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.
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