13.1───→13.2One Self lights every body as one sun lights all.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalK

Liberation while still embodiedbetween

5.29Knowing Me, all wandering ceases at once.───→here13.1───→13.34One Self, untouched, in every body.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentbetween

10.20I am the Self seated in every heart.───→here13.1───→13.2'Cāpi' marks two — not one identity.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalE

Pūrva-pakṣa — name the rival, close the doorbetween

9.34Refuge is not bondage by another name.───→here13.1───→13.2'Cāpi' refutes jīva- brahma-aikya cleanly.

JayatīrthaclassicalA

Body and embodied — the inference runs on the dehī sidebetween

2.24Uncuttable, unburnt, steady, all-pervading.───→here13.1───→13.5Field and knower: body-self cut returns.

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

11.16Aneka- is not just two-or-more.───→here13.1───→13.5Brahma-sūtra is text, not just utterance.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

11.16Aneka- means many; no upacāra needed.───→here13.1───→13.5Brahma-sūtra is text, not paraphrase.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesbetween

12.20Saguṇa worship ripens into nirguṇa knowing.───→here13.1───→13.13Only the formless can be the ultimately taught.

MadhusūdanaclassicalH

Krishna with form is the ground beneath formless Brahmanbetween

11.55The crystal verse names the saguṇa in absolute form.───→here13.1───→13.13Not a power-of-the-Lord; the Lord himself, formless.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingexit

11.55Acting for Me, holding Me supreme — that is the road.───→here13.1───→

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentbetween · v2

6.35Practice and dispassion───→here13.1───→13.8Field-knowledge as virtues

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvabetween · v2

5.14Lord neither acts nor causes───→here13.1───→13.20Prakriti causes, puruṣa enjoys

Śabda · lemmas (13 unique · 15 occurrences)

क्षेत्रम् kṣetra — field, body (as the field of experience) · nominative neuter singular noun
अभिधीयते abhi-√dhā — to designate, name (abhi- + √dhā) · present indicative pass 3rd person singular verb
वेत्ति √vid — to know; to find (verbal root) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
प्राहुः √prāh — to declare, expound (variant of pravac) · past indicative 3rd person plural verb

show all 13

इति iti ×2 — thus (quotative particle)
तम्·तद् tad ×2 — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · accusative masculine singular noun / compound
इदम् idam — this (proximal demonstrative) · nominative neuter singular noun
शरीरम् śarīra — body · nominative neuter singular noun
कौन्तेय kaunteya — son of Kuntī (epithet of Arjuna) · vocative masculine singular noun · also at 1.27, 2.14, 2.37, 2.60, 3.9, 3.39 +18
एतत् etad — this (proximal demonstrative) · accusative neuter singular noun
यः yad — which, who (relative pronoun) · nominative masculine singular noun
क्षेत्रज्ञः kṣetrajña — knower of the field (kṣetra + jña) · nominative masculine singular noun
विदः vid — to know; to find (verbal root) · nominative masculine plural noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01If the body is merely a 'field' — an object known — then who or what is the 'I' that says 'my body hurts' or 'I am tired'? What changes in your daily experience when you sit with that question?
02Rāmānuja's bhāṣya notes that even those who mistake themselves for the body still experience 'I know this body' — the very act of knowing proves you are not what you know. Can you catch this witnessing in a moment of physical pain or pleasure today?

show all 7

03The traditions agree on the kṣetra/kṣetrajña distinction but diverge sharply on whether the kṣetrajña is ultimately one (Advaita), qualified-one (Viśiṣṭādvaita), or many (Dvaita). What is at stake — practically, not just philosophically — in each answer?
04Chapter 13 opens by framing the body as a 'field' (kṣetra) — something cultivated, sown, and harvested. What are you currently sowing in your field of body-mind, and who is doing the sowing?
05Rāmānuja observes that the deluded cannot see the knower because the knower is not accessible to the senses — only to a mind purified by yoga. What practices in your life cultivate the quality of attention that can 'see the seer'?
06The Dvaita school insists Viṣṇu alone is the independent Knower of all fields simultaneously. If true, what does it mean that your partial, finite knowing is itself a derivative expression of omniscience? Does that feel like constraint or like participation?
07Śuddhādvaita reframes the body as a site of divine play rather than a cage. What single concrete aspect of your physical life would shift if you held it as Kṛṣṇa's līlā-field rather than your problem to manage?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When a wave of anxiety, illness, or exhaustion hits — pause and ask: 'Who is noticing this?' The body-mind is the field; the noticing is not inside the field. Even one second of resting in the witnessing position rather than merging with the sensation is a direct enactment of kṣetra-kṣetrajña discrimination.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

In your next difficult conversation, notice that you can simultaneously be in the conversation and observe yourself being in it — Rāmānuja calls this the knower cognizing 'I know this' while remaining categorically distinct from what is known. Use that double-awareness to stay responsive without being swept away: you are the kṣetrajña of the conversation-field.

show all 6

Dvaita

When you feel wrongly treated or overlooked, resist the urge to inflate your own knowing — 'I know how things should be.' The Dvaita application: your knowledge is partial, dependent, always mediated by Hari's sovereignty. Bring a decision you are overconfident about and genuinely ask: 'What am I not seeing because I am a finite knower in a finite field?'

Śuddhādvaita

Choose one routine bodily act today — eating, walking, bathing — and perform it as if it is Kṛṣṇa's own field being tended. The Puṣṭi-mārga application is not to despise the body but to sanctify the field: every act of care for this body is seva (service) to the site of the Lord's play.

Bhakti

When distraction or dullness makes prayer feel hollow, recall the bhakti-application: 'I am the kṣetrajña — the knower — and this distracted mind is the field, not me.' Redirect from the field's noise to the simple fact of your awareness, and offer that awareness as the real act of devotion — not the words alone, but the undistracted knowing behind them.

Advaita-Bhakti

In a moment of loneliness or longing, sit with Madhusūdana's synthesis: the love you feel for Kṛṣṇa is the kṣetrajña recognizing the ultimate Kṣetrajña — Consciousness recognizing itself through the form of the Beloved. Let the longing itself become the proof that the Knower in you is already oriented toward its source; do not try to resolve the longing, but let it deepen into presence.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 13, Verse 1: Krishna to Arjuna — Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña-Vibhāga-Yoga