Whatever sattva — whatever existence — arises, sthavara or jangama, stationary or moving, know it to arise from kshetra-kshetrajna-samyoga, the union of field and field-knower.
Krishna delivers a single causal axiom: nothing comes into being apart from this conjunction. The chapter's two terms now turn out to be the world's actual ontological recipe.
Shankara reads precisely. Whatever being arises, moving or unmoving, arises solely from the conjunction of kshetra and kshetrajna. The coupling itself is rooted in avidya; once that ignorance is dissolved through jnana, no real union ever occurred — for the kshetrajna is non-dual Brahman alone. The verse frames the entire phenomenal world as a superimposition; the bhakta-jnani who sees through the superimposition sees the world's apparent variety dissolve into the one ground.
Madhusudana marks manda-tara — the still-lesser aspirants — as the audience of 13.25-26, distinguished by tu from the three types of 13.24. They cannot independently reason their way to self-knowledge, yet by receiving guru-upadesha with shraddha and resting entirely in shruti-parayana, they too cross mrityu. The kshetra-kshetrajna-samyoga is the universal causal frame they hold by trust; the realized see through it. The compassion of the chapter runs even to those who hear without comprehending.
Ramanuja reads with characteristic warmth: every sentient and insentient being that comes into existence arises through the mutual sanyoga of kshetra and kshetrajna, never in separation. Both terms name real and distinct realities — matter and individual self — both genuine prakaras of Brahman. Their union is Ishvara's own creative act, not an illusion to be dissolved. The bhakta who knows this knows the cosmos as Bhagavan's living, relational structure.
Madhva reads on the bheda-frame within a bracketed unit covering 13.25-26: all paths — sankhya-yoga, karma, shravana, dhyana — lead to perception of Bhagavan's own svarupa as kshetrajna. The sanyoga is not an epistemic illusion but an eternal, ontological dependence of the jiva upon Hari, who alone is the true kshetrajna; all arising is fully under His sovereign will. Even the moving-stationary distinction is His ordering.
Vallabha reads the verse as addressed to the ati-manda-adhikari — those of mildest spiritual qualification: even they, on hearing from jnanis and meditating with shraddha, cross beyond mrityu. The kshetra-kshetrajna sanyoga is Krishna's own lila-shakti projecting multiplicity from His undivided svarupa; every emergent being is a play-form of the One.
Shridhara introduces this verse as showing the path for the ati-manda-adhikari: those unable to directly realize the atman as upadrashtri through sankhya-yoga or meditation can still transcend samsara by hearing from an acharya with shraddha and meditating accordingly. The sanyoga of kshetra and kshetrajna is the efficient cause of every birth; understanding this causal nexus is itself a release-conducive seeing.