Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 13, Verse 6
इच्छा द्वेषः सुखं दुःखं सङ्घातश्चेतनाधृतिः।एतत्क्षेत्रं समासेन सविकारमुदाहृतम्।।
icchā dveṣaḥ sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ saṅghātaś cetanā dhṛtiḥ
etat kṣetraṁ samāsena sa-vikāram udāhṛtam
also searched as "iccha dveshah sukham duhkham sanghatash chetana dhritih"
Translation
Desire, hatred, pleasure, and pain, and the combination that constitutes the basis of consciousness—or the individual self—have been briefly described here, along with their modifications.
Vāṇi's rendering
Desire and aversion, pleasure and pain, the body's whole, awareness, will — this is the field and its changes.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| इच्छाicchā | desire, wanting |
| द्वेषःdveṣaḥ | aversion, the pushing away |
| सुखम्sukhaṁ | pleasure, ease |
| दुःखम्duḥkhaṁ | pain, distress |
| सङ्घातःsaṅghātaḥ | the aggregate — the body as an assembled whole (appears as saṅghātaś before the c of cetanā) |
| चेतनाcetanā | awareness, the sense of being awake to things |
| धृतिःdhṛtiḥ | firmness, the will that holds a person together |
| एतत्etat | this, all of the above |
| क्षेत्रम्kṣetraṁ | the field |
| समासेनsamāsena | in brief, gathered into a summary |
| स-विकारम्sa-vikāram | together with its changes and modifications |
| उदाहृतम्udāhṛtam | has been declared, set out |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13 Verse 6 mean?
Krishna finishes the inventory of the field. Desire, aversion, pleasure, pain, the assembled body, awareness and firmness of will — all of it is kṣetra, the seen. He adds sa-vikāram, with its changes, because the field never holds still. What shifts is field. What watches the shifting is not.
Why are awareness and will called part of the field?
Because they can be observed. Your alertness rises and dulls; your resolve holds one day and fails the next. Anything that varies is something appearing before the knower, not the knower itself. Krishna is being ruthless here, and the ruthlessness is a kindness — it leaves nothing false for you to lean on.
What is the meaning of iccha dveshah sukham duhkham?
Desire and aversion, pleasure and pain — the four movements that run almost every human day. Krishna names them first because they feel most like us. They are not. They are conditions arising in the field, arriving and departing, while the one aware of them does not arrive or depart.
How does this verse help with grief?
Grief is listed. It belongs to duḥkha and to the changing field, which means it is happening in you rather than being you. That does not make it lighter to feel. It does mean there is something in you that grief is passing through and not consuming. Stand there while it moves.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Look at what Krishna puts in the field. Not just bone and skin — desire, aversion, pleasure, pain, and then, startlingly, awareness itself and the will that holds you together. Everything you would call most inward, most yours, is listed as something seen. Arjuna's grief is on this list. So is your craving, your refusal, your resolve to be a better person. None of it is the knower; all of it is weather in the field. This is not a reason to despise the field. It is a reason to stop believing the storm is you. Watch the wanting arrive, and notice you were there before it.