Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 13, Verse 4: Krishna to Arjuna — Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  This kṣetra (field) and its knowing witness have been declared in summary — their precise nature (yathatmya), the field's modifications (vikara), its causal ground, and the powers of the kṣetrajña (field-knower) that belong to its limiting adjuncts (upadhi). The seers have sung this truth in many modes; the Brahma-sutra-padas clinch it with reasoned finality. Hear now from Me in condensed form what has been established by the entire tradition.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  The distinction between body-field and the knowing soul — and the further truth that both are Vasudeva's body — has been sung by seers such as Parasara in many ways, and separately through all four Vedas (Rk, Yajus, Sama, Atharva): the Taittiriya Upanisad traces the sheaths outward from annamaya to vijnanamaya and crowns the series with the anandamaya Paramatma within. The Brahma-sutras from 'na viyad ashruteh' onward settle the field's nature, from 'na atma ashruteh' onward settle the jiva's nature, and 'parat tu tat-shruteh' declares that Bhagavan himself moves the jiva. Hear now in plain summary what all these sources jointly establish.

• Madhvadvaita

  The kṣetra is that which is yadvikari — bound up with its own modifications; it arises from and moves by the Mover (yataś ca yat pravartate), and that Mover is identified only as pure svarupa — the field-knower whose essence is untouched by field-nature. The seers and the Brahma-sutra-padas have established this distinction with reasons; Hari alone is that independent Mover, and the jiva's knower-hood is eternally derivative, never self-sufficient.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Krishna now announces that He will elaborate what was compressed: the substance that is the field, those for whom it serves as support, the modifications within it, the purpose for which it was manifested, and its own intrinsic nature — and equally the kṣetrajña's svarupa (own form). All this the seers have sung and the Brahma-sutras established with reasons. Hear it directly from Me — not from inference, but from the Lord's own prasada (grace-disclosure) flowing through scripture.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Though prakrti in its 24 divisions is the kṣetra, it is in its body-form that the confusion of ahamkara (I-making) is most vivid — so the body is foregrounded. The field is: jada (inert) by nature, possessed of iccha-adi-dharma (qualities such as desire) in its evolved form, joined to indriya-adi-vikara (the modifications called senses and so on), arising from the union of prakrti and purusa, and differentiated into the range of sthavara (stationary) and jangama (moving) beings. The seers sang this, the Vedas sang this in their distinct meters, and the Brahma-sutra-padas concluded it with reasoning. Hear now its summary from Me.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  The kṣetra — the jada-class (inert domain) spoken of earlier — has the nature of jada, drishya (visible), paricchinnatva (limitation), and is associated with iccha-adi-dharma and indriya-adi-vikara, and arises from its cause. The kṣetrajña is svaprakasha-caitanya-ananda-svabhava (self-luminous, awareness-bliss by nature) and possesses the powers (shaktis) that appear as upadhi-krita (adjunct-produced). All the ca-particles here gather every qualifier into one comprehensive summary. This is what the seers have sung in many modes, the Vedas in varied meters, and the Brahma-sutras in reasoned conclusions — hear it concisely from Me.