Chapter 13 Kshetra-Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga Verse 13

Chapter 13 Kshetra-Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga Verse 13

Jneyam yattat pravakshyaami yajjnaatwaa’mritamashnute;
Anaadimatparam brahma na sattannaasaduchyate.

I will declare that which has to be known, knowing which one attains to immortality, 
the beginningless supreme Brahman, called neither being nor non-being.

Interpretation

After talking about the things that a person has to do to get an understanding of the field and become the knower of the field in last 5 shlokas, in this shloka Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that He is now going to talk about the knowledge and brahman. Lord Krishna first says that He will tell Arjuna about what he should know by knowing which he can attain immortality. Then He goes on to say that He will also educate Arjuna on the Supreme Brahma who is beginning-less and existed from the beginning of the time and exists in the form of a being as well as non-being.

Extending Interpretation to Mankind’s Life!

Who decides what you should know and what you should not? Who decides what kind of knowledge you should get and what you should not? We all have a feeling that we are not required to know everything as knowing everything is not the aim of any individual. Our education system also has been developed in such a way that after secondary school we get to choose the subjects you want to study, do a graduation and post graduation in that and settle down in a profession linked to that subject. That’s how a person who studies law becomes a lawyer, who studies medicine becomes a doctor and who does engineering becomes an engineer. But the question is, does an engineer need to know about the engineering that happens inside his body, which a doctor who studied medicine will know?

The concept of compartmentalization of knowledge is an ancient concept that has been running till date. A musician is totally unware of what a scientist does and both live in a different world. In such kind of world, who decides what a person needs to know? The much bigger question is, what kind of knowledge leads to immortality? Will being a good doctor and knowing only his profession makes a doctor immortal? We need to see what Lord says about this. The next point Lord brings up is Brahman being compared to His being and non-being form. Can God exist in both forms, does God have any form at all?

This particular point was discussed in previous chapters where we talked extensively about people worshipping God in His formless being and people also worship God in His form. We got a clarity from Lord Krishna that worshipping God in His being is more easy and convenient than worshipping Him in His formless being. Here Lord Krishna is going to talk more on this Brahman who is also called as timeless. The concept of time and its link to Brahman is also important concept that we need to understand. Let’s see what Lord Krishna says about knowledge and Brahman.

Published by Sriram

A Teacher trying to Learn new things and explore the world each day! Believe in Happiness by the virtue of sacrifice and forgiveness.

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