September 30, 2026
yathā prakāśayaty ekaḥ kṛtsnaṁ lokam imaṁ raviḥ
kṣetraṁ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṁ prakāśayati bhārata (XIII-33)
kṣetrakṣetrajñayor evam antaraṁ jñānacakṣuṣā
bhūtaprakṛtimokṣaṁ ca ye vidur yānti te paraṁ (XIII-34)
XIII/33. Just as the one sun illumines the whole world,
so also the Lord of the field (God) illumines the whole
field, O Arjuna.
XIII/34. They who, by the eye of wisdom, perceive the distinction
between the field and its knower, and also the liberation from
the nature of being, go to the supreme.
Swamiji's Commentary
The scientist tells us that the earth was part of the sun and broke away from it long ago. Even today, the same sun sheds light and life on the whole of the earth. Though apart, the earth is still ‘part’ of the sun (the solar system) enjoying the benefits of a close
‘commonwealth’ association.
In the same way, when consciousness remembered its own potentialities, the manifestation-potential was actualized into infinite combinations of atoms and molecules, giving rise to a variety of beings together called the ‘kṣetra’ – the field, the body of God. This body is not inert and useless but is in-dwelt and illumined by the light of God whose power dances in every atom of existence, inviting us to realize him and thus go beyond sin and suffering.
The common man’s vision is so gross that only the grossness of diversity is visible to him. He is sense-limited, sense-bound and mind-enslaved. It is necessary for him first to acquire subtlety of vision, delicacy of understanding and freedom from the bondage of ideological slavery before he can arrive at cosmic consciousness. Hence Kṛṣṇa demands that the wise disciple should first acquire that sharpness of wisdom which will enable him to pare nature from God, by which process alone he can glimpse the universal substratum (God) and then proceed to liberate himself from the illusion of ‘bhūta-prakṛti’ or elemental nature.
He discovers that he is not even part of the world, he is the world – if one point is removed from the circumference of a circle, there is no circle! There is one solid mass of awareness which is able to respond to every situation in life as it arises. We are all swimming in that ocean of awareness. Thus the wise disciple will know the supreme and realise that he and he alone exists – one without a second.