Thirteenth discourse
MATTER AND SPIRIT
* The body and the soul
The Blessed Lord said:
1.
This, the body, O son of Kunti, is called Kshetra; him who knows it, they who know of them call Kshetrajna.
*Identity of the soul with the Lord
2.
And do thou also know Me as Kshetrajna in all Kshetras, O Bharata. The knowledge of Kshetra and Kshetrajna is deemed by Me as the knowledge.
*Summary of the Doctrine
3.
And what that Kshetra is, and of what nature, and what its changes; and whence is what; and who He is and what His powers; this hear thou briefly from Me.
*The Doctrine extolled
4.
Sung by sages, in many ways and distinctly, in various hymns, as also in the suggestive words about Brahman, full of reasoning and decisive.
* Matter in all its forms
5.
The Great Elements, Egoism, Reason, as also the Unmanifested, the ten senses and one, and the five objects of the senses;
6.
Desire, hatred, pleasure, pain, the aggregate, intelligence, courage;—the Kshetra has been thus briefly described with its modifications.
* Virtues conducive to Self-knowledge
7.
Humility, modesty, innocence, patience, uprightness, service of the teacher, purity, steadfastness, self-control.
Moreover,
8.
Absence of attachment for objects of the senses, and also absence of egoism; perception of evil in birth, death and old age, in sickness and pain;
9.
Unattachment, absence of affection for son, wife, home and the like, and constant, equanimity on the attainment of the desirable and the undesirable;
10.
Unflinching devotion to Me in Yoga of nonseparation, resort to solitary places, distaste for the society of men;
Moreover,
11.
Constancy in Self-knowledge, perception of the end of the knowledge of truth. This is declared to be knowledge, and what is opposed to it is ignorance.
* Brahman, the Knowable
12.
That which has to be known I shall describe; knowing which one attains the Immortal. Beginning less is the Supreme Brahman. It is not said to be ' sat ' or ' asat.'
*Brahman is the source of all activity
13.
With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes and heads and mouths everywhere, with hearing everywhere, That exists enveloping all.
* Brahman is unconditioned
14.
Shining by the functions of all the senses, yet without the senses; unattached, yet supporting all; devoid of qualities; yet enjoying, qualities,
* Brahman is all
Moreover,
15.
Without and within (all) beings, the unmoving as also the moving, because subtle, That is incomprehensible, and near and far away is That.
*Brahman is the one Self in all
16.
And undivided, yet remaining divided as it were in beings; supporter of beings, too, is That, the Knowable; devouring, yet generating.
*Brahman is the Illuminator of all
17.
That is the Light even of lights, That is said to be beyond darkness, Knowledge, the Knowable, the Goal of knowledge, ( It ) is implanted in the heart of every one.
* Seek the Light through devotion
18.
Thus the Kshetra, as well as knowledge and the Knowable, have been briefly set forth. My devotee, on knowing this, is fitted for My state.
* Prakriti and Purusha are eternal
19.
Know thou that Prakriti as well as Purusha are both beginning less; and know thou also that all forms and qualities are born of Prakriti.
* Prakriti and Purusha as the Cause of samsara
20.
As the producer of the effect and the instruments, Prakriti is said to be the cause; as experiencing pleasure and pain, Purusha is said to be the cause.
* Avidya and Kama are the cause of rebirths
21.
Purusha, when seated in Prakriti, experiences the qualities born of Prakriti. Attachment to the qualities is the cause of his birth in good and evil wombs.
* Self-knowledge removes the cause of samsara
Now again the Lord proceeds to teach directly what that knowledge is:
22.
Spectator and Permitter, Supporter, Enjoyer, the Great Lord, and also spoken of as the Supreme Self, (is) the Purusha Supreme in this body.
23.
He who thus knows Purusha and Prakriti together with qualities, whatever his conduct, he is not born again.
* The four paths to Self-knowledge
24.
By meditation some behold the Self in the self by the self, others by Sankhya-Yoga, and others by Karma-Yoga.
25.
Yet others, not knowing thus, worship, having heard from others ; they, too, cross beyond death, adhering to what they heard.
* Nothing exists outside the Self
For,
26.
Whatever being is born, the unmoving or the moving, know thou, O best of the Bharatas, that to be owing to the union of Kshetra and Kshetrajna.
*The one Self in all
27.
He sees, who sees the Supreme Lord, remaining the same in all beings, the undying in the dying.
* Knowledge of the one Self leads to moksha
28.
Because he who sees the Lord, seated the same everywhere, destroys not the self by the self, therefore he reaches the Supreme Goal.
* Prakriti acts, not the Self
29.
He sees, who sees all actions performed by Prakriti alone and the Self not acting.
30.
When a man realizes the whole variety of beings as resting in the One, and as an evolution from that (One) alone, then he becomes Brahman.
* The Self is unaffected by the fruits of acts
31.
Having no beginning, having no qualities, this Supreme Self, imperishable, though dwelling in the body, O son of Kunti, neither acts nor is tainted.
32.
As the all-pervading akasa is, from its subtlety, never soiled, so the Self seated in the body everywhere is not soiled.
* The 5elf illumines all
Moreover,
33.
As the one sun illumines all this world, so does the embodied One, O Bharata, illumine all bodies.
* The doctrine summed up
The teaching of the whole discourse is concluded as follows:
34.
They who by the eye of wisdom perceive the distinction between Kshetra and Kshetrajna, and the dissolution of the Cause of beings,—they go to the Supreme.
END OF THIRTEENTH DISCOURSE
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