Kshetragya (the knower of the ‘field’)--various arguements

 Chapter 13, shloka 1-4

 

Kshetragya (the knower of the ‘field’)

This body is the ‘kshetra’ (the field/site), and the one who knows the body is the one to be called ‘Kshetragnya’. The Kshetragnya and the one who nourishes all the kshetras is but me only, and to know the kshetra and the kshetragnya is the true knowledge.

Tells Krishna; there have been a lot of discussions in scriptures and various arguments among sages about who this kshetra belongs to but there is no unanimity on the same.

Gyaneshwara comments on various arguments and discussions about the kshetra;

Those who are believers in the theory of karma say that the entire kshetra is under the control of ‘jivatma’(the embodied soul) and is managed by the prana(the life force). The four types of airs- apaana, vyaana, udaana and samaana put a lot of effort into sustaining prana while the mind enquires and supervises them. The five sense organs and five action organs are like tools in the hands of the jivatma, that he uses to reap the field of sense pleasures and obtain the opportunity to perform righteous duties.  When he, the jivatma performs injustice and fails to perform his assigned worldly duties righteously, and so commits sin. The jivatma suffers through millions of lives. But on the other hand, if the jivatma performs his assigned duties righteously and thus performs satkarmas(the good deeds) he enjoys pleasures through millions of lives.

The sankhyavadis disagrees and says that the kshetra is not under the control of jivatma, and jivatma is merely a stranger and on his journey, takes shelter in the kshetra for some time (a lifetime). Whereas prana who is the master of kshetra, guards the field. It is but the Prakriti, the beginningless one that is engrossed in the field. Born out of prakriti, the three gunas (tamogun, satvagun, rajogun) result in action, preservance, and bearing of the fruit of action and so, they reap the entire kshetra and eventually the kaala (time) churns it. And so, the evening of the unmanifest dawns.

Disagreeing to this, the sankalpvadis says that the eternal element-partattva is parbrahm (the supreme) and what is prakriti in front of the supreme?—the powerful Sankalp (the vow/ the divine desire for creation) was resting on the shoonya (zero-the unmanifest). As he woke up, and through his effort, the three worlds came up out of the attributeless form. Then he brought together the panchmahabhootas(the five elements) and created four types of beings (jaaraja, svedaja, andaja and udbhijja). Then he created further sub-categories of beings, built structures of karmas and akarmas, and prepared an easy and always open pathway for repeatedly treading through many lives of the beings (life and death). Then the sankalpa collaborates with the ego and engages the intellect in various worldly activities. Thus, sankalpa becomes the root cause for prapancha (various worldly activities of a lifetime).

Swabhavvadis criticizes this theory of sankalpvadis saying, why imagine sankalpa sleeping on shoonya and all that? Then what’s the harm in agreeing to the theory of ‘prakriti is presiding over the kshetra’ of sankhyavadis? But all these theories are meaningless says swabhavvadis.

They question these theories saying, the way clouds are filled with water, the stars and cosmic bodies hang in space, the way wind blows spontaneously and the ocean never dries…all these facts are automated (swabhavsiddh)—bound by their own nature/principle. The same way kshetra is swabhavsiddha and serves no one.

 Disagreeing with this, kaalvadis says that the kashetra is impacted only by the kaal (time) and kaal is the supreme which controls everything.

So, there are many arguments among the sages/ knowledgeables who contradicts each other and never agree on one theory