Bg. 13.6-7 · Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Devanagari

महाभूतान्यहङ्कारो बुद्धिरव्यक्तमेव च । इन्द्रियाणि दशैकं च पञ्च चेन्द्रियगोचरा: ॥ ६ ॥ इच्छा द्वेष: सुखं दु:खं सङ्घातश्चेतना धृति: । एतत्क्षेत्रं समासेन सविकारमुदाहृतम् ॥ ७ ॥

Verse text

mahā-bhūtāny ahaṅkāro buddhir avyaktam eva ca indriyāṇi daśaikaṁ ca paṣca cendriya-gocarāḥ icchā dveṣaḥ sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ saṅghātaś cetanā dhṛtiḥ etat kṣetraṁ samāsena sa-vikāram udāhṛtam

Synonyms

mahā-bhūtāni — the great elements ; ahaṅkāraḥ — false ego ; buddhiḥ — intelligence ; avyaktam — the unmanifested ; eva — certainly ; ca — also ; indriyāṇi — the senses ; daśa-ekam — eleven ; ca — also ; paṣca — five ; ca — also ; indriya-go-carāḥ — the objects of the senses ; icchā — desire ; dveṣaḥ — hatred ; sukham — happiness ; duḥkham — distress ; saṅghātaḥ — the aggregate ; cetanā — living symptoms ; dhṛtiḥ — conviction ; etat — all this ; kṣetram — the field of activities ; samāsena — in summary ; sa-vikāram — with interactions ; udāhṛtam — exemplified.

Translation

The five great elements, false ego, intelligence, the unmanifested, the ten senses and the mind, the five sense objects, desire, hatred, happiness, distress, the aggregate, the life symptoms, and convictions – all these are considered, in summary, to be the field of activities and its interactions.

Purport

From all the authoritative statements of the great sages, the Vedic hymns and the aphorisms of the Vedānta-sūtra, the components of this world can be understood as follows. First there are earth, water, fire, air and ether. These are the five great elements ( mahā-bhūta ). Then there are false ego, intelligence and the unmanifested stage of the three modes of nature. Then there are five senses for acquiring knowledge: the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. Then five working senses: voice, legs, hands, anus and genitals. Then, above the senses, there is the mind, which is within and which can be called the sense within. Therefore, including the mind, there are eleven senses altogether. Then there are the five objects of the senses: smell, taste, form, touch and sound. Now the aggregate of these twenty-four elements is called the field of activity. If one makes an analytical study of these twenty-four subjects, then he can very well understand the field of activity. Then there are desire, hatred, happiness and distress, which are interactions, representations of the five great elements in the gross body. The living symptoms, represented by consciousness, and convictions are the manifestation of the subtle body – mind, ego and intelligence. These subtle elements are included within the field of activities. The five great elements are a gross representation of the false ego, which in turn represents the primal stage of false ego technically called the materialistic conception, or tāmasa-buddhi, intelligence in ignorance. This, further, represents the unmanifested stage of the three modes of material nature. The unmanifested modes of material nature are called pradhāna. One who desires to know the twenty-four elements in detail along with their interactions should study the philosophy in more detail. In Bhagavad-gītā, a summary only is given. The body is the representation of all these factors, and there are changes of the body, which are six in number: the body is born, it grows, it stays, it produces by-products, then it begins to decay, and at the last stage it vanishes. Therefore the field is a nonpermanent material thing. However, the kṣetra-jṣa, the knower of the field, its proprietor, is different.

Surrender Unto Me

The five great elements, false ego, intelligence, the unmanifested, the ten senses and the mind, the five sense objects ‑ these are the 24 elements of Sankhya philosophy which the material world is divided into. Desire, hatred, happiness, distress, the aggregate, the life symptoms and convictions ‑ these are further elements of the field of activities, manifested out of the different reactions of the 24 elements within the body. The 24 elements and its different interactions give birth to these last elements: desire, hatred, etc... (these are qualities of the mind) Srila Prabhupada says in his Purport: " The body is the representation of all these factors, and there are changes of the body, which are six in number: the body is born, it grows, it stays, it produces by‑products, then it begins to decay, and at the last stage it vanishes. Therefore the field is a nonpermanent material thing. However, the ksetra‑jna, the knower of the field, its proprietor, is different." The next verses will describe the process of knowledge more from the point of view of jnana‑yoga then bhakti‑yoga, although there are some elements that are meant for bhakti‑yogis. Some other elements are only meant for jnana‑yogis, but most of the elements are meant for both. What does he get a person who follows the process of knowledge? He will get knowledge of the body, the soul and the Supersoul, by which the ksetrajna will be able to separate himself from the ksetra. [C. KRSNA'S FURTHER ANSWER TO QUESTION 5: THE PROCESS OF KNOWLEDGE AND LIBERATION ( 13.8‑12) The process by which the knower of the field, the soul, transcends the limitations of his field of activities is called the process of knowledge. This process includes humility and pridelessness, as well as its most important item: accepting the shelter of a bona‑fide spiritual master and practicing unalloyed devotional service under his care. ]