Sanskrit
क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोरेवमन्तरं ज्ञानचक्षुषा । भूतप्रकृतिमोक्षं च ये विदुर्यान्ति ते परम् ॥
kṣetrakṣetrajñayor evam antaraṃ jñānacakṣuṣā bhūtaprakṛtimokṣaṃ ca ye vidur yānti te param
Translation
They who by the eyes of Wisdom perceive this difference between the Field and the Knower of the Field, and the liberation of beings from Matter they go to the Supreme.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The chapter’s closing verse returns explicitly to its opening question: those who see, “by the eye of wisdom,” the distinction between the Field and the Knower of the Field — along with the liberation of beings from Matter — reach the Supreme. It’s a fitting bookend to verse 1’s request to learn exactly this distinction, and it sets up chapter 14’s move to describe the three gunas in detail, since “liberation from Matter” here is left undefined until that chapter spells out what being bound by, and eventually free of, the gunas actually looks like. The closing verse bookends BG 13.1’s request: seeing by the eye of wisdom the difference between field and knower — plus “the liberation of beings from nature” — reaches the Supreme. That last phrase, bhūta-prakṛti-mokṣa, is left undefined until chapter 14 spells out what being bound by, and free of, the guṇas actually looks like.
Study deeper
Word by word
- kṣetrakṣetrajñayor evam antaraṃक्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोः एवं अन्तरं
- thus the difference between the field and its knower (kṣetra-kṣetrajñayoḥ + evam + antaram)
- jñānacakṣuṣāज्ञानचक्षुषा
- with the eye of wisdom (jñāna-cakṣuṣā)
- bhūtaprakṛtimokṣaṃ caभूतप्रकृतिमोक्षं च
- and the release of beings from nature (bhūta-prakṛti-mokṣam + ca)
- ye vidur yānti te paramये विदुः यान्ति ते परं
- those who know [this] reach the Supreme (ye + viduḥ + yānti + te + param)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The final verse loops back to Arjuna’s opening request in verse 1, which gives the chapter a tidy sense of closure — except it closes by introducing “liberation of beings from Matter” as though the term were already defined, when it isn’t. The chapter ends less by answering its last open question than by handing it, unresolved, to chapter 14.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Notice when finishing one stage of understanding immediately hands you a new, not-yet-answered question rather than a final resting point — that's not a failure of the answer you just reached, it's what real progress in understanding usually looks like.
Professional
- When you close out one phase of a project, expect the closing document to raise the next open question rather than resolve everything — a good retrospective ends by naming what still needs defining, not by pretending the topic is closed.
Family & Social
- When a long conversation with someone finally resolves the question you started with, don't be surprised if it immediately surfaces a new one you hadn't thought to ask — that's the conversation working, not stalling out.
Ask yourself
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