Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 13, Verse 18: Krishna to Arjuna — Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Thus the field, from the great elements to dhṛti (fortitude), knowledge, from humility to the vision of the goal of true knowledge, and the knowable, ending with 'beyond tamas', have been told in brief; this much is the whole meaning of the Veda and of the Gītā, gathered up and told. Who is qualified for this samyag-darśana (right vision)? My bhakta (devotee), who has offered his whole being to Me, Vāsudeva, the omniscient Īśvara, the supreme Guru, his mind seized by the conviction 'whatever I see, hear or touch, all is Bhagavān Vāsudeva'. Knowing this right vision as taught, he becomes fit for mad-bhāva, My state, the state of paramātman (supreme Self), and goes to mokṣa (liberation).

  divergence: Śaṅkara makes mad-bhakta the adhikārin (qualified one) for samyag-darśana and defines him by the conviction 'all is Vāsudeva'; mad-bhāva = paramātma-bhāva, i.e. mokṣa as identity. He also claims the three topics are the whole Veda and Gītā.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Thus the truth of the field has been told in brief, from 'the great elements, ahaṃkāra (ego-principle)' to 'aggregate, consciousness, fortitude'; the means of knowing the self that is to be known, from 'humility' to 'vision of the goal of true knowledge'; and the true nature of the knowable kṣetrajña (knower of the field), from 'beginningless, supreme' to 'set in the heart of all'. My devotee, knowing the true nature of the field, of the means to attain the self as distinct from the field, and of the knower of the field, becomes fit for mad-bhāva. My bhāva is My own nature, asaṃsāritva (freedom from transmigration); he becomes fit to attain that.

  divergence: Rāmānuja: the knowable is the kṣetrajña, the individual self, and mad-bhāva is not identity with the Lord but sharing His one quality of asaṃsāritva (non-transmigration). Contrast Śaṅkara's paramātma-bhāva and Śrīdhara's brahmatva.

• Madhva · Jayatīrthadvaita

  Thus the field, the means of knowledge and the knowable have been told in brief; My bhakta (devotee), knowing this, becomes fit for mad-bhāva (My state). The means of knowledge were placed immediately after the modifications of the field, because they too are counted among those modifications. The knowable in its prabhāva (power) was placed immediately after the means, because the means are most needed to bring so unworldly a power within the understanding.

  divergence: Read with Jayatīrtha's Prameyadīpikā on Madhva's bhāṣya (their 13.19): Madhva gives two compressed sentences about the order of topics: the means of knowledge were told first because they are included among the vikāra (modifications), and the prabhāva (power) came next because the means are many and of great use. Jayatīrtha unpacks both. On the first, he raises the objection that the means should come after Brahman is taught, since only then does one ask how to grasp it, and answers that they were stated right after the modifications, by way of upodghāta (introductory placement), to show that they belong among them. On the second, he asks why, against the order announced at 13.4, the knower's power was told before 'from what, what', and notes that number alone does not fix precedence (citing the maxim of the needle and the cauldron), so the real reason is usefulness: the means are badly needed to bring the alaukika (unworldly) power into understanding, but not to the same degree for the Lord as preraka (impeller), which is closer to ordinary experience and is taken up next. So the substance here comes from Jayatīrtha: the virtues listed as means fall on the field side, and the order of the chapter is set by what each topic needs from the reader. Neither commentator says anything on mad-bhakta or mad-bhāva, so 'My state' is left as the bare word; the other schools fill it as the state of the supreme self (Advaita), freedom from transmigration (Viśiṣṭādvaita), possessing My qualities (Śuddhādvaita), being Brahman (Bhakti) or liberation as supreme bliss (Advaita-bhakti), and no Dvaita counterpart is supplied for this verse.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Opening with the verse 'Prakṛti and puruṣa both, the paramātman became of old; the form He took as His seat is called akṣara (the imperishable)', He sums up: from 'the great elements' to 'aggregate, consciousness, fortitude' the field has been told in brief; from 'humility' to 'vision of the goal of true knowledge', knowledge, which is also the means to knowing the self; and from 'beginningless, supreme' to 'set in the heart of all', the knowable, namely that Brahman is akṣara in nature. Only one who has bhakti (devotion) to Me, knowing all this, becomes fit for mad-bhāva, which means mad-guṇavattva (possessing My qualities).

  divergence: Vallabha cites a verse on prakṛti and puruṣa as forms of the paramātman, identifies the knowable as Brahman's akṣara nature, restricts the fruit to the one with bhakti (eva), and glosses mad-bhāva as mad-guṇavattva (taking on the Lord's qualities): neither identity (Śaṅkara) nor bare non-transmigration (Rāmānuja). His verse-range references are slightly garbled in the supplied text.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  He concludes the field and the rest, together with the qualified one and the fruit: thus the field, from the great elements to fortitude, knowledge, from humility to the vision of the goal of true knowledge, and the knowable, from 'beginningless supreme Brahman' to 'set in the heart'; what Vasiṣṭha and others taught at length, all of it I have told in brief. My bhakta (devotee), marked by the traits given in the previous chapter, knowing this, becomes fit for mad-bhāva, which is brahmatva (being Brahman).

  divergence: Śrīdhara defines the devotee by the 12th-chapter traits (12.13-20) rather than by a conviction, credits Vasiṣṭha and others as the full sources, and glosses mad-bhāva as brahmatva, a liberation term closer to Śaṅkara than to Rāmānuja or Vallabha.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Stating the qualified one and the fruit, He concludes: thus field, knowledge and knowable, drawn from Śruti and Smṛti, I have told in brief out of kindness to the slow of understanding, and this much is the whole meaning of the Veda and the Gītā; only My bhakta, marked as in the previous chapter, who has offered his whole being to Me, Bhagavān Vāsudeva, the supreme Guru, with Me as his sole refuge, is qualified. Knowing field, knowledge and knowable by discernment, he becomes fit for mad-bhāva, the state of supreme bliss empty of all harm, mokṣa (liberation), as the Śruti says 'to the great soul who has highest bhakti for God, and for the guru as for God, these teachings shine'. Therefore, always taking refuge in Me alone and seeking the highest goal of human life, one should keep to the means of self-knowledge, giving up the craving for trivial pleasures.

  divergence: Madhusūdana merges Śaṅkara's adhikārin clause with Śrīdhara's 'previous chapter' devotee and adds mad-ekaśaraṇa (sole refuge), the Śvetāśvatara 6.23 bhakti verse, and a closing practical directive. Mad-bhāva = paramānanda, mokṣa: Advaita fruit, bhakti entry condition.