Chapter 37

“The Holy One said, ‘This body, O son of Kunti, is called Kshetra. Himwho knoweth it, the learned call Kshetrajna.[260] Know me, O Bharata, tobe Kshetras. The knowledge of Kshetra and Kshetrajna I regard to be(true) knowledge. What that Kshetra (is), and what (it is) like, and whatchanges it undergoes, and whence (it comes), what is he (viz.,Kshetrajna), and what his powers are, hear from me in brief. All thishath in many ways been sung separately, by Rishis in various verses, inwell-settled texts fraught with reason and giving indications of Brahman.The great elements, egoism, intellect, the unmanifest (viz., Prakriti),also the ten senses, the one (manas), the five objects of sense, desire,aversion, pleasure, pain, body consciousness, courage,–all this in briefhath been declared to be Kshetra in its modified form. Absence of vanity,absence of ostentation, abstention from injury, forgiveness, uprightness,devotion to preceptor, purity, constancy, self-restraint, indifference toobjects of sense, absence of egoism, perception of the misery and evil ofbirth, death, decrepitude and disease,[261] freedom from attachment,absence of sympathy for son, wife, home, and the rest, and constantequanimity of heart on attainment of good and evil, unswerving devotionto me without meditation on anything else, frequenting of lonely places,distaste for concourse of men,[262] constancy in the knowledge of therelation of the individual self to the supreme, perception of the objectof the knowledge of truth,–all this is called Knowledge; all that whichis contrary to this is Ignorance.[263] That which is the object ofknowledge I will (now) declare (to thee), knowing which one obtainethimmortality. [It is] the Supreme Brahma having no beginning, who is saidto be neither existent nor non-existent; whose hands and feet are on allsides, whose eyes, heads and faces are on all sides, who dwells pervadingeverything in the world, who is possessed of all the qualities of thesenses (though) devoid of the senses, without attachment (yet) sustainingall things, without attributes (yet) enjoying (a) all attributes,[264]without and within all creatures, immobile and mobile, not knowablebecause of (his) subtlety, remote yet near, undistributed in all beings,(yet) remaining as if distributed, who is the sustainer of (all) beings,the absorber and the creator (of all); who is the light of all luminousbodies, who is said to be beyond all darkness; who is knowledge, theObject of knowledge, the End of knowledge and seated in the hearts ofall. Thus Kshetra, and Knowledge, and the Object of Knowledge, have beendeclared (to thee) in brief. My devotee, knowing (all) this, becomes onein spirit with me. Know that Nature and Spirit are both without beginning(and) know (also) that all modifications and all qualities spring fromNature.[265] Nature is said to be the source of the capacity of enjoyingpleasures and pains.[266] For Spirit, dwelling in nature enjoyeth thequalities born of Nature. The cause of its births in good or evil wombsis (its) connection with the qualities.[267] The Supreme Purusha in thisbody is said to be surveyor, approver, supporter, enjoyer, the mightylord, and also the Supreme Soul.[268] He who thus knows Spirit, andNature, with the qualities, in whatever state he may be, is never bornagain. Some by meditation behold the self in the self by the self; othersby devotion according to the Sankhya system; and others (again), bydevotion through works. Others yet not knowing this, worship, hearing ofit from others. Even these, devoted to what is heard, cross overdeath.[269] Whatever entity, immobile or mobile, cometh into existence,know that, O bull of Bharata’s race, to be from the connection of Kshetraand Kshetrajna (matter and spirit). He seeth the Supreme Lord dwellingalike in all beings, the Imperishable in the Perishable. For seeing theLord dwelling alike everywhere, one doth not destroy[270] himself byhimself, and then reacheth the highest goal. He seeth (truly) who seethall actions to be wrought by nature alone in every way and the selflikewise to be not the doer. When one seeth the diversity of entities asexisting in one, and the issue (everything) from that (One), then is onesaid to attain to Brahma. This inexhaustible Supreme Self, O son ofKunti, being without beginning and without attributes, doth not act, noris stained even when stationed in the body. As space, which isubiquitous, is never, in consequence of its subtlety tainted, so thesoul, stationed in every body, is never tainted.[271] As the single Sunlights up the entire world, so the Spirit, O Bharata, lights up theentire (sphere of) matters. They that, by the eye of knowledge, know thedistinction between matter and spirit, and the deliverance from thenature of all entities, attain to the Supreme.[272]