The Bhagavad-Gita

13:1: Arjuna said: I wish to relieve knowledge concerning prakriti, purusa, the field, the knower of the field, and what is to be known, O Ke*ava.]
The Blessed One said: O child of Kunti, this body is called the ‘field’ 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 descendent of Bharata. Those who know the field and the knower of the field have perfect knowledge in My opinion.

13:3, 4: Hear from Me in brief about the field as it is, its transformations, its origin, its creator, and the glories of it's God.
This is discussed in many ways by the seers who have sung in various hymns and individual aphorisms from the Brahma Sutra with well reasoned conclusions.

13:5, 6: The five great 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 due to dissatisfaction with human society,
Maintaining constancy in knowledge of the self, and insight into the aim of the knowledge of 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, one deems Me to be the supreme, beginningless Spirit; being supreme I am called 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. Due to 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 beginningless. Know both to be transformations of the three gunas, born of material nature.
In the creation of cause and effect, material nature is said to be the cause, in experiencing pleasure and suffering, the living entity is said to be the determinant.
The living entity, abiding in material nature, enjoys the three qualities of material nature due to association with the gunas, and thus takes birth in higher or lower forms of life.

13:22: The Supreme 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, is not born again.

13:24, 25: Some behold the Self by inward meditation; others find the Self through systematic insights into the nature of worldly existence, while yet others by sacrificing the results of all fruitive activities.
But others, lacking in 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, know to be the result of union between the field and the knower of the field, O best of the Bharatas.

13:27, 28: The supreme God is abiding equally in all living beings, among the perishable and the imperishable. One who discerns this truly sees.
Seeing the supreme God abiding everywhere equally, one does not corrupt oneself and thereby 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.
Keeping in mind that all the diverse beings in existence abide as expansions of the One, the living entity attains Brahman.

13:31: The inexhaustible supreme Self, having no beginning and possessing no material qualities, although abiding in the body, O child of Kunti, is neither active nor contaminated.

13:32: Due to its all-pervading subtlety, the ether is not defiled. Likewise, abiding throughout the body, the Self is not contaminated.

13:33: As the one sun illumines the whole world, so too God, the Owner of the field, illumines the entire field (of the material body), O descendent of Bharata.

13:34: Those who, with the eye of knowledge, distinguish between the field (the body) and the Knower of the field, and who understands the liberation of the living beings from material nature, they attain the Supreme.

Go to: Chapter Fourteen.

Go to Notes and References.

Go to: the Beginning.