Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 13, Verse 27: Krishna to Arjuna — Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  He who sees the imperishable Parameshvara (supreme Self) abiding equally in all beings — in the moving and the unmoving alike — while the bodies perish, he alone truly sees. Shankara reads 'samam tisthantan' as the ksetrajnya whose nature is undifferentiated pure Consciousness, neither increased by its presence in a deva-body nor diminished in a blade of grass. The error corrected is adhyasa (superimposition): just as rope-snake vanishes on correct knowledge, the apparent plurality of Ishvaras collapses when the non-dual substrate is recognised. Seeing rightly ends the cycle of rebirth whose seed is that very avidya.

  divergence: Shankara's comment on 13.27 frames the verse as the payoff of ksetra-ksetrajnya viveka: correct discrimination between the perishable field and the imperishable knower dissolves mithya-jnana, and the aspirant is not born again (na sa bhuyo 'bhijayate).

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  He who sees the Parameshvara — who is of the same cognitive nature (jnatrtva) in all beings, unaffected by the variable bodies and senses that constitute his body — abiding equally while those bodies perish, he sees truly. Ramanuja reads 'samam' as uniformity of the Self's knowing-nature across deva, human, and plant bodies, not identity of the Self with those bodies. The Lord (antaryamin) is the real inner Self of every creature; creatures are his modes (prakara), and seeing them destroyed one must not mistake the Lord-as-inner-Self for destroyed.

  divergence: Ramanuja's bhashya: 'tattatdehendriyanamsi prati parameshvaratvena sthitam atmanam jnatrtena samanakaram ... avinashyantam yah pashyati sa pashyati sa atmanam yathavad avastithitam pashyati.'

• Madhvadvaita

  He who sees Parameshvara — Hari, eternally supreme over prakriti and purusha — abiding equally in all beings as their independent ruler while they perish, and himself never perishing, that one sees rightly. For Madhva the equality (samata) is Hari's sovereign impartiality: he governs every creature with the same transcendent authority, yet remains utterly distinct from them. The jiva who mistakes this impartial overlordship for identity commits the gravest confusion.

  divergence: Madhva's comment on this verse is brief: 'punasch prakriti-purusha-ishvara-svarupam samyadidharma-yuktam aha' — he reads the verse as restating the nature of Ishvara characterised by the quality of equality (samata) alongside the triad of prakriti, purusha, and Ishvara.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  He who sees Shri Krishna — whose bliss-form (ananda-svarupa) is entirely present in every being, not diminished by the perishing of the body-vessels — and who sees the perishing bodies as lila-vessels that come and go while Krishna's presence is unbroken, he alone sees with the eye of prasada. On the Pushti path this verse is an invitation: the very sight of equal divine presence is itself a gift of grace, not an achievement of discriminative reason.

  divergence: Vallabha's supplied commentary addresses 13.26 (yavat sanjayate...) and does not extend explicitly to 13.27 in the provided payload; this rendering is constructed from Vallabha's Shuddhadvaita principles (Brahma-sutra-bhasya, Anubhashya) and the Pushti-marga understanding of antaryami as full Krishna-presence. Bhashya anchor is INFERRED, not direct quote.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  The one who, amid the destruction of all transient beings, sees the Parameshvara — the imperishable Lord who abides equally, without partiality, in all — he truly sees. Sridhara reads the verse as the culmination of Sankhya discrimination (viveka) that has been unfolded from 13.1 onward: having distinguished ksetra from ksetrajnya, the aspirant now perceives the one Ishvara who is the ground of all ksetrajnyas.

  divergence: Sridhara's supplied text elaborates 13.26 (yavat kimcid vastu utpadyate) and signals he is completing the Sankhya exposition through chapter-end. His framing that ksetra-ksetrajnya viveka leads to non-rebirth provides the logic this verse enacts. Direct quote on 13.27 itself is absent in the supplied payload; rendering anchored in his stated interpretive frame.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  He who sees the imperishable Parameshvara abiding equally in all beings — recognising that all apparent multiplicity is born of avidya-driven ksetra-ksetrajnya superimposition, and that the one Brahman shines through it all — he truly sees; and his bhakti for Krishna is the very form that seeing takes. Madhusudana's synthesis: the ksetra (inert, anirvachaniya, sad-asat) and the ksetrajnya (self-luminous, unattached, non-dual Consciousness) are related only by mithya-tadatmya-adhyasa born of Maya; seeing through this is jnana, but in Madhusudana's school that jnana is saturated with love for the personal Krishna who is none other than that non-dual Brahman.

  divergence: Madhusudana's bhashya: 'yavat kimapi sattvam vasthu sanjayate sthavaram jangamam va tat sarvam ksetra-ksetrajnya-samyogad avidya-tat-karyatmakam jadam anirvachaniyam ... mithya-tadatmya-adhyasah satya-anrta-mithuni-karanatmakah' — the one who sees through this superimposition onto the equal-abiding Parameshvara, sees rightly.