The Kurukshetra dialogue now takes a significant turn. Arjuna’s distress and overwhelming grief made him seek sreyas (everlasting good). Krishna’s instructions began from this. sreyas, as Kathopanishad puts it, consists in raising one’s mind from the perishables to the Imperishable.
Krishna then dwelt on the nature of the unborn, immortal and ever-same Self. The Self always reigns above the dvandvas – pairs of opposites. One established in the Self is free of all problems and afflictions brought about by life in the world (2.21, 25 & 30). This Self-seatedness is to be accomplished by an active person like Arjuna, through interactional life alone.
The first six chapters of the dialogue thus discuss the interactional relevance of spiritual pursuit and wisdom. When understood and absorbed well, the exposition will infuse the mind and the intelligence with interactional excellence.
From the 7th chapter, Krishna focuses on the need for recognizing the supreme Reality as the one string passing through all objective manifestations – mighty as well as minute. This recognition should become wholesome and enfold all thoughts, attitudes and aims. It will then shine as a splendid note of devotional surrender and attunement to the Supreme. The Supreme alone shines. The visible existence, the sensory perceptions are all a display of the Supreme.
The theme of devotion continues up to the 12th chapter. In the 11th chapter, Arjuna wishes to see the visvarupa, but the vision steeps him in awe and fear rather than in ecstatic fondness. Krishna assures him that the essence of devotion lies in exclusive fondness for the Supreme and everything else is merely an aid to grow devotion. He then sets forth the characteristics of the devotee dear to His heart.
Concluding the dissertation on devotion, in the 13th chapter, Krishna takes up the third phase of spiritual sadhana – that of pure wisdom. He presents various categorizations to help the process of enlightenment. He also points to the final phase, where the seeker has to lay down all activities, to be steeped in still, contemplative absorption. These last six chapters of Bhagavad Gita dwell on the exposition of pure and subtle spiritual wisdom, as a crowning finale to karma and bhakti.
Remember, the dialogue had begun with some war overtones. Krishna clearly showed the imperishability of the Soul and the ephemerality of the world, exhorting Arjuna to fight on that strength of understanding (2.18, 19, 20, 21, 30, 32, 37; 3.30 & 4.42). To let Arjuna retreat from the interactional life was against the world-order. It is the dignity of man to pursue interactional life with the strength of wisdom, poise and harmony. Instilling the necessary resolve in Arjuna, Krishna felt, could be done only by imparting true spiritual wisdom. For, the Knowledge of Truth alone has the potential to empower our mind in any situation.
Spiritual Wisdom relieves affliction
Krishna’s message had the desired effect. Arjuna now is different from what he was hours before. In fact, this is what will happen to anyone steeped in distress, if only that plight leads him to an ardent enquiry, as it happened with Arjuna! If the distressed mind is receptive to timely advice of the Wise, every word imparted will work its magic, bringing redress and enlightenment. That is how Arjuna’s vishada (acute grief) became a vishada-yoga.
Spiritual wisdom first addresses the emotional aspect of the mind’s crisis. But very soon it goes deeper and enfolds the intelligence, whose wont is ever to seek further enlightenment. Once the intelligence is activated, the mind’s turmoil subsides.
In fact, the intelligence is meant to guide and inspire the mind. But, this much-needed alliance between the turbulent mind and the enlightened intelligence does not usually take place. Intelligence, if at all, comes to play later, often as hindsight. The mind overtakes the scene. Chaos, distress and conflict leading to helplessness, retreat and disharmony inevitably result. Arjuna himself epitomizes this common fate.
But, that Arjuna gets transformed. As he begins to enquire, Krishna’s exposition also broadens and deepens. Thus the war-front dialogue becomes a full-fledged spiritual discussion, making it an eternal Gospel capable of instilling in mankind sufficient strength and resolve to face life and achieve any dharmic (righteous) objective.
Discrimination between Subject and objects
The 13th chapter is titled as kshetra-kshetrajna-vibhaga-yoga. Human life always consists of complex interactions – interactions between objects and their Subject, the perceiver. All the perceivables constitute the field of objects, the kshetra. It includes one’s own body, with all its organs of knowledge and action. Ego, mind, intelligence, etc. are also ‘objects’ for this ‘Subject’. They are the subtle objects, the gross ones being those tangible to the senses.
As against this whole multitude of objects, there reigns only one Subject, the kshetrajna. This innermost Subject has only one function – to know. It knows the intelligence, the mind, the body, the surroundings, mother earth, the waters, air, fire, the sky and space, which together form the world of ‘objectude’.
Vishaya denotes the objectude in its entirety. And the one that knows the vishaya is called vishayi, the comprehender of objects, vishayas. The vishayi is the crux of spiritual life and sadhana. Earlier, in the 7th chapter, Krishna referred to the two distinct aspects of Nature – para-prakrti, the superior or primary aspect, and the apara-prakrti, the inferior or secondary aspect. In the apara or inferior, he listed the pancabhutas as well as the mind, intelligence and ego. The superior he called sentient and creative. He described it as jiva-bhutah.
