Chapter 13, Verse 35
क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोरेवमन्तरं ज्ञानचक्षुषा | भूतप्रकृतिमोक्षं च ये विदुर्यान्ति ते परम् ||१३-३५||
kṣetrakṣetrajñayorevamantaraṃ jñānacakṣuṣā . bhūtaprakṛtimokṣaṃ ca ye viduryānti te param ||13-35||
Meaning
13.35 They who, by the eye of knowledge, perceive the distinction between the field and its knower and also the liberation from the Nature of being, go to the Supreme.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
The chapter closes by gathering its entire teaching into a single promise. Those who, with the 'eye of knowledge' (jnana-chakshus), clearly perceive the distinction between the field and its knower — between ever-changing nature and the unchanging witness — and who likewise understand the way of liberation from material nature, attain the Supreme.
The phrase jnana-chakshus is luminous: it is an inner eye that the seeker cultivates through the whole disciplined journey of this chapter — through virtue, devotion, discernment, and meditation. Physical eyes see only the field; this awakened eye perceives the knower shining within and beyond it. The fruit of all the teaching is moksha, freedom from bondage to prakriti, and the attainment of the highest reality. Chapter thirteen thus ends where it began — with the field and its knower — but the seeker who has truly listened now sees them rightly, and in that clear seeing finds the doorway to the Supreme.
💡 Key Takeaway
Cultivate the inner eye of knowledge to distinguish the changing field from the deathless knower, and you walk straight to the Supreme.
Related Verses
क्षेत्रज्ञं चापि मां विद्धि सर्वक्षेत्रेषु भारत | क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोर्ज्ञानं यत्तज्ज्ञानं मतं मम ||१३-३||
kṣetrajñaṃ cāpi māṃ viddhi sarvakṣetreṣu bhārata . kṣetrakṣetrajñayorjñānaṃ yattajjñānaṃ mataṃ mama ||13-3||
13.3 Do thou also know Me as the knower of the field in all fields, O Arjuna. Knowledge of both the field and the knower of the field is considered by Me to be ï1the ï1 knowledge.
तत्क्षेत्रं यच्च यादृक्च यद्विकारि यतश्च यत् | स च यो यत्प्रभावश्च तत्समासेन मे शृणु ||१३-४||
tatkṣetraṃ yacca yādṛkca yadvikāri yataśca yat . sa ca yo yatprabhāvaśca tatsamāsena me śṛṇu ||13-4||
13.4 What the field is and of what nature, what are its modifications and whence it is and also who He is and what His powers are hear all that from Me in brief.
ऋषिभिर्बहुधा गीतं छन्दोभिर्विविधैः पृथक् | ब्रह्मसूत्रपदैश्चैव हेतुमद्भिर्विनिश्चितैः ||१३-५||
ṛṣibhirbahudhā gītaṃ chandobhirvividhaiḥ pṛthak . brahmasūtrapadaiścaiva hetumadbhirviniścitaiḥ ||13-5||
13.5 Sages have sung in many ways, in various distinctive chants and also in the suggestive words indicative of the Absolute, full of reasoning and decisive.