Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 13, Verse 2: Krishna to Arjuna — Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Know the knower-of-the-field (kshetrajna) in all fields to be Me — the single, undivided witness-consciousness that illumines body and mind alike. Shankara's bhashya unpacks the verse etymologically: the body is 'kshetra' (field) because it is the site where karma-phala ripens, and the one who cognizes it — whether by natural knowing or by teaching — is 'kshetrajna'. True knowledge (jnana) is discrimination between these two, dissolving the false superimposition of doer-ship onto the changeless witness.

  divergence: Shankara: 'apaadatalamastakam jnanena vishayikarothi' — the knower illumines from foot-crown without remainder; 'svabhaavikena aupadeShikena va vedanena' — whether innate or instructed knowing

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Know Me, Vasudeva, as the kshetrajna — the sole inner-controller (antaryamin) present in every body — with both field and knower subsisting as My body (sharira), incapable of existing apart from Me (aprithaksiddhi). Ramanuja's bhashya grounds this in Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad: 'yah prithivyam tishtan prithivya antarah... yasya prithivi shariram' — earth stands within the Lord as His body. The knowledge of both field and knower as 'madatmaka' (constituted by Me) is the sole worthy jnana.

  divergence: Ramanuja: 'devamanuSHyadisarvaKSheTreSHu veditritvaikaakaaram kshetrajnam ca maam vidhi — madatmakam vidhi'; and the sharira-shariri relation established via Shatapatha Brahmana and BU antaryami-brahmana citations.

• Madhvadvaita

  The Lord who is jnanadatri (the giver of knowledge) is alone kshetrajna in the primary sense — jiva knowers are dependent, secondary knowers who reflect His knowing as borrowed light. Madhva's terse bhashya opens Chapter 13 with a salutation to the Lord as 'shri-jnanadatre namah' and announces that jnana, jneya, kshetra, and purusha — all stated earlier — are now discriminated together. The jiva's distinctness from Brahman is never dissolved; the 'mam vidhi' is instruction to recognize that the Lord alone is the independent seer.

  divergence: Madhva: 'purvokta-jnana-jneya-kshetra-purushaan pindikrithya vivicya darshayhati anena adhyayena' — he synthesizes and discriminates all prior categories through this chapter-opener.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  The body-field and its knower are both forms of Shri Krishna's own svarupa-shakti; kshetra-kshetrajna-viveka is not a ladder to escape the world but the prasada by which the jiva recognizes itself as inseparable from Krishna's lila. Vallabha's bhashya positions this verse as the third level of commentary (bhashya after sutra and vritti): the two prakriti-s of Chapter 7 — para and apara — now appear as kshetra and kshetrajna, and their relationship is understood not as dualistic opposition but as the aksharamula-svarupa (root-nature) that constitutes both. The jiva who knows the distinction viviktata (distinctly) is already ripe for recognition of the Lord.

  divergence: Vallabha: 'yat prathamam cha upapaditam prakriti-dvayam para-apara-vivekena... aksharamula-svarupatvaad jneyam' — the two-nature discrimination resolves into the aksharamula substrate of which both are expressions.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  The body is kshetra because it is the germination-ground (prarohabhumi) of samsara, and whoever cognizes it as 'I' and 'mine' is called kshetrajna — like a farmer who takes the crop as his own. Sridhara grounds the chapter theologically in Krishna's prior promise: 'tesham aham samuddharta mrityu-samsara-sagarat' (BG 12.7) — that rescue from samsara requires tattva-jnana, which requires prakriti-purusha-viveka. The verse opens this viveka-teaching. Knowing both kshetra and kshetrajna clearly — and knowing Me as the supreme kshetrajna within all fields — is the bhakta's path to liberation.

  divergence: Sridhara: 'samsarasya praroha-bhumitvaat kshetram iti'; 'krishivala-vat tat-phala-bhoktrtvaat kshetrajna'; and the framing from his invocatory verse: 'bhaktaanam aham uddharta... tattva-jnanam udiiryate'.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  The field, the knower, and their distinction — all three resolve into the non-dual brahman, yet this very resolution is the vision that floods the yogin's eyes with Krishna's dark radiance on the Kalindi bank. Madhusudana opens with his celebrated verse: the yogin meditating on nirguna-jyotis may see that light, 'but for us let it be that blue radiance dancing on the Yamuna's sand forever.' Then he proceeds with rigorous Advaita: the kshetrajna per field, though appearing plural, is actually one undivided witness; body, senses, and antahkarana constitute the kshetra; the jiva's samsaritva and bheda are avidya-kalpita (imposed by ignorance), not real. Knowing this is the jnana that effects liberation.

  divergence: Madhusudana: 'dhyanabhyasa-vashikritena manasa... nirguna... jyotih kimnchana yogino yadi param pashyanti pashyantu te. asmakam tu tadeva lochana-chamatkaaraya... kalindi-pulina-udare kiimapi yat niilam maho dhaavati' — and then 'atad-rupa-adhyasa-asambhaavanaya kauntheya-aadi-bheda-darshanam... na sambhavati' resolving the Advaita conclusion.