Prakritim Purusham Chaiva

Chapter thirteen opens with a straightforward question from Arjuna. He turns to Krishna and says: O Keshava, I want to understand what Prakriti is, what Purusha is, what this body called 'the field' is, and who the 'knower of the field' is. What is knowledge, and what is worth knowing?

These are vast questions, yet Arjuna puts them simply and humbly. Like a child sitting beside a grandparent and asking, 'Who am I, really?' The question sounds small. The answer will unfold across the entire chapter.

Krishna's response begins in the very next shloka. This verse is the doorway to everything that follows in Chapter 13.

Chapter 13 of the Bhagavad Gita is called Kshetra Kshetragna Vibhaga Yoga — the Yoga of Distinguishing the Field from the Knower of the Field. 'Kshetra' means the body, and 'Kshetragna' means the soul that knows it. The distinction between these two is the chapter's central theme.

According to the Gita Press (Gorakhpur) edition, this shloka is spoken by Arjuna. The question is his; Krishna's answer begins from the next verse onward.