Sanskrit
यावत्सञ्जायते किञ्चित्सत्त्वं स्थावरजङ्गमम् । क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञसंयोगात्तद्विद्धि भरतर्षभ ॥
yāvat sañjāyate kiñcit sattvaṃ sthāvarajaṅgamam kṣetrakṣetrajñasaṃyogāt tad viddhi bharatarṣabha
Translation
Whatsoever creature is born immobile or mobile, know thou, O best of the Bhâratas, that it is from the union between the Field and the Knower of the Field.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
A cosmological claim that generalizes the whole chapter beyond the individual case: every being that is born, whether it moves or not, arises specifically from the union (samyoga) of the Field and the Knower of the Field. It grounds the theoretical apparatus of verses 1-26 in the most basic observable fact available — that anything is alive at all — treating birth itself as evidence for the kshetra/kshetrajna framework rather than something the framework merely explains after the fact. A cosmological generalisation: every birth arises from the union (saṃyoga) of field and knower. It grounds the whole apparatus in the most basic observable fact — that anything is alive at all — treating birth itself as evidence for the framework.
Study deeper
Word by word
- yāvat sañjāyate kiñcitयावत् सञ्जायते किञ्चित्
- whatever comes into being (yāvat + sañjāyate + kiñcit)
- sattvaṃ sthāvarajaṅgamamसत्त्वं स्थावरजङ्गमं
- any being, unmoving or moving (sattvam + sthāvara-jaṅgamam)
- kṣetrakṣetrajñasaṃyogātक्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञसंयोगात्
- from the union of the field and its knower (kṣetra-kṣetrajña-saṃyogāt)
- tad viddhi bharatarṣabhaतद् विद्धि भरतर्षभ
- know it [to be so], O bull of the Bharatas (tat + viddhi + bharata-ṛṣabha)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The claim reaches for the most ordinary fact available rather than a special case: not visions or altered states, but the plain fact that anything is born at all, mobile or immobile. Grounding the whole kshetra/kshetrajna apparatus in the least remarkable observation possible is a stronger argumentative move than reaching for something rarer would have been.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Test whether a belief you hold actually explains ordinary facts about your life, not just the dramatic ones — this verse grounds an entire framework in the single plainest fact available, that anything is alive at all.
Professional
- When defending an architectural principle, point to how it explains the most mundane, everyday behavior of the system, not just the edge cases — a framework that only accounts for exceptional events is weaker than one grounded in ordinary operation.
Family & Social
- If you want to pass a value on to your kids, point to the smallest everyday instance of it rather than the dramatic one — the plainest, most common fact available is usually the most convincing evidence.
Ask yourself
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