Verse 13.2
Speaker: Krishna
Sanskrit
श्रीभगवानुवाच | इदं शरीरं कौन्तेय क्षेत्रमित्यभिधीयते | एतद्यो वेत्ति तं प्राहुः क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विदः ||२||
Transliteration (IAST)
śrī bhagavān uvāca | idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya kṣetram ity abhidhīyate | etad yo vetti taṁ prāhuḥ kṣetrajña iti tad-vidaḥ ||2||
Word-by-Word Meanings
Translation
The Supreme Lord said: This body, O son of Kunti, is called the field, and one who knows it is called the knower of the field by those who know the truth.
Commentary
Krishna establishes the fundamental metaphysical distinction of Vedanta: the body (kṣetra) is the object of experience, while the conscious self (kṣetrajña) is the experiencer. Shankaracharya emphasizes that this verse encapsulates the entire teaching of the Gita - the discrimination between the self and the not-self. Ramanuja interprets the knower as the individual soul distinct from the body.