1 Gita Sloka Every Day - Chapter 13 - Kshetra Kshetrajna Yoga - Sloka 5

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Adidevananda's translation of Ramanuja's  Gita  Bhashya and Swami Chidbhavananda's Bhagavad Gita, both published by Ramakrishna Mission

The Constituents of Kshetra - 5-6

1 Gita Sloka  Every Day - Chapter 13 - Kshetra Kshetrajna Yoga - Sloka 5

Tiruppavai pasuram 30

Mahabhutani aham karah buddhih avyaktam eva cha I

Indriyani dasha ekam cha pancha cha indriya gocharah II sloka 5

महाभूतानि अहं कारः बुद्धिः अव्यक्तम् एव च I
इन्द्रियाणि दश एकं च पञ्च च इन्द्रिय गोचरः II श्लोक 5

Iccha dveshah sukham dukham sanghatah chetana dhrutih I

Etat kshetram samasena savikaram udahrutam II sloka 6

इच्छा द्वेषः सुखं दुखम् संघातः चेतना धृतिः I
एतत् क्षेत्रम् समासेन सविकारं उदाहृतं II श्लोक 6

The great elements, egoism, intellect, as also the unmanifested, the ten senses and the one mind, and the five objects of the senses;

Desire, hatred, pleasure, pain, the aggregate, intelligence, firmness - the kshetra has been thus briefly described with its modifications.

The great elements - The ether, air, fire, water and the earth - these are the elements constituting the infinite universe. In their gross form  they are not equally distributed everywhere. But in their subtle state they permeate the whole universe. They are for this reason called the great elements.

Egoism - It is the cause of the five elements. The self projects the non-self and identifies itself with it. This identification is egoism. When the pure consciousness thinks of itself as the materialised consciousness, it is egoism. Intellect is the tattva or principle of determination. It is from this principle that egoism emanates. It is also known as the Mahat.

The Unmanifested is technically called avyaktam or moola prakriti. That which is in the unmodified state is the meaning of this term. This principle is the cause of buddhi or the intellect. These are all the powers of Iswara.

"Verily this divine illusion of Mine, made up of the gunas is hard to surmount," said the Lord in Chapter 7, sloka 14. He also called them "My prakriti divided eightfold," in the 4th sloka of that chapter.

The ten senses  are the eye, ear, skin, tongue and the nose forming a group known as the senses of knowledge - the jnana indriyas. The exterior world is cognised and interpreted with the aid of these organs. The other group consists of 5 organs of action - karma indriyas. They are the hnad, foot, mouth, anus and genitals.

Mind is the principle that thinks and doubts. It is therefore held as the aggregate of sankalpa and vikalpa. It functions as the background of all the ten senses. The demon Ravana with his ten heads is the personification of the mind functioning through the ten senses.

The sense objects are five in number. They are the taste, form or colour, touch, sound and smell, on which the senses feed and thrive.

The samkhya school of philosophy is based on these 24 categories or principles technically known as tattvas.

The vaiseshika school of philosophy claims that desire, hatred, pleasure and pain mentioned here, to be the characteristics of atman. But these are actually the modifications of the mind; they are the objects of experience; they are impermanent; they only reveal the nature of kshetra. As such they are classified with the kshetra. 

Desire is that form of mentation which seeks the repitition of the contact with the objects that seem agreeable to the senses.

Hatred  is that mental state which seeks to avoid with revulsion those sense objects which are disagreeable or painful.

Pleasure  is an experience that pacifies the mind and promotes sattva guna.

Pain  is a mentation that is disagreeable and disquieting.

The Aggregate is the assemblage of the various parts of the body. A machine is assembled by fixing all its parts in their places. The best and te most marvellous organic machine in the human body. In functioning at all levels is equally marvellous.

Chetana is intelligence or the power to reval and interpret. A piece of iron that comes into contact, with fire reveals the fire in its own way. Similarly, the capacity of the senses to imbibe and to reveal the characteristics of the atma is the chetana or intelligence inherent in them. Since the body is being experienced and interpreted by this intelligence, it is classified as the kshetra.

Dhrti  or firmness is the stamina to keep the body and the senses fit and active. Left to themselves they get exhausted and drift into indolence. But the resolve that emanates from within infuses fresh energy and activity into them. This particular urge is called firmness. It gives longevity to the body. Since dhrti is also an object of experience it is classified as kshetra. The items from desire to the firmness mentioned here, are the qualities or modifications of the mind stuff.

The body is classified as the kshetra in the first stanza. And it is exhaustively dealt with in these two stanzas

Why do the devotess look after this body so carefully when it is actually a combination of things perishable? Nobody pays heed to an empty package. But people carefully preserve a paper box containing precious gems and jewels. In that manner the devotees take care of the body due to its being the temple of the Lord. They cannot afford  to neglect it. All human bodies are the treasure chests containing Iswara

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

The knowledge of the kshtera and kshetrajna is not acquired by mere book learning, which only supplies empty information. Intuitive knowledge is the outcome ofthe way of living. It is further delineated.