Gita 13.6

Kshetra Kshetragna Vibhaga Yoga

महाभूतान्यहंकारो बुद्धिरव्यक्तमेव च | इन्द्रियाणि दशैकं च पञ्च चेन्द्रियगोचराः ||६||

mahā-bhūtāny ahaṅkāro buddhir avyaktam eva ca | indriyāṇi daśaikaṁ ca pañca cendriya-gocarāḥ ||6||

In essence: The field consists of 24 categories: five elements, ego, intellect, unmanifest prakriti, eleven senses, and five sense objects—everything that can be perceived or conceived.

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

Sadhak-Guru Dialogue

Sadhak: "Guru ji, this is quite a list! Why break everything down into these categories?"

Guru: "To show that what you call 'I' is actually a composite. Your body is elements. Your sense of self is ahankara. Your thinking is intellect. None of these IS you—they're components of your experience, not your identity."

Sadhak: "But I feel like one unified person, not 24 separate things."

Guru: "That's the illusion. Take a car apart and you find engine, wheels, seats, windshield—no 'car' entity. Assemble them and 'car' appears. Similarly, assemble these 24 tattvas and 'I' appears. Take them apart—where is the I?"

Sadhak: "What's the 'unmanifest' exactly?"

Guru: "Before creation, all these categories exist in potential, unmanifest form—like a tree within a seed. This unmanifest prakriti is the root substance from which everything emerges. It's subtler than subtle, imperceptible, yet the source of all that's perceptible."

Sadhak: "The mind is counted as a sense? I thought senses were physical."

Guru: "The external senses are the gates; the mind is the gatekeeper who processes all input. Without mind, the senses would receive data but there would be no cognition. The mind coordinates, interprets, and presents experience. Hence it's called the 'inner sense.'"

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🌅 Daily Practice

🌅 Morning

During morning routines, identify categories: 'This body is composed of elements. This I-sense is ahankara. This planning is buddhi.' Practice disassembling the apparent unity.

☀️ Daytime

When caught in an emotion, trace its components: 'A sense perception happened. Mind interpreted it. Ego claimed it as mine. Now there's reaction.' Seeing the mechanism dissolves its grip.

🌙 Evening

Reflect: 'All I experienced today was within the 24 categories—sensations, thoughts, objects, I-sense. All of it appeared in awareness. I am that awareness.'

Common Questions

Why should I memorize these 24 categories? Isn't this just academic?

The purpose isn't memorization but dis-identification. When you can see each component for what it is, you stop unconsciously identifying with it. The body is elements—you're not elements. Thoughts are mental modifications—you're not thoughts. This analysis breaks the spell of false identification.

Modern science describes matter differently—atoms, molecules, quarks. Is this outdated?

Sankhya's categories are phenomenological, not physical. 'Earth' means solidity (whatever is solid), 'water' means fluidity, 'fire' means heat/transformation, etc. These describe how we experience matter, not its atomic structure. The framework remains valid for self-inquiry regardless of physics.

If even the intellect is part of the field, what's left as the knower?

Pure awareness—consciousness without content. The intellect thinks, but something is aware of thinking. That aware presence, which cannot be objectified because it's the ultimate subject, is the knower. It's not a thing among things but the knowing in which all things appear.

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