Here, Krishna goes a step further to indicate what should be the sadhaka’s focus. To facilitate understanding, he enumerates a good deal of characteristics, bringing in many concepts, in the process enriching the very subject of spiritual wisdom. The main objective is to understand the complex world we are in.
Vishayi-vishaya distinction constitutes the core of spirituality, spiritual life and sadhana.
एतद्यो वेत्ति तं प्राहुः क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विदः ।।
This body, O Kunti’s son, is regarded as the Field, and the one who knows it, say the Wise, is the Knower of the Field.
This body, says Krishna, is the kshetra. Kshetra means field. What does this imply? A field on earth is the ground for cultivating or growing plants. It is where we till the soil, make it loose, fertile and ready for sowing or planting. It becomes a field for agricultural activities, which bring forth food and nourishment. In the same manner, says Krishna, the seeker must regard his body as a field for spiritual cultivation, which can grow wisdom and nourishment the seeker needs and looks for. Our body has only one purpose: To be a field or instrument, which we can employ to bring about whatever we need in order to sustain and fulfill our life.
But this field, namely our body, is inert, insentient. To make the body functional, there exists the prime mover – its Knower, the kshetrajna. Kshetrajna has a completely different status. Kshetra is a material, biological aggregate, inert to the core. Kshetrajna, on the other hand, is sentient and is the source of knowledge. By dint of kshetrajna alone, one knows about his body as well as the world around and thereby interacts with the world.
Next he adds:
क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोर्ज्ञानं यत्तज्ञानं मतं मम ।।
Arjuna, in all the kshetras (fields), know the supreme Reality (Me) as kshetrajna (knower of the kshetra). The knowledge of both kshetra and kshetrajna is, according to me, true spiritual wisdom.
Bodies are many, each being different from the other. Also, there is ample variety in the bodily level. But in the Knower of the body, the kshetrajna, no such difference reigns. Krishna declares that in all the kshetras, the kshetrajna is but one. The lesson of spirituality begins with as well as subsists on this oneness.
With this prefatory remark, Krishna elucidates the constituents of the kshetra, as also their powers and influence. Acknowledging that there are various views on the subject enunciated by Rshis in Vedas and also the well-reasoned out Brahmasutras, Krishna sets forth his thoughts on the subject.
In our tradition, what matters is the exposition of Truth. Who does it, is not the criterion. Ekam sad-vipra bahudha vadanti (the wise or the noble Seers speak in various words of that One) – is the declaration of Rgveda itself. By this, the Vedic thinkers are emphasizing that it is open for anyone to seek the Truth, realize It and express It. All those who have done so have spoken from their own personal experience. In fact, Hinduism exhorts every one to pursue the path of Knowledge. This Knowledge is the birthright of every human being, it declares.
Kshetra includes entire “objectude”
Krishna speaks on the same subject from more than one angle. The way he earlier described the inferior nature, apara-prakrti and now he describes the kshetra, are obviously different. This shows how flexible, refreshing and open can the approach be in discussing Vedantic concepts, provided, of course, one does not miss the fundamental as well as the ultimate.
इन्द्रियाणि दशैकं च पञ्च चेन्द्रियगोचराः ।।
इच्छा द्वेषः सुखं दुःखं सङ्घातश्चेतना धृतिः ।
एतत्क्षेत्रं समासेन सविकारमुदाहृतम् ।।
The five subtle elements (namely space, air, fire, water and earth); then the ego, intelligence, the undifferentiated existence (avyakta), the ten organs (of knowledge and action) and the mind; then five objects of sensory perceptions (sound, touch, taste, colour and smell forming the external gross constituents); desire, dislike, pleasantness, unpleasantness, the aggregate-body, consciousness and resolve – these constitute kshetra, with its multiple evolutes.
Initially Krishna said that this body is the kshetra. But, now he says that the kshetra includes many other things also. The five basic elements with the five senses to perceive them, come within the definition of kshetra. So too, the organs of action (hands, feet, etc.), are included in it, as also the intelligence and the unmanifest (avyakta). In place of the mind, which Krishna had included earlier (7.4), he now lists mind’s creations like desire, hatred, happiness and misery. These also are included in the kshetra. With the inclusion of cetana (consciousness) and dhrti, the will, the list has a total of 30 constituents. All these together form kshetra. In summary, the entire objectude as defined earlier constitutes the kshetra.
However much the seeker is involved in these, allured by their potential, magnitude and vastness, he should understand and always remember that they are all mere objects, lacking real worth and splendour. None of these can deliver knowledge. The entire objectude comes under the knowable and known.
Krishna wants the seeker to look for the sovereign and the essence still beyond. Knowledge belongs to the Knower. It dwells in the Knower. That Knower, whom Krishna describes as kshetrajna, is entirely different. In other words, the whole objectude, the field called kshetra, will be meaningful only when it leads man to the pedestal of the kshetrajna, the one Subject – the one vishayi (Subject) who comprehends all vishayas (objects)!
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(From Essential Concepts in Bhagavad Gita - Volume 6)