Gita 13.34
Kshetra Kshetragna Vibhaga Yoga
यथा प्रकाशयत्येकः कृत्स्नं लोकमिमं रविः | क्षेत्रं क्षेत्री तथा कृत्स्नं प्रकाशयति भारत ||३४||
yathā prakāśayaty ekaḥ kṛtsnaṁ lokam imaṁ raviḥ | kṣetraṁ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṁ prakāśayati bhārata ||34||
In essence: As one sun illuminates the entire world, so the one Knower of the field illuminates all fields.
A conversation between a seeker and guide to help you feel this verse deeply
Sadhak-Guru Dialogue
Sadhak: "How can one consciousness be in all beings? I feel my consciousness is mine alone."
Guru: "The feeling of 'mine' is the body-mind's claim, not consciousness's nature. Consciousness itself has no possessive markers. Ask yourself: is there something unique about the 'knowing' happening in you that couldn't be the same knowing happening in another? The content known differs—your thoughts, their thoughts—but the knowing-ness is indistinguishable. That's the one sun shining through different windows."
Sadhak: "But the sun is separate from what it illuminates. Is consciousness separate from what it knows?"
Guru: "Yes and no. Functionally, yes—the knower is not the known, just as the sun is not the landscape. But ultimately, everything appears within consciousness, so in that sense nothing is truly 'separate.' The sun analogy emphasizes function: illumination. The space analogy emphasizes pervasion. Together, they point to a consciousness that illuminates and pervades yet is not identical with nor affected by what it illuminates."
Sadhak: "Does this mean my sense of being an individual is completely false?"
Guru: "Not completely—but provisionally. The individual body-mind is real as a functional apparatus within prakriti. The 'sense of being an individual' is a thought-feeling in the mind. The false part is the claim that consciousness is limited to this apparatus. Consciousness uses this apparatus but isn't defined by it. The individual is a ray thinking it's separate from the sun."
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🌅 Daily Practice
Sun of awareness: As the sun rises, contemplate: 'Just as this one sun illuminates everything visible, one awareness illuminates everything knowable.' Feel yourself as that awareness—not limited to this body, but the universal light making experience possible.
Illumination recognition: Whenever you know something—see an object, hear a sound, have a thought—pause and recognize: 'This is known in the light of awareness.' The object appears in your consciousness; you don't travel to the object. Let this recognition reveal consciousness as the constant, objects as the variables.
One sun meditation: At day's end, as the physical sun sets, contemplate: 'The sun of awareness never sets.' Physical light wanes, but the awareness noticing the dimming is unchanged. As sleep approaches, the content of awareness recedes, but awareness itself remains—dreaming, dreamless, but never absent. Rest as this unextinguishable sun.