Shloka 6
Śraddhā–Guṇa–Vibhāga Yoga (Faith and the Three Guṇas) — Mahābhārata Book 6, Chapter 39
इच्छा द्वेष: सुखं दुःखं संघातश्चेतना धृति: । एतत् क्षेत्र समासेन सविकारमुदाह्तम्,तथा इच्छा,” द्वेष,* सुख, दुःख,“ स्थूल देहका पिण्ड, चेतना” और धृति+*-इस प्रकार विकारोंके सहित यह क्षेत्र संक्षेपमें कहा गया
icchā dveṣaḥ sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ saṅghātaś cetanā dhṛtiḥ | etat kṣetraṁ samāsena savikāram udāhṛtam ||
Arjuna said: “Desire and aversion, pleasure and pain, the composite body, consciousness, and steadfastness—this, in brief, is declared to be the ‘field’ (kṣetra), together with its modifications.” In the ethical frame of the teaching, these are the constituents of embodied experience that bind one to reactions and conflict unless understood with discernment.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse summarizes what constitutes the ‘kṣetra’ (field of experience): emotions like desire and aversion, felt states like pleasure and pain, the bodily aggregate, consciousness as experienced in embodiment, and sustaining resolve—together with their changing modifications. Knowing these as ‘the field’ supports ethical clarity and detachment rather than reactive action.
In Bhīṣma Parva’s philosophical instruction, Arjuna is articulating (as part of the teaching’s framework) the components of embodied life that are to be analyzed. The focus shifts from battlefield emotion to discriminative understanding of the body-mind complex, preparing the ground for right action aligned with dharma.