Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 13, Verse 1
श्री भगवानुवाचइदं शरीरं कौन्तेय क्षेत्रमित्यभिधीयते।एतद्यो वेत्ति तं प्राहुः क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विदः।।
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya kṣetram ity abhidhīyate
etad yo vetti taṁ prāhuḥ kṣetra-jña iti tad-vidaḥ
also searched as "idam shariram kaunteya kshetram ityabhidhiyate"
Translation
The Lord said, "O Arjuna, this body is called the Field, Ksetra. Those who know the self call the one who knows it the Field-knower, Ksetrajna."
Vāṇi's rendering
This body is called the field. The one who knows it — the wise call that one the knower of the field.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| श्री भगवान्śrī-bhagavān | Krishna, the blessed one |
| उवाचuvāca | said |
| इदम्idaṁ | this |
| शरीरम्śarīraṁ | body |
| कौन्तेयkaunteya | son of Kunti — Arjuna |
| क्षेत्रम्kṣetram | the field; ground where things are sown and reaped |
| इतिity | thus, by this name (iti, joined to the next word) |
| अभिधीयतेabhidhīyate | is called, is named |
| एतत्etad | this — the field just named |
| यःyo | who, whoever |
| वेत्तिvetti | knows |
| तम्taṁ | that one |
| प्राहुःprāhuḥ | they call, they declare |
| क्षेत्रज्ञkṣetra-jña | knower of the field |
| इतिiti | thus, by this name |
| तद्विदःtad-vidaḥ | those who know that — the wise |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13 Verse 1 mean?
Krishna gives Arjuna two words. The body is kṣetra, a field — everything that can be observed, grown, harvested, lost. Whoever knows that field is the kṣetrajña. The verse makes no argument yet; it simply draws a line between what is seen and what sees, and asks you to keep the line clear.
What does idam shariram kaunteya kshetram ityabhidhiyate teach?
It teaches you to stop saying "I am the body" and hear what you actually say — "my body." A field belongs to someone; it is not the someone. Krishna names the body a field so that its changes, its illness, its ageing become weather over ground you stand on rather than events happening to you.
Why does Krishna call the body a field?
Because a field is worked, seeded, and reaped. Whatever you do leaves its crop here — habits, memories, wounds, strength. Calling it a field says two things at once: it is genuinely yours to tend, and it is not you. Both matter. Neglect it and nothing grows; identify with it and you vanish with the harvest.
Who is the knower of the field, the kshetrajna?
The one reading this line. Not the eyes, not the thinking, not the name you answer to — those are field. The knower is what all of that appears to. Krishna will widen this enormously in the verses ahead, but here he asks only that you locate it once, plainly, in yourself.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna begins the chapter by naming two things and refusing to blur them. The body is a field — soil, weather, crop, everything that grows and rots. And there is one who knows the field. Not part of it. Arjuna has spent twelve chapters asking what to do; here Krishna changes the question to what he is. You have called the body yours all your life, which was already an admission — the owner is not the owned. Sit with the ache in your knee, the noise in your head, and notice: these are seen. Something is doing the seeing. Start there.