13.1 Six words Arjuna wants defined Arjuna speaks
प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव क्षेत्रं क्षेत्रज्ञमेव च
एतद्वेदितुमिच्छामि ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं च केशव
prakṛitiṁ puruṣhaṁ chaiva kṣhetraṁ kṣhetra-jñam eva cha
etad veditum ichchhāmi jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ cha keśhava
Nature and the person, the field and the knower of the field, knowledge and what is to be known — these I wish to understand, Krishna.
Explanation
Arjuna asks for six definitions, and gets a chapter.
Nature and the person, the field and its knower, knowledge and what is to be known — three pairs.
He is doing what he did at the start of chapter 8: stopping the teaching to ask what the words mean. By this point in the book it has become his characteristic move, and it is the reason the Gita has any vocabulary at all.
Word by word
- arjunaḥ uvācha
- Arjun said
- prakṛitim
- material nature
- puruṣham
- the enjoyer
- cha
- and
- eva
- indeed
- kṣhetram
- the field of activities
- kṣhetra-jñam
- the knower of the field
- eva
- even
- cha
- also
- etat
- this
- veditum
- to know
- ichchhāmi
- I wish
- jñānam
- knowledge
- jñeyam
- the goal of knowledge
- cha
- and
- keśhava
- Krishna, the killer of the demon named Keshi
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