Gita 13.2

Kshetra Kshetragna Vibhaga Yoga

श्रीभगवानुवाच | इदं शरीरं कौन्तेय क्षेत्रमित्यभिधीयते | एतद्यो वेत्ति तं प्राहुः क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विदः ||२||

śrī-bhagavān uvāca | idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya kṣetram ity abhidhīyate | etad yo vetti taṁ prāhuḥ kṣetra-jña iti tad-vidaḥ ||2||

In essence: This body is the field; the one who is aware of it is the knower of the field—this is the fundamental teaching of all wisdom traditions.

A conversation between a seeker and guide to help you feel this verse deeply

Sadhak-Guru Dialogue

Sadhak: "Guru ji, this seems too simple. The body is the field, and I'm the one who knows it. I already know that."

Guru: "Do you? Then tell me—who is suffering when you have a headache?"

Sadhak: "I am suffering."

Guru: "But the headache is in the body—the field. If you truly knew yourself as the knower, you would say 'There is pain in the field' not 'I am in pain.' See the difference?"

Sadhak: "That sounds like just playing with words."

Guru: "Try it during actual pain. Watch the pain as you would watch clouds in the sky. Who is watching? That witness doesn't have the headache. The head has the headache. This is not wordplay—it's the key to freedom from suffering."

Sadhak: "But I feel the pain. It's not separate from me."

Guru: "You KNOW the pain. There's a difference between experiencing something and BEING something. Do you become a movie when you watch it? You feel absorbed, yet remain separate. Similarly, you know pain without being pain."

Sadhak: "What about mental suffering? Anxiety, fear—those aren't in the body."

Guru: "The mind is also part of the field. Krishna will clarify this. Thoughts, emotions, intellect—all are known by you. Whatever you can observe is not the observer. This simple truth, fully realized, is liberation."

Did this resonate with you? Share it with someone who needs to hear this.

🌅 Daily Practice

🌅 Morning

While doing morning routines, practice: 'The body is brushing teeth. The body is bathing.' Feel the shift from 'I am doing' to 'This is happening in the field.'

☀️ Daytime

When stress arises, immediately apply the teaching: 'Stress is in the field. I am the knower of this stress.' This creates space between you and the experience.

🌙 Evening

Before sleep, consciously withdraw identification from the body: 'This body will sleep. The field will rest. I, the knower, will remain as the witness of dreams and deep sleep.'

Common Questions

If the body is the field and I'm the knower, where exactly am I located?

The knower has no location—it's not in space. The field appears IN awareness, not awareness in the field. Asking where awareness is located is like asking where the space inside a pot is located—it's a category error. Awareness is the 'space' in which location itself appears.

Animals also seem aware of their bodies. Are they also 'knowers of the field'?

All sentient beings have the same witnessing consciousness, but human beings have the unique capacity for self-reflective awareness—knowing that they know. This reflexivity enables liberation. Animals experience but don't inquire into the nature of experience.

If the knower never changes, why do I feel so different at different times?

What changes is the content of awareness—moods, thoughts, physical states. These are modifications in the field. The awareness that knows 'now I'm happy, now I'm sad' remains constant. Notice: you remember being a child. Who remembers? That unchanging witness has been present throughout all changes.

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