Devanagari
क्षेत्रज्ञाय नमस्तुभ्यं सर्वाध्यक्षाय साक्षिणे ।
पुरुषायात्ममूलाय मूलप्रकृतये नम: ॥ १३ ॥
Verse text
kṣetra-jṣāya namas tubhyaṁ
sarvādhyakṣāya sākṣiṇe
puruṣāyātma-mūlāya
mūla-prakṛtaye namaḥ
Synonyms
kṣetra
—
jṣāya — unto the one who knows everything of the external body
;
namaḥ
—
I offer my respectful obeisances
;
tubhyam
—
unto You
;
sarva
—
everything
;
adhyakṣāya
—
who are superintending, managing
;
sākṣiṇe
—
who are the witness, Paramātmā, or antaryāmī
;
puruṣāya
—
the Supreme Person
;
ātma
—
mūlāya — who are the original source of everything
;
mūla
—
prakṛtaye — unto the puruṣa-avatāra, the origin of prakṛti and pradhāna
;
namaḥ
—
I offer my respectful obeisances .
Translation
I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto You, who are the Supersoul, the superintendent of everything, and the witness of all that occurs. You are the Supreme Person, the origin of material nature and of the total material energy. You are also the owner of the material body. Therefore, You are the supreme complete. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
I offer respects to the knower of the field, Paramātmā, the monitor of all beings, the witness of all beings, the puruṣa, the source of the jīva and prakṛti.
Four verses describe the Lord as antaryāmī, realized by the yogīs. The Lord knows the subtle and gross bodies of the jīva. Gīta says kṣetra-jṣa cāpi mām viddhi: know that I also am the knower of the field. (BG 13.3) The Lord is the source of the jīvas, the āmśī. He is the source of prakṛti (mūla-prakṛtaye). The words of the compound are reversed as in the word rāja-danta: king of teeth.
Purport
In
Bhagavad-gītā
(13.3)
the Lord says,
kṣetra-jṣaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata:
“O scion of Bharata, you should understand that I am also the knower in all bodies.” Every one of us is thinking, “I am this body” or “This is my body,” but actually the truth is different. Our bodies are given to us by the supreme proprietor. The living entity, who is also
kṣetra jṣa,
or the knower of the body, is not the body’s only proprietor; the actual proprietor of the body is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the supreme
kṣetra jṣa.
For example, we may rent and occupy a house, but actually the owner of the house is the landlord. Similarly, we may be allotted a certain type of body as a facility with which to enjoy this material world, but the actual proprietor of the body is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is called
sarvādhyakṣa
because everything in the material world works under His supervision. This is confirmed in
Bhagavad-gītā
(9.10)
, wherein the Lord says,
mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sacarācaram:
“This material nature, working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, is producing all moving and unmoving beings.” From
prakṛti,
or material nature, come so many varieties of living entities, including aquatics, plants, trees, insects, birds, animals, human beings and demigods.
Prakṛti
is the mother, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the father (
ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā
).
Prakṛti
can give us material bodies, but as spirit souls we are parts and parcels of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is confirmed in
Bhagavad-gītā
(15.7)
:
mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ.
The living entity, being part and parcel of God, is not a product of this material world. Therefore the Lord is described in this verse as
ātma-mūla,
the original source of everything. He is the seed of all existences (
bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānām
). In
Bhagavad-gītā
(14.4)
the Lord says:
sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ
tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir
ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā
“It should be understood that all living entities, in all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.” Plants, trees, insects, aquatics, demigods, beasts, birds and all other living entities are sons or parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, but because they are struggling with different mentalities, they have been given different types of bodies (
manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati
). Thus they have become sons of
prakṛti,
or material nature, which is impregnated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Every living entity in this material world is struggling for existence, and the only salvation or relief from the cycle of birth and death in the evolutionary process is full surrender. This is indicated by the word
namaḥ,
“I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.”