Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 13, Verse 33
यथा प्रकाशयत्येकः कृत्स्नं लोकमिमं रविः।क्षेत्रं क्षेत्री तथा कृत्स्नं प्रकाशयति भारत।।
yathā prakāśayaty ekaḥ kṛtsnaṁ lokam imaṁ raviḥ
kṣetraṁ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṁ prakāśayati bhārata
also searched as "yatha prakashayaty ekah krtsnam lokam imam ravih"
Translation
As the one sun illuminates this entire world, so does the Knower of the Field (Ksetrin, the self), O Arjuna, illuminate the entire Field (the body).
Vāṇi's rendering
As one sun lights up this entire world, the knower of the field lights up the entire field.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| यथाyathā | just as |
| प्रकाशयतिprakāśayati | lights up, illumines (appears as prakāśayaty before the vowel of ekaḥ) |
| एकःekaḥ | one, single |
| कृत्स्नंkṛtsnaṁ | the whole, entire |
| लोकम्lokam | world |
| इमंimaṁ | this |
| रविःraviḥ | the sun |
| क्षेत्रंkṣetraṁ | the field — body, senses, mind, all that can be seen |
| क्षेत्रीkṣetrī | the owner of the field, the one who knows it |
| तथाtathā | so, in that same way |
| कृत्स्नंkṛtsnaṁ | the whole, entire |
| प्रकाशयतिprakāśayati | lights up, illumines |
| भारतbhārata | O Arjuna, descendant of Bharata |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13 Verse 33 mean?
It means the knower is not a part of what it knows. One sun lights the whole world without becoming any object it falls upon; in the same way the kṣetrī lights the entire field — body, senses, thoughts, moods — while remaining none of them. Whatever you can observe in yourself is lit, not the light.
What does yatha prakashayaty ekah krtsnam lokam imam ravih teach?
It teaches oneness by way of an image rather than an argument. The sun does not split itself among the things it illumines, and the knower does not split itself among bodies. Krishna offers Arjuna a picture he can look up and verify at noon. The seeing in you is not a private possession.
Why does Krishna compare the self to the sun here?
Because the sun reveals without being altered by what it reveals. It shines on the beautiful and the ruined alike. Krishna wants Arjuna to stop treating awareness as one more thing inside the body and see it as that by which the body is known at all — untouched, and never absent.
How do I use this verse when my mind is agitated?
Stop wrestling the agitation and ask what is watching it. The restlessness is in the field; it is being lit. Whatever is doing the lighting is not restless — it cannot be, or you could not see the restlessness clearly. Sit with that for one breath. The weather stays; your footing changes.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Count the suns. There is one, and every field it touches — the ocean, the crack in a wall, your kitchen window — is lit by the same fire, without the fire being divided. Krishna gives Arjuna this image after chapters of dissection: body, senses, mind, desire, the whole catalogue of the field. All of it is only visible. The one who sees it is not one more item in the list; it is the light by which the list can be read at all. Your tiredness is lit. Your fear is lit. Notice that neither of them is doing the lighting.