Bhagavad Gita 13.3

kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi

sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata

kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānaṁ

yat taj jñānaṁ mataṁ mama

 

Know me as knower everywhere,

In every field, beyond compare;

Knowing field and knowers that align,

That indeed is knowledge divine.

 

My dear Lord, knowledge can both empower me and overpower me. When I understand how something works—whether outside me or within me—that understanding can empower me to function more constructively and effectively. At the same time, knowledge can overpower a finite being like me—either by overwhelming me with anxiety about all that I need to know, or by intoxicating me into believing that I know far more than others, and therefore that I am far better than others.

You alone, O almighty Lord, can protect me from being overpowered by knowledge, because you are infinite and omniscient. Most importantly, you are filled with inexhaustible and immeasurable joy that comes not from knowing, but from loving. All your knowing exists for the sake of loving, and thus your knowledge never eclipses your compassion.

Help me to seek knowledge earnestly and diligently, as far as it is possible for me to know. More importantly, help me to seek to know you, O supreme knower, knowing that you know all that I do not know and all that I can never know. With your knowledge, guide me to safety through the dangers of this world—and ultimately to the supreme safety of your infallible shelter.

O merciful Lord, protect what I know, and provide what I do not. May you become my shelter through my head’s longing to know—and even more through my heart’s longing to love.

***

13.03 O scion of Bharata, you should understand that I am also the knower in all bodies, and to understand this body and its knower is called knowledge. That is My opinion.