Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 13, Verse 33: Krishna to Arjuna — Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  As the one sun illumines this whole world, so the kṣetrī (owner of the field), being one, illumines the whole kṣetra (field), from the great elements down to fortitude; and who is the kṣetrī? The paramātman (supreme Self). The sun example here carries a double sense for the Self: like the sun, the Self is one only in all fields, and it is untainted.

  divergence: Śaṅkara (source 13.34) identifies kṣetrī directly as paramātman and fixes the field as the list of 13.5-6 (mahābhūta to dhṛti). He reads the image as teaching two things at once, oneness of the Self across all fields and its non-taint. He notes that the next verse sums up the whole chapter.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  As the one sun by its own radiance lights this whole world, so the kṣetrī (owner of the field) lights up the whole field, outside and inside, from the soles of the feet to the crown of the head, by its own knowledge, as 'this field is mine, and it is such'. Therefore, as the sun that lights differs from the world that is lit, this self described above, as knower, is utterly different from this field, which is the known.

  divergence: Rāmānuja (source 13.34) makes the kṣetrī the individual self, each knowing its own body as 'mine', not one Self across all fields. The light is the self's own jñāna (knowledge) as an attribute, like the sun's prabhā. The conclusion is difference: knower and known are atyanta-vilakṣaṇa (wholly unlike), not that the knower is one.

• Madhvadvaita

  [No Madhva bhāṣya for this verse.] Mūla only: as the one sun illumines this whole world, so the kṣetrī (owner of the field) illumines the whole field, O Bhārata.

  divergence: ABSENT. The supplied panel for Madhva at source 13.34 reads 'Sri Madhvacharya did not comment on this sloka.' Whether the kṣetrī here is Hari or the jīva is exactly the point on which a Dvaita gloss would matter, and none is supplied; the rendering stays at the mūla. Jayatīrtha's Prameyadīpikā is also silent on this verse.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  He clarifies the self's power of illumination by a further example: caitanya (consciousness), whose form is knowledge, is a dharma (property) of the self, not something of prakṛti (matter); as the sun, which has light as its property, lights everything, so does this kṣetrī (owner of the field). By this he teaches that the puruṣa (self) is properly only kṣetrī, and that it now receives the name kṣetrajña (knower of the field) through tattva-jñāna (knowledge of reality), because its essence is the qualities of Bhagavān.

  divergence: Vallabha (source 13.34) distinguishes kṣetrī (owner) from kṣetrajña (knower): the jīva is kṣetrī by itself, and becomes kṣetrajña only by tattva-jñāna, borrowing the Brahmasūtra phrase 'tad-guṇa-sāratvāt tad-vyapadeśaḥ' (named after the qualities that are its essence). Like Rāmānuja, consciousness is a property of the self, but its source is Bhagavān's qualities.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  That there is no taint because of non-attachment was said through the example of space; now through the example of the sun he says that, being the illuminator, the self is not joined with the properties of what it illumines. The meaning is plain.

  divergence: Śrīdhara (source 13.34) is brief ('spaṣṭārthaḥ', the meaning is plain) and gives only the logic linking the two examples: space proves non-taint by non-attachment, the sun proves non-taint by being the illuminator. He does not say whether the kṣetrī is one or many; the rendering does not decide it.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Not only by being unattached, but also by being the illuminator, the Self is not touched by the properties of what it illumines, and he gives the example: as the one sun lights this whole world, the aggregate of body and senses, whatever has form, and is neither tainted by the properties of what it lights nor divided by the many things lit, so the one kṣetrī, the kṣetrajña (knower of the field), lights the whole field, O Bhārata, and for that very reason is neither tainted nor divided. As the śruti says, 'As the sun, the eye of the whole world, is not tainted by the outer faults of the eye, so the one inner Self of all beings is not tainted by the sorrow of the world, being outside it.'

  divergence: Madhusūdana (source 13.34) adds a second negation to Śrīdhara's: the illuminator is not only untainted but na bhidyate (not divided) by the plurality of the illumined, which secures one kṣetrajña against Rāmānuja's many. He cites Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.11. No devotional element in this comment.