अर्जुन उवाच प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव क्षेत्रं क्षेत्रज्ञमेव च । एतद्वेदितुमिच्छामि ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं च केशव ॥
arjuna uvāca prakṛtiṃ puruṣaṃ caiva kṣetraṃ kṣetrajñameva ca | etadveditumicchāmi jñānaṃ jñeyaṃ ca keśava ||
Translation
Arjuna said: I wish to know about prakriti and purusha, the field and the knower of the field, knowledge and the object of knowledge, O Keshava.
Interpretation
Chapter 13 opens with a technical philosophical question. Arjuna asks about the Sankhya duality: prakriti (material nature) vs. purusha (consciousness), kshetra (the field — the body and its instruments) vs. kshetrajna (the knower of the field — the soul), and jnana (knowledge) vs. jneya (the object of knowledge). These are the central concepts of the Sankhya philosophical system integrated into the Gita's framework. Krishna's answer will be the most philosophically rigorous chapter of the Gita.