यावत् सञ्जायते किञ्चित् सत्त्वं स्थावरजङ्गमम् / क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञसंयोगात् तद् विद्धि भरतर्षभ
yāvat sañjāyate kiñcit sattvaṃ sthāvara-jaṅgamam / kṣetra-kṣetrajña-saṃyogāt tad viddhi bharatarṣabha
Every being born — moving or unmoving — arises from the union of kṣetra and kṣetrajña alone.
Word by word (3)
- yāvat sañjāyate kiñcit sattvam sthāvara-jaṅgamam
- — Whatever (yāvat) being (sattvam = any being, creature, entity) is born/arises (sañjāyate = is born, from sam + jan), moving (jaṅgamam = locomotive) or unmoving (sthāvara = stationary) · Sattva here = a being, an entity (not the guṇa sattva). Sañjāyate = comes into being, is born. Sthāvara = unmoving (trees, rocks, mountains — the plant kingdom and inert matter). Jaṅgama = moving (animals, humans, birds — those with locomotive capacity). Together sthāvara-jaṅgama = the entire spectrum of manifest life. This is an all-inclusive formula: nothing is excluded.
- kṣetra-kṣetrajña-saṃyogāt tat viddhi
- — know that (tat viddhi = know that) to be from the union/conjunction (saṃyoga = coming together, from sam + yuj = to join) of kṣetra (field) and kṣetrajña (knower of the field) · Saṃyoga = union, conjunction, yoking together. The entire manifest universe — every rock, every tree, every insect, every human — is the product of kṣetra (prakṛti, the field) coming together with kṣetrajña (puruṣa, the witness). Without kṣetrajña, prakṛti would be inert; without kṣetra, kṣetrajña would have nothing to witness. Their conjunction = creation. V27 is the cosmological capstone of Ch.13's entire framework.
- bharatarṣabha
- — O bull of the Bharatas (bharata = descendant of Bharata; ṛṣabha = bull = the best) — Arjuna addressed with a title of excellence · This address at the end of a synthesis-verse is pedagogically significant: Krishna honours Arjuna as 'the best of the Bharatas' at the moment of delivering the most comprehensive formula of the chapter. The address invites Arjuna (and the reader) to rise to the understanding being offered.
The cosmological capstone of Ch.13. Every being in existence — from the most massive mountain (sthāvara) to the most mobile creature (jaṅgama) — is the product of kṣetra (field/body/prakṛti) UNITED with kṣetrajña (the knowing witness/puruṣa). Without the field there is no form; without the witness-consciousness there is no life. All of existence = the dance of these two principles. To understand this is to understand all birth and existence.
A modern analogy
A clay pot = clay (kṣetra) + the potter's skill/intention (kṣetrajña). Remove the clay, there is no pot. Remove the potter's presence, the clay remains shapeless. Every pot, every jar, every sculpture in the cosmos is kṣetra + kṣetrajña united. Look around you: every being is the 'pot' of their own kṣetra-kṣetrajña union.
What it does NOT mean
Saṃyoga (union) might be taken as a literal 'mixing' that creates beings, like mixing two chemicals. But the Gita's saṃyoga is the appearance of being (creation) that arises when the witnessing awareness (kṣetrajña) is present within a material field (kṣetra). It is a presence-in-field, not a chemical reaction. The two principles remain distinct even while all beings arise from their 'meeting.'
Kṣetra-kṣetrajña-saṃyogāt is the Gita's condensed cosmogony. Śaṃkara: the saṃyoga is not real (not two separate things merging) but the appearance (vivarta) of duality within the non-dual Brahman. The world appears because the one Brahman appears as both kṣetra and kṣetrajña within the framework of māyā. Rāmānuja: the union is real — Brahman (as Paramātmā/kṣetrajña) is genuinely united with the body-field (kṣetra). Both agree: every being is pervaded by the Paramātmā.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Whatever being is born, the moving or the unmoving, O bull of the Bharatas, know it to be from the union of Kshetra and Kshetrajna. [4]
[Arnold full chapter text; verse states every born being arises from the union of Field and Knower] [7]
Whatever being is produced, whether animate or inanimate, know, O best of the Bharatas, that it is from the union of the Field and the Knower of the Field. [9]
Whatever being is born, the moving or the unmoving, know, O best of the Bharatas, that it is produced from the union of Kshetra and Kshetrajna. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Where yogeśvara Kṛṣṇa is, where archer Pārtha stands — there abide fortune, victory, flourishing, and steadfast dharma.
Cast off this petty weakness of heart — rise. This is not who you are.
You have always existed. You will always exist. There was no time before you, and there will be no time without you.
Knowing this you will not fall into delusion again — you will see all beings in the Self, and thus in Me.
Ever-content, ever-yoked, self-controlled, firm in resolve, mind-intellect offered to Me — he is My dear devotee!
When the yogi sees all diversity resting in the One and spreading from that One alone — he becomes Brahman.