Concepts
क्षेत्रज्ञः
kṣetrajñaḥ
kṣetra 'field' + jña 'knower' — the body as the field in which karma is sown and reaped, and the one who knows it. Chapter 13 opens the Gītā's most compressed teaching on the two.
अर्जुन उवाच
प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव क्षेत्रं क्षेत्रज्ञमेव च
एतद्वेदितुमिच्छामि ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं च केशव
॥ १३.० ॥
Arjuna said: Matter and Spirit, even the Field and the Knower of the Field, wisdom and that which ought to be known, these I fain would learn, O Keshava.
Read in contextChapter 13 begins with a distinction so simple it is easy to miss its weight: everything you can observe — including the body, mind, and their changes — is the field; you are its knower. Then 13.2 raises the stakes: Krishna calls himself the knower in all fields, and the traditions part over what that identity means.
this body is the field; its knower, the field-knower
श्री भगवानुवाचइदं शरीरं
कौन्तेय क्षेत्रमित्यभिधीयते
Sri Bhagavan said: This body, Arjuna, is termed as the Field (Ksetra); and him who knows it, the sages discerning the truth about both refer to as the knower of the…
know Me as the knower in all fields
क्षेत्रज्ञं चापि मां विद्धि
सर्वक्षेत्रेषु भारत
Know Myself to be the Ksetrajña (individual soul) also in all the Ksetras, Arjuna. And it is the knowledge of Ksetra and Ksetrajña (i.e., of Matter with its evolutes and…
whatever is born arises from field and knower united
यावत्सञ्जायते
किञ्चित्सत्त्वं
स्थावरजङ्गमम्
Arjuna, whatsoever being, animate or inanimate, is born, know it as emanated from the union of Ksetra (Matter) and the ksetrajña (Spirit).
The field is everything you can watch — body, mind, moods, and all their changes. The knower is the one watching. Chapter 13 opens with that single distinction, and every teacher treats it as the beginning of wisdom: whatever you can observe is not you. Then 13.2 raises the real stakes — Krishna calls himself the knower in all fields. Whether that knower and your innermost knower are one (Śaṅkara) or forever distinct yet inseparable (Rāmānuja, Madhva) is the oldest argument in Vedānta, and it starts on this verse.
Ādi Śaṅkarācārya · Advaita
Śaṅkara reads 13.2 at full strength: one knower in all fields, divided only by conditioning adjuncts — and never a partaker of saṁsāra.
क्षेत्रज्ञं चापि मां परमेश्वरम् असंसारिणं विद्धि — know the knower of the field, too, as Me: the supreme Lord, never in saṁsāra.
Śaṅkara Bhāṣya on 13.2 (Sanskrit, GitaDeep corpus; working rendering under review)
Śrī Rāmānuja · Viśiṣṭādvaita
Rāmānuja starts where the confusion starts: the embodied self mistakes the field for itself.
While in a physical body the jīva or embodied being believes they are that body, thinking I am a man, I am a deva, I am a female, I am famous, I am powerful, etc. all of which are distinctly different form the ātma or eternal soul.
Gītā-bhāṣya on 13.1 — English translation (GitaDeep corpus)
Śrī Madhvācārya · Dvaita
For Madhva even the field is nothing on its own — its every stirring is energized by the Lord.
यतश्च यत् means by Him alone the क्षेत्रम्, the field is energized
Madhva Bhāṣya on 13.1 — English translation (GitaDeep corpus)
Śrī Jñāneśvar · Vārkarī
The Jñāneśvarī has Krishna claim the knower's seat directly — and names knowing the two apart as knowledge itself.
I am that 'Kshetrajna' referred to here, know ye definitely who protects all the fields (क्षेत्र). To know the field and the field-knower correctly, I consider as the (true) knowledge.
Jñāneśvarī on 13.2, tr. R. K. Bhagwat (GitaDeep corpus)
Swami Ramsukhdas · Sādhak Sañjīvanī
The practice reading gives a test anyone can run: whatever you can call 'this' — including the body you call 'I' — is field, not knower.
The fact is that the body which is said to be 'I' or 'My' is also 'this' i.e., separate from the Self.
Sādhak Sañjīvanī on 13.1 — English translation (GitaDeep corpus)
Where the traditions differ, we show the difference.