संत साहित्य
Work in progress. Translations and commentary are AI-generated and may contain inaccuracies or hallucinations — please use your own judgement and check against the original sources.

Cluster 0459 — BG-13.3 — *tat kṣetram yac ca yādṛk ca yad-vikāri yataś ca yat — sa ca yo yat-prabhāvaś ca tat samāsena me śṛṇu*

BG-13.3

Sanskrit

तत् क्षेत्रं यच्च यादृक्च यद्विकारि यतश्च यत् । स च यो यत्प्रभावश्च तत् समासेन मे श्रुणु ॥३॥

Translation

WHAT-is the FIELD + how-it-IS + its-VIKĀRAS + FROM-WHAT it arises + and WHICH it is — AND the KNOWER, WHO he is + of WHAT PRABHĀVA — HEAR these from Me IN BRIEF.

Function

BG-13.3 is the SYSTEMATIC-EXPOSITION-PROMISE verse of adhyāya-13 — the SCAFFOLDING-DECLARATION promising the systematic-articulation of SEVEN-FOLD-QUESTIONS about the kṣetra-kṣetrajña-pair:

  1. tat kṣetram yat — WHAT the FIELD IS / its essence
  2. yādṛk — OF WHAT KIND / its qualitative form
  3. yad-vikāri — WHAT its VIKĀRAS are / its modifications
  4. yataḥ — FROM WHAT / its source-causation
  5. yat (second occurrence) — WHAT it is / reiterating essence or naming function
  6. saḥ yaḥ — WHO the KṢETRAJÑA is / his identity
  7. yat-prabhāvaḥ — OF WHAT PRABHĀVA / his powers

The samāsena (IN-BRIEF / IN-SUMMARY-FORM) qualifier is the precise iconic Sanskrit pedagogical-marker — Kṛṣṇa announces a SUMMARY-style exposition (the SAMĀSA / epitome-form), preserving the right to expand details later. The verse functions as the SCAFFOLDING-DECLARATION for the entire kṣetra-kṣetrajña-vibhāga of adhyāya-13.

The two bridge-ovis

The source 0459.txt carries TWO ovis (13.8 + 13.9) that function as the TRANSITION-BRIDGE from BG-13.2's foundational-claims into BG-13.3's scaffolding-declaration. Both ovis primarily render BG-13.2's content (ovi 13.8 was decoded at cluster 0458); they appear in the 0459 source as continuity-anchors immediately before the BG-13.3 promise:

13.8तरि क्षेत्रज्ञु जो एथें । तो मीचि जाण निरुतें । जो सर्व क्षेत्रांतें । संगोपोनि असे ॥८॥ (THE KṢETRAJÑA HERE — KNOW-PRECISELY He IS ME — WHO CONCEALS-and-ENCOMPASSES ALL FIELDS)

Re-anchors BG-13.2's universal-kṣetrajña-identity-claim. The samgōpōni asē (CONCEALS-and-EXISTS) verb-pair is the precise iconic Marathi rendering of the Lord's pervasive-yet-hidden presence in all-fields.

13.9क्षेत्र आणि क्षेत्रज्ञातें । जाणणें जें निरुतें । ज्ञान ऐसें तयातें । मानूं आम्ही ॥९॥ (KṢETRA AND KṢETRAJÑA — KNOWING-them PRECISELY — JÑĀNA AS-THAT — WE-HOLD)

Names the JÑĀNA-designation that knowing-both constitutes. The mānūm āmhī (WE-HOLD-IT-SO) is the precise iconic Marathi rendering of the Sanskrit matam mama (MY-VIEW) — the Lord's authoritative-first-person MY-view preserved as Marathi we-hold-so. This ovi functions as the pivot-anchor naming the JÑĀNA that BG-13.3 now promises to systematically expound.

Arc-position

BG-13.3 is the SCAFFOLDING-DECLARATION of the adhyāya-13 opening triad:

  • BG-13.1 (cluster 0457) = THE BODY IS THE FIELD + KNOWER-OF-FIELD = KṢETRAJÑA (foundational definition)
  • BG-13.2 (cluster 0458) = KṢETRAJÑA in ALL FIELDS IS ME + knowing-both = JÑĀNA (universalizing identity-claim)
  • BG-13.3 (cluster 0459) = HEAR THE SYSTEMATIC EXPOSITION IN BRIEF (scaffolding-declaration)

The 7-fold questions announced here will be answered systematically across BG-13.5-13.18: - BG-13.5-6 = kṣetra-detailed-listing (the 24+8 ≈ 31-item kṣetra-tattva-enumeration) - BG-13.7-11 = the iconic JÑĀNA-virtues-catalog (amānitvam-adambhitvam-ahimsā-kṣānti-ārjava etc. — the 18-19 virtues) - BG-13.12-17 = the iconic JÑEYA-tattva (anādimat param brahma + sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādam etc.) - BG-13.18 = the SUMMARY-VERDICT iti kṣetram tathā jñānam jñeyam cōktam samāsataḥ closing the systematic-exposition

The 0459 cluster sits as the FIRST HINGE of the chapter's exposition-promise — the systematic-exposition that fulfills BG-13.3's promise constitutes the doctrinal-core of the chapter.

The Sanskrit samāsena-promise

The samāsena me śṛṇu (HEAR-from-Me IN-BRIEF) construction deserves precise note. Samāsa in the technical Sanskrit pedagogical sense means COMPOUND / EPITOME / SUMMARY-FORM. By announcing a SAMĀSENA exposition, Kṛṣṇa signals:

(i) the exposition that follows will be COMPRESSED-essential rather than EXHAUSTIVE-detailed; (ii) the right to expand details later is preserved (and indeed BG-13.5-18 unfolds many of these compressed-essentials); (iii) the structure of the exposition will be SCAFFOLDED by the 7-fold questions just announced.

This is the precise iconic Sanskrit pedagogical-convention of samāsa-vyāsa (SUMMARY-then-EXPANSION) — a teacher's announced-summary that signals systematic-structure-to-come. BG-13.3 is thus not merely a transitional-verse but a STRUCTURAL-CHARTER for the entire chapter's exposition.

Tukārām parallels

  • Tukārām 1834 (ADVAITA-THEFT-PARADOX) — sarvām ṭhāyīm tūm ci sarva hī jāhalāsī — dujēm navhē (in ALL PLACES YOU ALONE became ALL — NO SECOND!) — precise iconic Vārkari universal-presence doctrine matching 13.8's samgōpōni asē in ALL-FIELDS.
  • Tukārām 1823 (4-PAIR ADVAITA-PARADOX-CASCADE) — the 12-fold na-kaḷē apophatic-anaphora. 13.9's jāṇaṇēm jēm nirutēm (PRECISE-KNOWING) names the complementary kataphatic-pole of the same kṣetra-kṣetrajña-vivekā that Tukārām's na-kaḷē approaches apophatically.
  • Tukārām 1768 (VIṬHṬHAL-SPEAKS-THROUGH-TUKA) — tukā mhaṇē bōla — mājhā bōlatō viṭhṭhala (MY-WORDS — VIṬHṬHAL SPEAKS!) — the Lord's-authoritative-voice register matching 13.9's mānūm āmhī rendering of matam mama.