Verse 13.34
Speaker: Krishna
Sanskrit
यथा प्रकाशयत्येकः कृत्स्नं लोकमिमं रविः | क्षेत्रं क्षेत्री तथा कृत्स्नं प्रकाशयति भारत ||३४||
Transliteration (IAST)
yathā prakāśayaty ekaḥ kṛtsnaṁ lokam imaṁ raviḥ | kṣetraṁ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṁ prakāśayati bhārata ||34||
Word-by-Word Meanings
Translation
Just as the one sun illuminates this entire world, so the knower of the field illuminates the entire field, O Bharata.
Commentary
The chapter concludes with the powerful analogy of the sun. As one sun illuminates the entire world without being affected by what it illuminates, so the one conscious Self illuminates the entire field (body-mind) without being modified by it. Shankaracharya considers this the culminating teaching: consciousness is the self-luminous principle that makes all experience possible. Ramanuja sees this as establishing the soul's nature as pure consciousness distinct from inert matter.