Gita 13.01 The meanings of words exist not just in dictionary but also in context

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faithful determination also endears us to Krishna. Thank you. Bhagavad Gita 13.1 So here Krishna is speaking to Arjuna, sorry Arjuna is speaking and he is asking questions about six topics, Akriti, Purusha, Kshetra, Kshetragya, Jnana and Jnana, Keshava, Keshava I want to know about this, etad vedit vichami.

Now vichami, this is my desire, I desire to know this. So now if we look for a linear connection, we may come up blank because nothing in any of the previous 5, 10 or even 15, 20 verses contains any reference to any Kshetra, Kshetragya, Purusha, Purusha Prakriti, Jnana. Jnana is of course a common word in Sanskrit which is used in many contexts.

So what is the impetus for Arjuna's question? In a sense, the Bhagavad Gita is over with the Chatur Shloki in 10.9 to 12 and thereafter is Arjuna's reiteration of the essential conclusion when he says So he says that I accept you as the absolute truth. After that whatever Arjuna is asking is for Loka Sangraha. In general, it is for helping others to understand.

He is clarifying concepts that were known at his time but he wants to understand them in the devotional context which Krishna is presenting. So for example, the 10th chapter he asks about Vibhuti. Krishna has told my devotees think about me always but how can those how can we look at appreciate Krishna in the material world and think of him there.

That is Arjuna's question there. That is then that is for in a sense it's not an immediate follow-up but it is a generic question, general question. The 11th chapter when he asks about the Virat Rupa, the thing immediately there is of course an immediate impetus in the sense that Krishna says that by one fragment I sustain the whole world.

But at the same time along with that impetus it is a general question. What is this Vishwa Rupa? And Krishna, Arjuna wants to offer a visual demonstration of the verbal exposition. Arjuna wants Krishna to do that.

12th chapter when he asks about which is better personal or impersonal, that is again not immediately related with what came at the end of the 11th chapter. It is again a general question about there are always been these two parts personal and impersonal. So which is better? Now 13th chapter when he is asking, he is asking about terms which were familiar within the philosophical context of his times and he wants to get there, get the understanding of those terms, proper understanding.

Now Gyana and Geya, the word Geya, the word Gyana as I said is used frequently in the Bhagavad Gita. It is a common word in general parlance also. Geya is the object of knowledge.

And then after that there is, so Arjuna is asking in general about terms associated with Sankhya and how they are to be understood in the context of the Bhakti tradition. And he further asks that along with this what is Prakriti and Purusha in Kshetra and Kshetra Gya. So Prakriti and Purusha are the fundamental units of analysis in Sankhya and therein the focus is on examining matter, it is Prakriti and looking at the conscious principle, consciousness that is separate from it which is Purusha.

So this has been referred to earlier in the 7th chapter when Krishna has said that Prakritim Vidhim Param, that Bhinname Prakriti Rashtrita in 7.4 and 5 when he talks about material nature and he talks about souls. At that time he has talked with Krishna, with Arjuna about that and thereafter he has referred to the Sankhya frame of analysis intermittently especially the concept of the gunas, three modes. So Arjuna wants a clearer understanding of Prakriti and Purusha and the Bhagavad Gita offers us an understanding within a devotional context.

The meanings of terms don't just exist in isolation in a dictionary, they exist there of course but along with that in different contexts they can mean different things. Now Prakrita Kshetra, Kshetragya, what is Kshetra and Kshetragya? These are terms which are not so common. Literally the word Kshetra means field, Kshetragya is the number of the field.

These are Upanishadic terms and they are used for illumining the context of the Gita wherein what they mean is that Arjuna's. So in different schools of thought the same word can have different meanings. So for example the word mind has many meanings.

When we say have you lost your mind that means it means have you lost your intelligence? Are you gone crazy? That means the mind is used as a synonym there for intelligence or we could even sanity, more than intelligence is sanity. Have you become insane? Have you lost your mind? So the word mind is used for sanity but if we say that Einstein was one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. Here the word mind is used to refer to, it is used to refer to intelligence or intellect.

It is referred to a person with intellect. He is one of the greatest minds means he was one of the most intelligent, one of the most intelligent persons. So here the word mind is used to refer to intelligence or more specifically to an intelligent person and the word mind may also be used to say give this your full mind that means give this your full attention.

The word mind is used as a synonym for attention and in western intellectual history the word mind is used to refer to a non-material side. So there is the mind matter duality proposed by Rene Descartes wherein matter is said to be the opposite of mind and in that sense the mind is used as equivalent to spirit. It is equivalent to the spiritual side of our being, spiritual side of all of reality and of course the Bhagavad Gita uses the word mind in a specific sense to refer to the intermediary between matter and spirit.

So just as words can have different meanings in different contexts so Arjuna is asking what are the meanings of these words within the devotional context that Krishna has presented in the Gita. Thank you. Bhagavad Gita.