Chapter 13, Verse 6
महाभूतान्यहंकारो बुद्धिरव्यक्तमेव च | इन्द्रियाणि दशैकं च पञ्च चेन्द्रियगोचराः ||१३-६||
mahābhūtānyahaṃkāro buddhiravyaktameva ca . indriyāṇi daśaikaṃ ca pañca cendriyagocarāḥ ||13-6||
Meaning
13.6 The great elements, egoism, intellect, and also the Unmanifested Nature, the ten senses and one (mind), and the five objects of the senses.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna now itemises the field. With the precision of the Sankhya system, he lists the constituents of nature that make up every embodied being: the five great elements (mahabhutas), the ego-sense (ahankara), the discriminating intellect (buddhi), and the unmanifest matrix of nature (avyakta) from which all forms emerge. To these he adds the eleven instruments — the five senses of perception, the five of action, and the mind — together with the five sense-objects they engage.
What is striking is how comprehensive yet impersonal this inventory is. Everything we usually call 'myself' — even the ego and the intellect — is catalogued here as part of the field, the known. None of it is the knower. By calmly naming these components, Krishna helps us loosen our grip on each one, seeing them as instruments of nature rather than the core of our being. The body-mind is revealed as a finely organised mechanism we observe, not our true identity.
💡 Key Takeaway
Even your ego and intellect are parts of the observable field, not the awareness that watches them.
Related Verses
अर्जुन उवाच | प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव क्षेत्रं क्षेत्रज्ञमेव च | एतद्वेदितुमिच्छामि ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं च केशव ||१३-१||
arjuna uvāca . prakṛtiṃ puruṣaṃ caiva kṣetraṃ kṣetrajñameva ca . etadveditumicchāmi jñānaṃ jñeyaṃ ca keśava ||13-1||
13.1 Arjuna said I wish to learn about Nature (matter) and the Spirit (soul), the field and the knower of the field, knowledge and that which ought to be known, O Kesava.
श्रीभगवानुवाच | इदं शरीरं कौन्तेय क्षेत्रमित्यभिधीयते | एतद्यो वेत्ति तं प्राहुः क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विदः ||१३-२||
śrībhagavānuvāca . idaṃ śarīraṃ kaunteya kṣetramityabhidhīyate . etadyo vetti taṃ prāhuḥ kṣetrajña iti tadvidaḥ ||13-2||
13.2 The Blessed Lord said This body, O Arjuna, is called the field; he who knows it is called the knower of the field, by those who know of them.
इन्द्रियार्थेषु वैराग्यमनहंकार एव च | जन्ममृत्युजराव्याधिदुःखदोषानुदर्शनम् ||१३-९||
indriyārtheṣu vairāgyamanahaṃkāra eva ca . janmamṛtyujarāvyādhiduḥkhadoṣānudarśanam ||13-9||
13.9 Indifference to the objects of the senses and also absence of egoism; perception of (or reflection on) the evil in birth, death, old age, sickness and pain.