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Chapter XIII - The Yoga of Discriminating the Field
and the Knower of the Field
Krishna said:
O Arjuna, this body may be called
the field or creation.
One who knows the creation
Is called the creator by the seers of truth.
Know Me to be the creator
Of all creation, O Arjuna.
The true understanding of both
The creator and the creation
Is considered by Me to be
The transcendental or metaphysical knowledge.
What the creation is, what it is like,
What its transformations are, where the source is,
Who that creator is, and what His powers are,
Hear all these from Me in brief.
The sages have described Him in many ways,
In various Vedic hymns, and also in the conclusive
And convincing verses of the Brahmasutra.
The five basic elements,
The "I" consciousness or ego,
The intellect, the unmanifest Prakriti,
The ten senses, the mind, and the five sense objects;
Desire, hatred, pleasure, pain,
The physical body, consciousness, and resolve.
Thus the field has been briefly described
With its transformations.
Humility, modesty, nonviolence,
Forbearance, honesty, service to guru,
Purity, steadfastness, self-control; and
Aversion towards sense objects,
Absence of ego, constant reflection on the agony
And suffering inherent in birth,
Old age, disease, and death.
Detachment, non-fondness with son, wife, and home;
Unfailing equanimity upon attainment
Of the desirable and the undesirable; and
Unswerving devotion to Me by the yoga of exclusivity,
Love for solitude, distaste for social gossips; and
Steadfastness in knowledge of the Supreme Spirit,
And the perception of the object of true knowledge
Is called knowledge; what is contrary to this is ignorance.
I shall fully describe the object of knowledge,
Knowing which one attains immortality.
The beginningless Supreme Brahman
Is said to be neither Sat nor Asat.
Having hands and feet everywhere;
Having eyes, head, and face everywhere;
Having ears everywhere;
The creator exists in the creation by pervading everything.
He is the perceiver of all sense objects
Without the senses; unattached,
Yet the sustainer of all; devoid of the Gunas,
Yet the enjoyer of the Gunas.
He is inside as well as outside all beings,
Animate and inanimate. He is incomprehensible
Because of His subtlety. He is very near
As well as far away.
Undivided, yet appears as if divided in beings;
He, the object of knowledge, is the creator,
Sustainer, and destroyer of beings.
The light of all lights,
He is said to be beyond darkness.
He is the knowledge, the object of knowledge,
And seated in the hearts of all beings,
He is to be realized by the knowledge.
Thus the creation as well as the knowledge
And the object of knowledge have been briefly described.
Understanding this, My devotee attains Me.
Know that Prakriti and Purusha
Are both beginningless; and also know
That all manifestations and Gunas
Arise from the Prakriti.
The Prakriti is said to be the cause
Of production of physical body and organs.
The Purusha is said to be the cause
Of experiencing pleasures and pains.
The Purusha associating with Prakriti,
Enjoys the Gunas of Prakriti.
Attachment to the Gunas
Is the cause of the birth of Jeevaatma in good and evil wombs.
The Supreme Spirit in the body
Is also called the witness, the guide,
The supporter, the enjoyer, and the great Lord or Paramaatma.
They who truly understand Purusha and Prakriti
With its Gunas are not born again
Regardless of their mode of life.
Some perceive God in the heart
By the intellect through meditation;
Others by the yoga of knowledge;
And others by the yoga of work.
Some, however, do not understand Brahman,
But having heard from others, take to worship.
They also transcend death by their
Firm faith to what they have heard.
Whatever is born, animate or inanimate,
Know them to be (born) from the union
Of the field and the field knower O Arjuna.
The one who sees the imperishable
Supreme Lord dwelling equally within
All perishable beings truly sees.
Seeing the same Lord existing
In everybeing, one does not injure
The other self and thereupon
Attains the Supreme goal.
Those who perceive that all works
Are done by the (Gunas of) Prakriti alone,
And thus they are not the doer,
They truly understand.
When one perceives diverse variety of beings
Resting in One and spreading out from That alone,
Then one attains Brahman.
The imperishable Supreme Self,
Being beginningless and without Gunas,
Though dwelling in the body
Neither does anything nor gets tainted, O Arjuna.
As the all-pervading ether
Is not tainted because of its subtlety,
Similarly the Self, seated in everybody,
Is not tainted.
O Arjuna, just as one sun illuminates
This entire world, similarly
The creator illumines the entire creation.
They, who understand the difference between
the creation and the creator know the technique
Of liberation from the trap of Maya
With the help of Knowledge, attain the Supreme.
who is devoted to Me, is dear to Me.
One who neither rejoices nor grieves,
Neither likes nor dislikes,
Who has renounced both the good and the evil,
And who is full of devotion, such a person is dear to Me.
The one who remains the same
Towards friend or foe, in honor or disgrace,
In heat or cold, in pleasure or pain;
Who is free from attachment; and
The one who is indifferent or silent
In censure or praise, content with anything,
Unattached to a place, equanimous,
And full of devotion; that person is dear to Me.
But those devotees who have faith
And sincerely try to develop
The above mentioned immortal virtues,
And set Me as their supreme goal; are very dear to Me.
This is the end of Chapter XIII of the Bhagavad Gita
Entitled "Kesetrakesetrajnavibhaga-Yoga,"
Or "The Yoga of Discriminating the Field
and the Knower of the Field"
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Chapter 1. The Yoga 
1. Samadhia Pada
