BG Chapter 13 - Verses 6-7 by HG Shyamsundar prabhu

The five great elements, false ego, intelligence, the unmanifested, the ten senses and the mind, the five sense objects, desire, hatred, happiness, distress, the aggregate, the life symptoms, and convictions – all these are considered, in summary, to be the field of activities and its interactions.

Ksetra and Ksetrajna has been explained. Ksetra is nothing but the body. The source of this Ksetra is the 24 elements. The unmanifested stage of creation, the beginning of this material universe, the entire material energy is concentrated as one big mass called the mahat tattva which is the 24 elements described here.

5 material elements we have heard of - earth, water, fire, air and ether and then there are the
5 sense objects - smell, touch, taste, sound, sight
5 karma indriyas - Voice, anus, belly, genitals
5 jyana indriyas - eyes, ears, nose and tonge
3 false ego, intelligence and mind

Then by the glance on the Mahat tattva the creation begins and the material creation begins. This body is a representation of all these factors. It undergoes 5 transformations - takes birth, grows, stays, reproduces and dies. Please read SB on how these elements interact and how this is created.

Field of activities - by HG Radhanath maharaj - How in this material world, most of the times, we expect things to happen in a certain way, but we don't see those things happening like that. That is the nature of the material world. It doesn't happen always in our favor. Just like Arjuna saw complete reversal in everything he saw. Devotee always thinks - how can I adjust with this current situation and take shelter of Krsna. However we become dissatisfied with the current situation, cry and are despair and are always unhappy about our situation. One of the quality of the devotee is that he is always satisfied by always taking shelter of Krsna and then we transcend and become happy by being close to Krsna.

Example of a lady - Texan - she is a famous business person in UK. Maharaj had an opportunity to meet her at TED talk. This lady was supposed to speak. She was sharing her life story with audience. She explained she was from Germany and when there was the big world war, all the jews were being killed. Her parents were very well to do. But due to the war, the parents were sending their children to UK to save them. She made one statement after her story - I like to go to the university and talk to the young students there, because they are not jaded by life. People who have lived in this world, they have been beaten by the world. So many people cheat you, they break your trust, so broken hearted, so many bad experiences. If you live here for a little long, you are beaten up. Most people don't even have homes and they don't care about what is the goal of life - how one can improve their lives. Young people actually have lot of hope - they have so much energy, they want to do so many things. Devotee of Krsna is like that - even though the material life is beating us up again and again and again - he still keeps hope because he is seeing Krsna. Krsna's shelter keeps him going for life. One who has hope in Krsna, they will never get hopeless. The determination to execute KC is what is KC all about. Everyday is a new day and to serve Krsna and his devotees. If we are finding solace in material things then we are wasting our time. This material world is only giving us problems. But we need to only dovetail alwyas by doing KC activities.

Another example - HH Radhanath maharaj saw an eagle hovering and he goes down and gets a fish. How this fish was so comfortable in this water. He was planning his family, his nice day etc and all of a sudden Eagle comes down and brings it out of this world. Similarly we don't know when the eagle of death will come and hence, at every step we have danger and we should always be in reality. We should always be aware that material world if full of suprises and when suprises come we should be prepared by making our KC program important. If the fish was swimming deep then the eagle woudn;t have got it - same way we should engage in bhakti with intensity and go deep deep - japa, seva, sharpen our mind and intelligence - so we are always thinking of Krsna as the object whom we are trying to please. Any activity you are doing - do it for Krsna. and how do you always remember this - by good japa thinking of Krsna, reading SB and reading and associating with devotees. In this way we should take full opportunity of this life after so many births - please don't waste it. So please take advantage and make this life successful.

Haribol!

BG 13th Chapter HG Shyamsundar prabhu

Bg 13.1-2 — Arjuna said: O my dear Kṛṣṇa, I wish to know about prakṛti [nature], puruṣa [the enjoyer], and the field and the knower of the field, and of knowledge and the object of knowledge. The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: This body, O son of Kuntī, is called the field, and one who knows this body is called the knower of the field.

Bg 13.3 — O scion of Bharata, you should understand that I am also the knower in all bodies, and to understand this body and its knower is called knowledge. That is My opinion.

Arjuna is asking about 6 questions from Krsna 1. Prakriti (nature) 2. Purusa (enjoyer) 3. Field (Ksetra) 4. Knower of the field (Ksetra-jnam)  5. Knowledge (Jyanam) 6. Object of knowledge. (Jneyam)

Field is the body, the material body is called ksetra why is it called? What happens in the Ksetra - variety of activities being performed in the ksetra. The conditioned soul wants to enjoy the material nature and it provides the body (8.4 million types of bodies - based on different sense gratification desire). Hence field is the body. Ksetra-jnam is the knower of the field - why is it important to know that the knower of the field is Krsna. The purpose of knowing the body is that Krsna knows the body and unless we know why the body is there for the purpose of self realization. The only purpose of this body is only to Go Back Home, Back to Godhead - We need to do brahma jignasa. The field of activity is to engage in KC.Krsna the knower of the field, the body, is always ready to give us direction to understand the knowledge that we are the soul, not the body and Krsna is the master, we are eternal souls and our only purpose is to serve Krsna. From verse 8 he is going to expand on the knowledge feature. 

Bg 13.4 — Now please hear My brief description of this field of activity and how it is constituted, what its changes are, whence it is produced, who that knower of the field of activities is, and what his influences are.

Why is Arjuna asking these questions after Chapter 12 - Devotional Service? Knowledge of BG is a progressive knowledge. It is a sandwich - 1st 6 and last 6 are covering and middle 6 are the inside of the sandwich the core. The inside 6 are the nectar guarded by the coverings. Again from 13 he talks about the living entity and how he is transmigrating from one body to another. Arjuna is again bringing the question how the Jiva is interacting with prakriti, the material world and without this topic we won't be able to follow devotional service. Through these different element they help us plan our KC properly to seek more clarification about all of this so once these topics become clear then he is able to focus on devotional service and make concrete progress everyday. The various qualities/attributes I need to develop, what I need to focus on and how this all ties into the devotional service. The reason why the confidential chapters are in the middle is because it always needs to be protected and only now after attracting Arjuna did he want to now discuss these topics. Also, only now Arjuna is ready to understand these topics. Hence we now have chapters 13 where Arjuna is asking these questions.