Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Verse 34 (BG 13.34) — Meaning, Translation & Commentary

In the spiritual literature, this illustration given by the Lord, the Charioteer of Arjuna, is most illuminating. This illustration makes comprehensible the relationship between the field and the knower of the field. Just as the one sun stationed in the distant sky perpetually illuminates this entire world, so too does the one atman merely illuminate all objects, bodies, minds, and intellects. Though in common parlance we say the sun illuminates the world, and thus we attribute the agency of illumination to the sun, yet upon reflection it becomes clear that such attribution is entirely without foundation. Action is that which begins at one moment and ends at another, and is generally performed for the accomplishment of some definite purpose or intention. From this perspective, the sun does not illuminate the world. Rather, illumination is its very nature, and all things become manifest in its presence. Similarly, consciousness is the very essence of the atman, and all things become known in its presence. The sun illuminates all things in this world—the auspicious and inauspicious, the virtuous and the wicked, the beautiful and the ugly—yet it remains untainted by the qualities or defects of any of them. In the same way, the atman—which is existence, consciousness, and bliss—though it expresses itself through the limiting adjuncts of mind, intellect, and body, remains entirely unaffected by the sins of the mind, the distortions of the intellect, and the transgressions of the body. Concluding the discussion of the field and the knower of the field that has been examined in this chapter, the Lord speaks thus: