क्षेत्रज्ञं चापि मां विद्धि सर्वक्षेत्रेषु भारत। क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोर्ज्ञानं यत्तज्ज्ञानं मतं मम ॥
kṣetrajñaṃ cāpi māṃ viddhi sarvakṣetreṣu bhārata| kṣetrakṣetrajñayorjñānaṃ yattajjñānaṃ mataṃ mama ||
Know Me as the kṣetrajña in ALL fields — and the knowledge of field + knower is true knowledge!
Word by word (3)
- kṣetrajñaṃ cāpi māṃ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata
- — Know Me also as the kṣetrajña in all fields, O Bhārata · kṣetrajñam = the kṣetrajña (accusative; the one who knows the field). ca api = also, in addition (ca = and; api = also; caiva/cāpi = 'also'; the 'also' is crucial: not ONLY the individual ātman is kṣetrajña, but ALSO Krishna). māṃ = Me (accusative of aham = I; Krishna explicitly includes Himself). viddhi = know (imperative of √vid; 'know you' = know definitively). sarva-kṣetreṣu = in all fields (sarva = all; kṣetreṣu = locative plural of kṣetra = in-all-fields; not just your body-field but EVERY body, EVERY material formation, EVERY kṣetra). bhārata = O Bhārata (Arjuna as descendant of Bharata). The statement: there is only ONE kṣetrajña in all fields — Krishna/Brahman. Each individual's ātman that witnesses its own body-field is the SAME Brahman. There are not 8 billion different kṣetrajñas — there is ONE kṣetrajña everywhere, recognized as many.
- kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānaṃ yat taj jñānaṃ mataṃ mama
- — The knowledge of kṣetra and kṣetrajña — that I consider to be TRUE knowledge · kṣetra-kṣetrajñayoḥ = of kṣetra and kṣetrajña (genitive dual: the knowledge belonging to or concerning both of them together). jñānaṃ = knowledge. yat = which. tat = that. jñānaṃ = knowledge (repeated: 'that knowledge = knowledge'). mataṃ = considered, deemed (past participle of √man = to think; mataṃ = thought/considered/regarded). mama = My (genitive of aham). The sentence structure is emphatic: the knowledge of kṣetra + kṣetrajña together — THAT is what I consider jñāna (true knowledge). Not learning Sanskrit, not studying all the Vedas, not accumulating information — but the living recognition of which is field (changing, material, owned by no-self) and which is field-knower (unchanging, conscious, the true self). This is the definition of the only knowledge that liberates.
- māṃ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu (zoomed)
- — Know Me in all fields · This phrase is one of the most compact non-dual statements in the Gita. sarva-kṣetreṣu = in ALL fields = in every body, every organism, every material configuration that exists. Māṃ = Me = Krishna = Brahman. To 'know Me in all fields' = to recognize Brahman as the witnessing-consciousness present in every living being and every body. This is not pantheism (the world is God) but pan-entheism with a non-dual edge: the kṣetrajña-aspect in all kṣetras is ONE. The sage who sees this — 'seeing the same Lord in all beings' (13.28) — is said to truly see. This verse is therefore the seed from which the chapter's culminating teaching (V27-28) grows.
V3 makes a staggering expansion: not only is the ātman in your body the kṣetrajña (field-knower) — Krishna Himself is the kṣetrajña in ALL fields everywhere. Every body, every living being, every material formation — in all of them, the same Consciousness is the knowing-presence. And knowing this — knowing BOTH what the field is AND who the true knower is — that is what Krishna calls true knowledge (jñāna).
A modern analogy
Like discovering that the electricity powering every lamp in a city is coming from one source. Each lamp (kṣetra/body) appears separate, but the current (kṣetrajña/consciousness) is the same throughout. You've been thinking 'I have my own consciousness' — V3 says it's one current everywhere.
Sit with this: V3 says Krishna IS the kṣetrajña in ALL fields. Does this mean there is literally one consciousness in all beings? Or is this saying something subtler about the nature of awareness? What would change in how you treat others if you truly saw the same kṣetrajña in every kṣetra?
V3 is the hinge verse of Ch.13 and one of the Gita's boldest non-dual statements. The verse creates a two-level structure: (1) individual level — the ātman in each body is the kṣetrajña of that body; (2) universal level — Krishna/Brahman is the ONE kṣetrajña in ALL bodies simultaneously. This is not just poetic expansion; it is the mechanism of liberation: when the individual kṣetrajña recognizes itself as identical with the universal kṣetrajña-Krishna, the illusion of separateness dissolves. The statement 'jñānaṃ mataṃ mama' (I consider THIS to be jñāna) is a direct definition: jñāna = the living recognition of the kṣetra-kṣetrajña distinction in oneself AND its universalization to all beings.
Advaita lens
For Śankara, V3 is the pivotal verse: it identifies Krishna (= Brahman) as the ONE kṣetrajña in all kṣetras. The individual jīva's sense of 'I am the knower of this body' is valid at the vyāvahārika (transactional) level. But at the pāramārthika (ultimate) level, the kṣetrajña is ONE — Brahman/ātman appearing as the conscious witness in each body. Liberation = the recognition that 'my' kṣetrajña and 'all' kṣetrajñas are the same ONE — this is tat tvam asi (thou art That) expressed through the kṣetra-kṣetrajña framework.
Bhakti lens
Rāmānuja reads sarva-kṣetreṣu as the omnipresence of Paramātman (Krishna as the Supreme Self) — distinct from the individual jīvas (kṣetrajñas in the individual sense) but present in all bodies as their inner controller (antaryāmin). The knowledge of kṣetra-kṣetrajña includes knowing the RELATION: jīva (individual soul) is kṣetrajña at the individual level, but WITHIN the jīva, Paramātman is the deeper kṣetrajña who knows even the jīva's knowing.
Karma-Yoga lens
The karma-yoga implication: if the kṣetrajña in all kṣetras is the same, then every action done to any kṣetra is done in the presence of the same kṣetrajña. Treating another's body (kṣetra) as an instrument = violating the kṣetrajña within it. The karma-yogi who truly knows V3 acts with the reverence of one who knows the same Consciousness is present in every person, creature, and form.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
And do thou also know Me as Kshetrajna in all Kshetras, O Bharata. The knowledge of Kshetra and Kshetrajña is deemed by Me as the knowledge. [1]
Me do thou also know, O descendant of Bharata, to be Kshetrajna in all Kshetras. The knowledge of Kshetra and Kshetrajna is considered by Me to be the knowledge. [4]
I am that Knower in all fields; I deem / The true 'Kshetrajna' lore to be My Light. [7]
And know me also, O descendant of Bharata! to be the Kshetrajña in all Kshetras. The knowledge of Kshetra and Kṣhetrajña is deemed by me (to be real) knowledge. [9]
Know me, O Bharata, to be Kshetrajnas. The knowledge of Kshetra and Kshetrajna I regard to be (true) knowledge. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Who sees the Supreme Lord equally in all beings — the undying in the dying — TRULY sees.
I am the ātman, O Guḍākeśa, seated in the heart of all beings — their beginning, middle, and end.
Beyond both stands the uttama Puruṣa — Paramātmā, the inexhaustible Lord pervading and sustaining all three worlds.
You grieve for those who should not be grieved for — and call it wisdom.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
Steady wisdom begins here: when all desires fall away and the Self finds fullness in itself alone.