BG 13.31 — Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 13.31Chapter 13 · Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña-Vibhāga-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · Kaunteya · anuṣṭubh

अनादित्वान् निर्गुणत्वात् परमात्मायमव्ययः ।

शरीरस्थो ऽपि कौन्तेय न करोति न लिप्यते ॥

anāditvān nirguṇatvāt paramātmāyam avyayaḥ

śarīra-stho 'pi kaunteya na karoti na lipyate

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

meaning

Because it has no beginning and no qualities, the supreme self is imperishable, Arjuna, and though it lives in the body, it neither acts nor is stained.

ekras · bhāṣya

Because of anaditva — beginninglessness — and nirgunatva — the absence of the three modes — this paramatman is avyaya, imperishable. Though sharira-sthah — body-stationed — kaunteya, He neither acts nor is stained.

Krishna gives the disciple two grounds for the Self's untouchability: it has no beginning, and it has no gunas. From these the structural conclusion follows: na karoti, na lipyate. Body-presence does not mean body-entanglement.

Shankara reads precisely. The paramatman is anadi and nirguna; therefore neither acts nor is stained, even while dwelling in the body. What has a beginning perishes; what has gunas decays through their loss. Brahman has neither, so neither vyaya. The verse closes the akarta-doctrine of 13.29 with its structural ground. The disciple now sees: not only is the witness not the doer phenomenologically, the witness is not the doer ontologically.

Madhusudana takes the verse as removing kshetra-differentiation after 13.30 removed kshetrajna-differentiation. The prithak-bhava of all inert beings is perceived as kalpita — superimposed — in the one atman of sat-rupa, in the same way dream-images are not separate from the dreamer's mind. Even so, the vistara — the plurality — is seen as proceeding from the same sat-rupa. Both ends of the multiplicity collapse into the one ground.

Ramanuja reads with characteristic precision: the paramatman, extracted from the body by its own svabhava and described in itself, is avyaya by virtue of being anadi, and nirguna meaning free of the sattva-rajas-tamas modes that characterize matter. Though eternally conjoined with the body as antaryamin, He neither acts as the body acts nor is bound by the body's being. The bhakta who recognizes this recognizes the Lord's pure svarupa even amid the body's activity.

Madhva reads ekastham as resting in Vishnu alone — the prithak-bhava of all beings abides in Vishnu, and their vistara proceeds from Vishnu's own will. The paramatman here is Vishnu, anadi and nirguna, who neither acts in a dependent sense nor is tainted; the jiva by contrast does act in its dependent mode but, when seen rightly as akarta in the witnessing-sense, also escapes contamination. The bheda holds throughout.

Vallabha reads the verse within the third fruit of kshetra-kshetrajna knowledge: when one perceives the prithak-bhava as resting in prakriti and in samashti-purusha, and sees the vistara proceeding from the akshara atman as sparks from fire — citing Brihadaranyaka's spark-image — the bhakta reaches the recognition that even body-presence does not contaminate. The paramatman is in the field but not of it.

Shridhara reads the verse as answering how the atman, though dwelling in the body, is untouched: because all the prithak-bhava of sthavara and jangama beings rests in a single Ishvara-shakti-rupa prakriti at dissolution, and their vistara proceeds from that same prakriti at creation. Seeing this non-difference at both ends, one sees correctly: na karoti, na lipyate.

Context

where

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

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna · vocative Kaunteya

preceded by — BG 13.30

When you see that all the variety of beings rests in one ground, and that all its branching spread comes from that ground alone, you become Brahman.

What's going on

Because it has no beginning and no qualities, the supreme self is imperishable, Arjuna, and though it lives in the body, it neither acts nor is stained.

Sūtras through this verse (54)

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

13.1Two niṣṭhās, three kāṇḍas — keystone.───→here13.31───→18.78Sealed: the means stands on the end stands.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)between

13.2Field and knower both predicate Me.───→here13.31───→13.32Touches without being stained.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

13.2Architectural claim: the Lord's own bhāṣya.───→here13.31───→14.1Two-verse prelude names guṇa-vibhāga.

show all 54

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

13.1Vākyārtha hexad begins. Anchor.───→here13.31───→15.20Whole teaching named guhyatamaṃ śāstram.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsbetween

13.1Ch 13 opens by binding to the middle hexad.───→here13.31───→18.1Final chapter compresses seed and answer.

