13:1: Arjuna said: I wish to understand knowledge concerning prakriti and purusha, i.e., the field, the knower of the field, and what is to be known about both, O Krishna [Keshava].
Shri Krishna [The Blessed One] replied: O Arjuna [Son of Kunti], this body is called the ‘field’ [prakriti] and one who knows this is called ‘the knower of the field’ according to those who understand.
13:2: Know Me to be the knower of the field [or body] and indeed, the knower of all fields [bodies], O Arjuna [descendant of Bharata]. I consider those who know both the field and its master to possess perfect knowledge.
13:3, 4: Hear from Me in brief about the field as it is, its transformations, its origin, its creator, and the glories of its God.
This is presented in various ways by expert seers who have sung diverse hymns and individual aphorisms from the Brahma Sutra. They have presented well-reasoned conclusions.
13:5, 6: The five dominant elements, false ego, the intellect, the unmanifested existence, the ten senses, and the mind, the five sense objects, desire, hatred, happiness, suffering, the body with its senses, consciousness, and resoluteness, the transformations of the field [the body] are herein briefly illustrated.
13:7-11: Humility, sincerity, nonviolence, tolerance, uprightness, serving the spiritual preceptor, purity, steadfastness, Self-control, not desiring sense objects, devoid of false ego, regarding the defilement of birth, old age, disease, and suffering, devoid of attachment, without clinging to son, wife, home, etc., with constant equilibrium having attained the desirable and undesirable, with exclusive and constant devotion to Me, resorting to desolate places because of dissatisfaction with human society, maintaining constancy in knowledge of the self, and insight into the aim of the knowledge of the truth — this is called real knowledge; that which is contrary to this is ignorance.
13:12: That which is to be known I will describe, knowing which, one imbibes the nectar of immortality. Thus, knowing that I am the supreme, beginningless Spirit, one deems Me to be both being and non-being.
13:13-18: I am everywhere in the world, abiding in the hands, feet, eyes, heads, mouths, ears; I am all-pervading.
Illuminating the qualities of all senses, yet possessing no senses, maintaining everything, yet without being attached to anything, devoid of all material qualities, yet employing the senses,
I am within and without all beings, both the unmoving and the moving. Because of My subtle nature, I am unknowable. I am far away yet near.
Undivided, yet abiding within all living beings as if divided, the maintainer of all beings, the object of knowledge, devouring all; I am preeminent.
In all luminous objects, I am the light; I am beyond darkness. I am said to be knowledge, the object of knowledge, and the goal of knowledge; I am established within the hearts of all.
Thus, I have briefly explained the field, knowledge, and the object of knowledge. Knowing this, My devotees are eligible to attain Me.
13:19-21: Material nature and the living entities are the beginning phase. They are both transformations of the three gunas [the qualities of goodness, passion, and ignorance], which are born of material nature.
In the creation of cause and effect, material nature is considered the cause. In experiencing pleasure and suffering, the living entity is understood to be the determinant. The living entity residing within material nature experiences the three qualities of material nature, known as the triguna, due to their association with the gunas, or modes of material nature, and thus takes birth in higher or lower forms of life.
13:22: One God is the Witness, Allower, Supporter, and the Enjoyer. This Supreme Person is said to be the highest Self within the body.
13:23: One who understands this about the living entities, material nature, and the gunas, regardless of lifestyle, need not be born again.
13:24, 25: Some behold the Self through inward meditation; others find the Self through systematic insights into worldly existence, while yet others achieve it by sacrificing the results of all fruitive activities.
But others, lacking direct knowledge, hear from others and thus worship Me. They also transcend death, being solely devoted to what they have heard.
13:26: Whatever comes into being, whether moving or unmoving, results from the union between the field and the knower of the field, O best of the Bharatas.
13:27, 28: The Supreme God abides equally in all living beings, among the perishable and the imperishable. One who discerns this truly understands.
Recognizing that One God abides everywhere equally, one does not corrupt oneself and so attains the highest goal.
13:29, 30: All activities are performed by material nature. One who sees the Self completely devoid of activities truly sees.
Recognizing that all diverse beings are merely expressions of a single, Living Entity, one attains Brahman.
13:31: The inexhaustible Supreme Self, having no beginning and possessing no material qualities [no actual association with the Triguna], although abiding in the body, O Arjuna [Son of Kunti], is neither active nor contaminated [by material activities or karmic reactions].
13:32: Because of its all-pervading subtlety, ether remains undefiled. Likewise, although it pervades the entire body, the Self remains uncorrupted.
13:33: As the one sun illuminates the entire world, so too One God, the owner of the field, illuminates the entire field [of the material body], O Arjuna [Son of Bharata].
13:34: Those who, with the eye of knowledge, distinguish between the field [the body] and the Knower of the field [the Self], and those who understand the liberation of living beings from material nature, attain the Supreme.
Here Ends Chapter Thirteen