True knowledge means understanding the eternal soul and surrendering exclusively to Krishna in unwavering devotion.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Bhagavad-gītā 13.8–12 — October 2, 1973, Bombay 731002BG-BOMBAY [35:49 Minutes] Bg-13.08–12_731002BG-BOMBAY Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [leads chanting of verse, etc.] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] amānitvam adambhitvam ahiṁśā kṣāntir ārjavam ācāryopāsanaṁ śaucaṁ sthairyam ātma-vinigrahaḥ indriyārtheṣu vairāgyam anahaṅkāra eva ca janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhiduḥkha-doṣānudarśanam aśaktir anabhiṣvaṅgaḥ putra-dāra-gṛhādiṣu nityaṁ ca sama-cittatvam iṣṭāniṣṭopapattiṣu mayi cānanya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicāriṇī vivikta-deśa-sevitvam aratir jana-saṁsadi adhyātma-jñāna-nityatvaṁ tattva-jñānārtha-darśanam etaj jñānam iti proktam ajñānaṁ yad ato 'nyathā [Bg. 13.8-12] [break] Prabhupāda: So? [02:34] Translation: "Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification; absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest; and even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; resorting to solitary places; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance." Prabhupāda: So we have discussed about the body, kṣetra.
The question of Arjuna was kṣetra, kṣetrajna, jñānam and jñeyam. Now kṣetra we have discussed yesterday. Kṣetra, this body, is combination of the five great elements—false ego, intelligence, the unmanifested, the ten senses, the mind, the five sense objects, desire, hatred, happiness, distress, the aggregate, the life symptoms, and convictions. All these are considered in summary to be the field of activities.
Yesterday we have discussed. So we should not mistake this that we accept the field of activities identified with myself. That is going on. Suppose you have got a piece of land as agriculturist, and you produce your food grain in large quantity or small quantity. It doesn't matter.
Similarly, this body we are utilizing. We can practically see. Everyone is working with this body in Bombay city. A very poor man is also in Bombay city, and a very rich man is also there.
Both of them have the same facilities to work, but we find that one man is working very hard day and night. Hardly he is getting his morsel of food. Another man, simply by going, sitting in the office, earning thousands and thousands. Why?
Because the difference of the field of activities. The body is different. Because one has got a certain type of body, his destination is already there. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye [SB 3.31.1]. We can study these things, that somebody is living in a poor slum and another man is living in a very palatial building.
So simply by endeavoring that "I shall live in a palatial building, and I shall not live in this poor slum hole," it is not possible, because the destiny is there. Therefore the body is made according to our past karma, and that is called destiny. Your happiness and distress according to the body is already settled up. It is not possible by natural way to improve or disimprove it.