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

13.1Boundary protected by stylized doubt.───→here13.31───→18.66Closing verse opened by doubt-and-answer.

ĀnandagiriclassicalG

Anūdyate, na vidhīyatebetween

13.7Twenty jñāna-qualities: still description.───→here13.31───→14.22Guṇātīta-lakṣaṇa follows the same rule.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousbetween

13.1Prakṛti's autonomy blocked at boundary. Anchor.───→here13.31───→14.1Modes belong to the Lord's prakṛti.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

13.1Same discipline at the keystone chapter.───→here13.31───→18.1Final chapter opens with the same form.

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsbetween

13.7Itihasa stories and the witness virtues. 'Amanitvam adambhitvam ahimsa kshantir ───→here13.31───→17.15Mantra and speech. 'Anudvega-karam vakyam satyam priya-hitam cha yat, svadhyaya-

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologybetween

13.27'Samam sarveshu bhuteshu tishthantam parameshvaram.' The same Lord seated equal ───→here13.31───→18.46'Yatah pravrittir bhutanam yena sarvam idam tatam, sva-karmana tam abhyarchya si

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101between

13.27Atman / Brahman pillar. 'Samam sarveshu bhuteshu tishthantam parameshvaram.' The───→here13.31───→18.66Closing pillar in the longer CHI deliveries. 'Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netibetween

6.29'Sarva-bhuta-stham atmanam sarva-bhutani cha'tmani, ikshate yoga-yuktatma sarvat───→here13.31───→13.32'Anaditvan nirgunatvat paramatma'yam avyayah, sharira-stho'pi Kaunteya na karoti

RāmānujaclassicalC

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

13.1Open the third ṣaṭka: field and knower.───→here13.31───→14.1Beyond sāṅkhya: the modes that bind.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśabetween

13.22Witness, consenter, upholder.───→here13.31───→13.32Touches without being stained.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerbetween

13.2Those who posit ajñāna in Brahman fail.───→here13.31───→18.61The yantrin reading forecloses the residue.

RāmānujaclassicalI

Vibhūti as evidence for antaryāminbetween

13.2The whole vibhūti clinches sāmānādhikaraṇya.───→here13.31───→18.42Even brāhmaṇa grounded here.

RāmānujaclassicalK

Tri-guṇa diagnostic for the bhaktabetween

13.20Both natures cause the body's binding.───→here13.31───→14.5Three modes bind the soul.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

13.21Clinging to modes is why you are reborn.───→here13.31───→15.1Cut the world-tree at its root, clinging.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

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

13.21Clinging to modes causes any new birth.───→here13.31───→14.5Three modes bind the imperishable.

RamsukhdasclassicalI

The Lord already inside the heartbetween

13.17The Knowable lives as the inner light.───→here13.31───→15.15Seated in every heart; memory comes from Me.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursbetween

13.20Nature causes the act; you only experience.───→here13.31───→15.7Self drags the senses like wind drags scent.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here13.31───→

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidexit

12.12'Shreyo hi jnanam abhyasaj jnanad dhyanam vishishyate, dhyanat karma-phala-tyaga───→here13.31───→

Madhvaclassicalmadhva_pratibimba

Madhva Pratibimbabetween · other

13.30Seer of non-action by Hari's light───→here13.31───→18.14Viṣṇu the prime mover

AbhinavaguptaclassicalE

Field and field-knower as Parameśvarabetween

13.12Hands and feet on every side, beyond all.───→here13.31───→15.16Two persons inside the field, one beyond.

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

13.23Soul and Lord coexist in the body, not as one.───→here13.31───→15.8The Lord carries the soul from body to body.

