By the word 'that' He takes up what was pointed out as 'this body'. And what was pointed out as 'this field': of what kind it is, by its own qualities; the word 'and' is for conjunction; what its modifications are; from what cause what effect arises, the words 'effect arises' being supplied. And that one pointed out as the field-knower: of what power he is, what powers, the capacities made by the adjuncts, are his. The true nature of the field and the field-knower, as it has been qualified, hear in brief, in summary, from My words, and having heard, fix it firmly. He praises the true nature of the field and the field-knower He means to set forth, to draw the listener's understanding toward it.

This truth of the field and the field-knower has been sung by the seers, Parashara and the rest, in many ways: 'I, and you, and the others, are carried by the elements, lord of earth; and this troop of elements too, fallen into the stream of the qualities, passes away. For these qualities, sattva and the rest, are in the sway of karma, lord of earth, and karma is gathered up by ignorance in all creatures. But the self is pure, imperishable, at peace, free of the qualities, beyond the primal matter; there is no growth or decay of it, the one, in all creatures.' And likewise: 'the lump, marked by head, hands, and the rest, is separate from the person; with regard to what, then, O king, do I make this designation I?' And: 'are you this head? Or the neck, or your belly? Are you the feet and the rest? Is this yours, O lord of earth? You, O king, stand apart from the sum of the limbs; becoming skilled, ponder, O king, who am I.' And of these two, thus distinguished, they speak too the having-Vasudeva-for-their-self: 'the senses, the mind, the understanding, sattva, splendour, strength, constancy, the field and the field-knower too, they call to have Vasudeva for their self.' By the various metres, the separate, several-fashioned metres, the Rig, Yajus, Saman, and Atharvan, the own form of the body and of the self has been sung separately: having stated the own form of the body in 'from that self space arose, from space wind, from wind fire, from fire water, from water earth, from earth the herbs, from the herbs food, from food the person; that person is made of the essence of food', and having then stated the inner one made of breath, and inner to that the one made of mind, it states the own form of the field-knower in 'inner than that one made of mind is another self, made of discernment', and then, in 'inner than that one made of discernment is another self, made of bliss', it tells the supreme Self, made of bliss, as the inner self even of the field-knower. So in the Rig, Saman, and Atharvan too, here and there, the separateness of the field and the field-knower, and their having Brahman for their self, is quite plainly sung. And by the aphorism-words of Brahman, the words called the aphorisms that set forth Brahman, the aphorisms of the Embodied One, attended with reasons and conclusively determined: from 'space is not, because it is not heard of' onward, the determination of the manner of the field is told; from 'the self is not, because it is not heard of, and because of its eternality, by those texts' onward, with 'it is a knower, just for that reason' and the rest, the determination of the truth of the field-knower is told; and in 'but from the supreme, since revelation declares it so', the having-the-Blessed-One-for-self by way of being set going by the Blessed One is told. So hear the truth of the field and the field-knower, sung in many ways, now told by Me in brief and quite plainly. This is the meaning.

'What it is subject to as modification' means with what modification it is joined. 'And from what, and what' means from what it proceeds and is set in motion, and He is the one who sets it in motion. The statement of the field is 'and from what, and what proceeds from this'; while 'and who he is' states only His own form.