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CHAPTER THIRTEEN Nature, the Enjoyer and ConsciousnessTEXTS 1-2: Arjuna said: O my dear Kṛṣṇa, I wish to know about prakṛti [nature], puruṣa [the enjoyer], and the field and the knower of the field, and of
knowledge and the object of knowledge. The Supreme Personality of Godhead
said: This body, O son of Kuntī, is called the field, and one who knows this
body is called the knower of the field. TEXT 3: O scion of Bharata, you should understand that I am also
the knower in all bodies, and to understand this body and its knower is
called knowledge. That is My opinion. TEXT 4: Now please hear My brief description of this field of
activity and how it is constituted, what its changes are, whence it is
produced, who that knower of the field of activities is, and what his
influences are. TEXT 5: That knowledge of the field of activities and of the
knower of activities is described by various sages in various Vedic writings.
It is especially presented in Vedānta-sūtra with all reasoning as to cause
and effect. TEXTS 6-7: The five great elements, false ego, intelligence, the
unmanifested, the ten senses and the mind, the five sense objects, desire,
hatred, happiness, distress, the aggregate, the life symptoms, and
convictions – all these are considered, in summary, to be the field of
activities and its interactions. TEXTS 8-12: Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance;
simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness;
steadiness; self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification;
absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and
disease; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and
the rest; even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and
unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place; detachment
from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of
self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth – all these
I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is
ignorance. TEXT 13: I shall now explain the knowable, knowing which you will
taste the eternal. Brahman, the spirit, beginningless and subordinate to Me,
lies beyond the cause and effect of this material world. TEXT 14: Everywhere are His hands and legs, His eyes, heads and
faces, and He has ears everywhere. In this way the Supersoul exists,
pervading everything. TEXT 15: The Supersoul is the original source of all senses, yet
He is without senses. He is unattached, although He is the maintainer of all
living beings. He transcends the modes of nature, and at the same time He is
the master of all the modes of material nature. TEXT 16: The Supreme Truth exists outside and inside of all living
beings, the moving and the nonmoving. Because He is subtle, He is beyond the
power of the material senses to see or to know. Although far, far away, He is
also near to all. TEXT 17: Although the Supersoul appears to be divided among all
beings, He is never divided. He is situated as one. Although He is the
maintainer of every living entity, it is to be understood that He devours and
develops all. TEXT 18: He is the source of light in all luminous objects. He is
beyond the darkness of matter and is unmanifested. He is knowledge, He is the
object of knowledge, and He is the goal of knowledge. He is situated in everyone’s
heart. TEXT 19: Thus the field of activities [the body], knowledge and
the knowable have been summarily described by Me. Only My devotees can
understand this thoroughly and thus attain to My nature. TEXT 20: Material nature and the living entities should be
understood to be beginningless. Their transformations and the modes of matter
are products of material nature. TEXT 21: Nature is said to be the cause of all material causes and
effects, whereas the living entity is the cause of the various sufferings and
enjoyments in this world. TEXT 22: The living entity in material nature thus follows the
ways of life, enjoying the three modes of nature. This is due to his
association with that material nature. Thus he meets with good and evil among
various species. TEXT 23: Yet in this body there is another, a transcendental
enjoyer, who is the Lord, the supreme proprietor, who exists as the overseer
and permitter, and who is known as the Supersoul. TEXT 24: One who understands this philosophy concerning material
nature, the living entity and the interaction of the modes of nature is sure
to attain liberation. He will not take birth here again, regardless of his
present position. TEXT 25: Some perceive the Supersoul within themselves through
meditation, others through the cultivation of knowledge, and still others
through working without fruitive desires. TEXT 26: Again there are those who, although not conversant in
spiritual knowledge, begin to worship the Supreme Person upon hearing about
Him from others. Because of their tendency to hear from authorities, they
also transcend the path of birth and death. TEXT 27: O chief of the Bhāratas, know that whatever you see in
existence, both the moving and the nonmoving, is only a combination of the
field of activities and the knower of the field. TEXT 28: One who sees the Supersoul accompanying the individual
soul in all bodies, and who understands that neither the soul nor the
Supersoul within the destructible body is ever destroyed, actually sees. TEXT 29: One who sees the Supersoul equally present everywhere, in
every living being, does not degrade himself by his mind. Thus he approaches
the transcendental destination. TEXT 30: One who can see that all activities are performed by the
body, which is created of material nature, and sees that the self does
nothing, actually sees. TEXT 31: When a sensible man ceases to see different identities
due to different material bodies and he sees how beings are expanded
everywhere, he attains to the Brahman conception. TEXT 32: Those with the vision of eternity can see that the
imperishable soul is transcendental, eternal, and beyond the modes of nature.
Despite contact with the material body, O Arjuna, the soul neither does
anything nor is entangled. TEXT 33: The sky, due to its subtle nature, does not mix with
anything, although it is all-pervading. Similarly, the soul situated in
Brahman vision does not mix with the body, though situated in that body. TEXT 34: O son of Bharata, as the sun alone illuminates all this
universe, so does the living entity, one within the body, illuminate the
entire body by consciousness. TEXT 35: Those who see with eyes of knowledge the difference between the body and the knower of the body, and can also understand the process of liberation from bondage in material nature, attain to the supreme goal. |