MadhvaclassicalT5

Mirror-and-image — how seeming-action worksbetween

13.30The seer of non-action sees by Hari's light.───→here13.31───→18.14Among the five causes Viṣṇu is the doer.

ŚrīdharaclassicalA

The Gītā as raft across griefbetween

13.2For their rescue, truth-knowledge is uttered.───→here13.31───→18.66I shall release you from every wrong.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spinebetween

13.2I lift my devotees, so I now teach truth.───→here13.31───→14.1Now, the highest of all knowings.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personbetween

13.3The soul is part of the supreme Person.───→here13.31───→15.7The soul is My eternal part — its ānanda hidden. .

VallabhaclassicalJ

Strategic silence — pointers, not absencesbetween

13.24The threefold-knower catalogue goes to silence.───→here13.31───→17.12The threefold yajña/dāna/tapas catalogue is skipped.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentarybetween

13.2The Lord himself writes the third ṣaṭka. .───→here13.31───→15.15The bhāṣya-author is named by the Lord himself.

ŚrīdharaclassicalG

Soul as His portion, neither cut nor identicalapproach

───→here13.31───→14.26Fit for the state of brahman, not fused.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerexit

11.34Already slain — the question is finally retired.───→here13.31───→

AbhinavaguptaclassicalC

Vision is the structural centerexit

11.49Cosmic returns to gracious; ananya means non-dual.───→here13.31───→

AbhinavaguptaclassicalD

Avatāra: appearance without departureexit

11.46Cosmic and gracious one self-luminous.───→here13.31───→

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causeexit

13.25Three classes, one ladder, each class on a different rung.───→here13.31───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalI

His evenness as ground for refugeexit

13.10A steady evenness is the seeker's mark.───→here13.31───→

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderexit

13.2The third ṣaṭka is the Lord's own bhāṣya.───→here13.31───→

ŚaṅkaraclassicalE

Ignorance is the only enemybetween

13.2One Self lights every body as one sun lights all.───→here13.31───→18.66Beginningless habit ends only with self-knowledge.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalK

Liberation while still embodiedbetween

5.29Knowing Me, all wandering ceases at once.───→here13.31───→13.34One Self, untouched, in every body.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentbetween

13.2'Cāpi' marks two — not one identity.───→here13.31───→15.15Memory and forgetting both come from Him.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalE

Pūrva-pakṣa — name the rival, close the doorbetween

13.3Knower and field: the boundary is sharp.───→here13.31───→18.66Counterfeit reasonings named, then rejected.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

13.1The kṣetra-question resolves 12.20's hint.───→here13.31───→18.1Tyāga-question resolves ch. 16-17's typology.

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

13.5Brahma-sūtra is text, not just utterance.───→here13.31───→15.16Refusing kṣara=inert, akṣara=soul.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

13.5Brahma-sūtra is text, not paraphrase.───→here13.31───→15.16Bhūta covers jīva; literal range holds.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesbetween

13.13Only the formless can be the ultimately taught.───→here13.31───→15.1Krishna is the ground, not a partner-god.

MadhusūdanaclassicalH

Krishna with form is the ground beneath formless Brahmanbetween

13.13Not a power-of-the-Lord; the Lord himself, formless.───→here13.31───→14.27I am the foundation of formless Brahman itself.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingexit

11.55Acting for Me, holding Me supreme — that is the road.───→here13.31───→

JayatīrthaclassicalA

Body and embodied — the inference runs on the dehī sideexit

13.5Field and knower: body-self cut returns.───→here13.31───→

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

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

13.1The last six work what 'are' really means.───→here13.31───→

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentbetween · v2

13.9Indifference to objects───→here13.31───→15.5Free of pride and delusion

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvabetween · v2

13.20Prakriti causes, puruṣa enjoys───→here13.31───→18.16Wrong-seer fails the act

Śabda · lemmas (13 unique · 15 occurrences)

