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.God is also calledthe conscious, knowing Soul (Kshetrajnaha) in all bodies (kshet-ras).Having knowledge of both body and Soul comprises true knowl-edge, which is a form of awareness.Knowledge of the body is aform of wisdom or awareness.One s wisdom awareness can knowthe true nature of the body from within the body/mind system.Godtoo is the knower/awareness of Soul in all bodies since our Soul canawaken to its own existence and be aware of itself.To truly know the body means to understand how it is a part of na-ture, how it functions within nature, and how it develops.Krishnaelucidates the learning from verse 5 on.[Verse 1 4]Arjuna said:O Krishna, I wish to know about nature (prakrti) and individual consciousness (purusha),the field of action [kshtra] and the knower of this field, knowledge and the goal of knowl-edge.[1]Lord Krishna said:O Arjuna, the body is called the field [kshetra] and wise call the knower of field Kshetraj-nam.[2]O Arjuna, know Me to be the conscious Soul in all bodies.To My mind, understanding theknowledge of the body and the Soul is true knowledge.[3]Briefly hear Me describe the field of activity, its nature, modifications, how it is produced;who is the knower of the field or Soul, and what are its powers.[4] Chapter 13 Bhagavad Gita for Modern Times142Field BodyThe nature of the body comprises the five elements (ether, air, fire,water, and earth).There also exists ego, intellect, the five senses ofknowledge (taste, touch, sight, hearing, smelling), the five organsof action (tongue, hands, feet, genitals, and anus), and the mind.Within the body is also desire, aversion, pleasure, pain, and a com-bination of these, fortitude, and consciousness.Wisdom/KnowledgeThe wisdom field comprises the following positive qualities: hu-mility; forgiveness; simplicity; service to a spiritual teacher; purity;steadfastness; self-control; not harming others in action, word, orthought; and not being ostentatious.Renouncing the sense objects and having ego in balance, being awareof the relative (non-eternal) nature of birth, death, old age, disease,and pain; not being attached to the relative life of self, spouse, chil-dren, home, fame, fortune, but being attached only to the eternalSoul or God; being equal-minded in the beneficial and nonbeneficiallife that comes to you.Having one-pointed or unwavering devotionto God, preference for seclusion, distaste for large groups of people,and realizing the essence of Truth.Each of these can be intellectually understood at first, but that isinsufficient to truly know what they mean.Only by directly expe-riencing these qualities in one s own life can one then say that theytruly know what these qualities mean.Anything other than what is listed here is to be known as spiritualignorance.Krishna next tells what is worthy to be known.Knowl-edge of this brings awakening of eternal Self-Realization.Eternal God (Brahman) has no beginning or end (it has no boundar-ies to experience things).It is neither existing (sat) nor nonexisting(asat).It is said that eternal God has hands and feet, a head, eyes,a mouth and ears everywhere in creation; God exists and envelopseveryone. Bhagavad Gita for Modern Times Chapter 13143God is what makes our senses work, yet is independent of, or be-yond the senses.He has no qualities or gunas; She is propertyless.Yet It experiences the gunas, exists inside and outside all beings(eternity has no boundaries and thus has no inside or outside).Godis moving and nonmoving; is incomprehensible owing to the lackof boundaries.He is far and near at once; She is everywhere, anunbounded and omnipresent Soul.Eternal God is indivisible, yet can be seen as divided as humans,animals, or nature.It creates, sustains, and concludes all thingsin creation.He is the light of all lights (beyond darkness).She isknowledge, the knower, and the goal of knowledge that dwells inall hearts.This is the summary of the field of knowledge and the knowledgeto be known.Krishna says that God s devotees, knowing this, areable to become one with God and merge individual Soul (Jiva) withuniversal Soul (Paramatma).Prakriti (nature) can be said to have no beginning, because it comesfrom Purusha (eternal Soul).Yet in relative life, all of nature hasa beginning, middle, and an end.The entire creation is born of thethree gunas
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