3
Toward a Peaceful Society
śrī bhagavān uvāca idam śarīram kaunteya kṣetram ity abhidhīyate etad yo vetti tam prāhuḥ kṣetrajña iti tad-vidaḥ
“The Supreme Lord said: This body, O son of Kuntī, is called the field, and one who knows this body is called the knower of the field.” (Bg. 13.2)
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is instructing Arjuna about the knowledge of  kṣetra  and  kṣetrajña .  Kṣetra  refers to the field, which is the body, and  kṣetrajña  refers to the knower of the field, who is the individual soul. If land is to be cultivated, there must be some cultivator, and if this body, which is likened unto a field, is to be cultivated, there must be a proprietor who can cultivate it. Now we have these material bodies, and it is our duty to cultivate them properly. That cultivation is called  akarma , or work. A person may come to our place with a hoe to cultivate land, or he may come to simply drink coffee or tea. We have been given this particular type of body to cultivate and to attain required sense objects according to our desires. This body is a gift from God. God is very kind, and if someone wants something from Him, He allows it. “All right,” He says. “Take this.” His relationship to