SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
ichchA dhvEsha: sukham dhu:kham sanghAthaS chEthanA dhruthi: |
Ethath kshEthram samAsEna savikAram udhAhrutham ||
word-by-word meaning
ichchA – desire
dhvEsha: – hatred
sukham – joy
dhu:kham – sorrow
chEthanA dhruthi: sangAtha: – the collection of creatures which sustain AthmA (to experience joy/sorrow and to attain pleasure and liberation)
Ethath – all these
savikAram – with mutations
kshEthram – field
samAsEna – briefly
udhAhrutham – explained
Simple Translation
… desire, hatred, joy, sorrow, the collection of creatures which sustain AthmA (to experience joy/sorrow and to attain pleasure and liberation) are all explained briefly as kshEthram (field) along with its mutations.
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘Longing and aversion; joy and affliction, constitute Kshetra with its mutations. This is (thus) briefly described—this aggregate, this basis for the soul.'[2. Cp: Bh: Gī: VII-4]
The great elements, Ahaṇkāra, Buddhi and Avyakta, are the germinal materials of Kshetra.
The great elements are (i) the Earth, (2) Water (3) Fire (4) Air, and (5) Space. Ahaṇkāra is the root of the elements. Buddhi is Mahān (or Mahat-tatva). Avyakta is Prakṛiti or primordial matter-stuff of which all the foregoing are differentiations or mutations, (or several terms in an evolving series).
The Senses Ten and One, and the Five Sensibles, are the (material) principles which depend on Kshetra. The Five Senses of perception (or knowledge) are the auditory, tactual, visual, gustatory and olfactory, senses. The Five Senses (=organs) of action, are the vocal, the prehensile, the locomotive, the excretory and the generative organs; thus Ten. The One is the manas (=mind). The Sensibles are the five objects of the senses, viz: sound, touch, color (or form) taste and smell.
Longing, Aversion, Joy and Affliction: These are said to be the products, or the modifications of Kshetra.[3. Cp: Bh: Gī: XIII-19.] They are so said to be on account of their resulting from Kshetra by the union with it of soul, albeit, properly speaking, those are affections which pertain to soul as its characteristics (in its mundane state).
That Longing etc., are moods or affections of the (incorporeal) soul is shown further on as: ‘Purusha is said to be the cause for being the experiences of joy and grief.’
Sanghātaś-chetanādhṛitiḥ,:— ādhṛtiḥ=adhāraḥ= the basis=the medium or vehicle or fundamental materials. Sanghātaḥ=the aggregate or the collocated ingredients (=body) to work with, for the intelligent principle, the soul, either by its aid to experience joy, grief etc., or by its aid to procure material happiness (on Earth, and elsewhere as in Svarga etc.)or to procure liberation (apavarga).
Thus Kshetra or the aggregate fashioned out of the root-matter (=prakṛiti) down to earth-stuff, is the foundation for the senses; is the compound, giving birth to changes of temperament such as longings, aversions, joys and griefs; and the instrument for soul to experience pleasure, pain etc., with.
This Kshetra has thus now briefly —with its variations and its moods (or affections)— been explained.
Now the virtues or powers as will enable one to obtain soul-knowledge, —(that the evolutes mentioned aforesaid) of Kshetra, can aid him to develope are now enumerated:
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