करोति kṛ — to do, make (verbal root) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
परमात्मा paramātman — the Supreme Self (parama + ātman) · nominative masculine singular noun · also at 6.7, 15.4
अव्ययः avyaya — imperishable (a- + vyaya 'perishable', from vi-√i 'go away') · nominative masculine singular noun
लिप्यते √lip — to smear, anoint, taint, stain (verbal root) · present indicative pass 3rd person singular verb

show all 13

त्वात् tva ×2 — you-ness; abstract suffix making 'X-ness' from X · ablative neuter singular noun
न na ×2 — not (negation particle)
अनादि anādi — without beginning (an- + ādi 'beginning') · compound
निर्गुण nirguṇa — without qualities (nis- + guṇa) · compound
अयम् idam — this (proximal demonstrative) · nominative masculine singular noun
शरीर śarīra — body · compound
स्थः stha — standing, situated (suffix) · nominative masculine singular noun
अपि api — also, even, although
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

Praśna · so what (7)

01If the paramatman is nirguṇa (without the three modes of prakriti) and anadi (beginningless), what is the logical connection between these two properties and the conclusion that it 'neither acts nor is stained'?
02The verse says the paramatman 'dwells in the body' (sharira-stha) and yet does not act or get stained — what model of presence-without-participation does each school invoke to make sense of this?

show all 7

03Madhva reads 'ekastham' as 'resting in Vishnu' while Shankara reads it as 'resting in the single atman' — what is at stake theologically in this choice, and which reading is philologically defensible?
04Vallabha's citation of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad spark-metaphor places this verse in dialogue with Vedic shruti — how does intertextual anchoring change the meaning of 'vistaara' (expansion) in this verse?
05If perceiving the unity of all beings in one ground is the condition for brahma-sampatti, what is the relationship between this intellectual perception and lived liberation — is it gradual, sudden, or neither?
06Sridhara specifies that the single ground where all pṛthagbhava rests is 'Ishvara-shakti-rupa prakriti' — how does inserting Ishvara into the prakriti-substratum change the non-dual argument?
07The verse applies the same two negatives — 'na karoti, na lipyate' (neither acts nor is stained) — to both action and taint. Are these the same kind of claim, or does each school treat them as having different philosophical weights?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When you feel personally implicated by every outcome at work — a project fails and you feel diminished — Shankara's reading points to the structural confusion: the witness-awareness that knows the failure is not the doer of the project. Practice distinguishing the awareness that notices frustration from the frustration itself; the space that knows the storm is not wet.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Ramanuja's reading affirms that you are genuinely in relationship with your body, your work, your community — the self is not absent from the world. But your essential nature as atman, belonging to Bhagavan, is not consumed by those relationships. Serve with full presence, without confusing service with self-definition; the kainkarya (service) is real, the bondage is not.

show all 6

Dvaita

Madhva's insistence that all beings rest 'in Vishnu alone' is an antidote to the illusion that your individual project, lineage, or effort is self-sustaining. When you find yourself treating your own resources or skills as independent sources of outcomes, the verse redirects: the vistaara (expansion, result) comes from Vishnu's own will. Act with full effort; release the premise of self-origination.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's reading of this verse as a fruit of kshetra-kshetrajna knowledge means that recognizing Hari's akshara-shakti in every differentiated form — every person you encounter, every circumstance that seems alien or harsh — is not a philosophical exercise but an experiential opening. The prakasha (luminosity) of that recognition is itself seva (service); no separate devotional act is needed.

Bhakti

Sridhara's framing is practical: see both the dissolution (all differences collapse into prakriti) and the creation (all forms expand from prakriti) as two movements of the same ground. When a relationship ends or a phase of life closes, and when a new one begins, both are vistaara and pravilaya of the same Ishvara-shakti. This removes both grasping and aversion from life's transitions.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusudhana's synthesis is the most demanding daily application: hold both moves simultaneously — the world's plurality is real as appearance (not dismissed), and it is superimposed on pure being (not ontologically final). In a disagreement with someone, the other person is real as a presence to be honored, and the boundary between self and other is kalpita (a construction). Neither collapse into merger nor harden into separation; abide in the paradox as brahman abides.

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 31: Krishna to Arjuna — Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña-Vibhāga-Yoga