Commentary on the Bhagavadgita : 20 - Swami Krishnananda.
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Sunday, February 13, 2022. 20:00
Discourse 42 :
Chapter-15 Begins: The world as an Inverted Tree.
Ch - 15, Slo-1 : Ūrdhvamūlam adhaḥśākham aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam -
POST-20.
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Discourse 42 :
THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER BEGINS :
THE WORLD AS AN INVERTED TREE :
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We are now face to face with a very important section of the Bhagavadgita, known as the Purana Purushottama Yoga Chapter, the Fifteenth Chapter. It is considered very sacred, and people chant it every day before they take their lunch because it glorifies God. It describes what God is in respect of this world and individuals, how we are related to the world, and related to God, finally. This subject is briefly touched upon in a very short chapter of only twenty verses, but these twenty verses are very, very important.
This world, this creation is, to put it in modern language, something like the a force running away from its centre to its circumference, or periphery, and becoming less and less connected to the centre. It loses its soul, as it were, more and more as it runs away from the centre, until it reaches the very edge of the periphery and remains like a rock, without any sensation whatsoever. Inanimate life is the lowest category of existence that we can conceive. But as the movement is in the other direction, from the periphery to the centre, there is greater and greater consciousness of one’s Selfhood. As one realises one’s greater and greater nearness to the centre, there is also a larger comprehension of the dimension of one’s being.
This world is a topsy-turvy presentation, as it were, like an inverted tree. The manner in which souls descend from the highest region of Godhood is compared to an inverted tree; the sap of the inverted tree moves downward from its root through the trunk, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, etc., and the lower the sap goes, the greater is the ramification of its movement. That is to say, this sap, the vitality of the tree, is highly concentrated in the root, slightly diffused in the trunk, diversified in the branches, and becomes more adulterated as it gets subdivided further into the minor branches, reaching the little tendrils and leaves, where only a modicum of the vital essence of the tree remains.
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shri-bhagavan uvacha
"urdhva-mulam adhah-shakham ashvattham prahur avyayam
chhandansi yasya parnani yas tam veda sa veda-vit."
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Translation :
BG 15.1: The Supreme Divine Personality said: They speak of an eternal aśhvatth tree with its roots above and branches below. Its leaves are the Vedic hymns, and one who knows the secret of this tree is the knower of the Vedas.
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śhrī-bhagavān uvācha—the Supreme Divine Personality said;
ūrdhva-mūlam—with roots above;
adhaḥ—downward;
śhākham—branches;
aśhvattham—the sacred fig tree;
prāhuḥ—they speak;
avyayam—eternal;
chhandānsi—Vedic mantras;
yasya—of which;
parṇāni—leaves;
yaḥ—who;
tam—that;
veda—knows;
saḥ—he;
veda-vit—the knower of the Vedas.
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Commentary
Lord Shree Krishna speaks of the eternal Aśhvatth tree, which is an upside-down peepal (sacred fig) tree with its roots above and branches below. Aśhvatth also means; which will not remain the same even on the next day or something which is constantly changing. The Sanskrit word for the world, Sansar is defined in the Sanskrit dictionary as sansaratīti sansāraḥ; something that is constantly shifting. Another Sanskrit word for the world Jagat is also defined as gachchhatīti jagat, that means it is a constantly moving world. The world is not just moving or constantly changing, but someday it will be completely destroyed and reverted unto God. Therefore, the world we live in is temporary, or Aśhvatth.
The Lord explains that this material world is like a huge Aśhvatth tree for the soul. Its roots are going upwards (ūrdhva-mūlam) originating from God; nourished and supported by Him. The trunk and branches which are extending downwards (adhaḥ-śhākham) encompass all the life-forms from different abodes of the material realm. Its leaves are the Vedic mantras (chhandānsi), which describe rituals, ceremonies, and its reward. By performing such rituals, the soul can ascend to the heavenly abodes and enjoy celestial pleasures, but eventually, when the rewards deplete, they have to fall back to earth.
In this way, the leaves of the Aśhvatth tree nourish the material existence of the souls and perpetuate the continuous cycle of life and death. Due to this continuity, the beginning and the end are not experienced by the souls. Hence, this tree form of the world is Avyayam or eternal. As the water from the oceans evaporates forming clouds that rain the earth, which then forms rivers, and eventually flows back to the oceans. Likewise, the cycle of life and death is also continuous.
The Vedas also mention this tree:
ūrdhvamūlo ’vākśhākha eṣho ’śhvatthaḥ sanātanaḥ (Kaṭhopaniṣhad 2.3.1)
“The aśhvatth tree, with its roots upward and branches downward is eternal.”
ūrdhvamūlaṁ arvākśhākhaṁ vṛikṣhaṁ yo samprati
na sa jātu janaḥ śhraddhayātmṛityutyurmā mārayaditi (Taittirīya Āraṇyak 1.11.5)
“Those who know this tree with its roots upward and branches downward will not believe that death can finish them.”
The intention of describing this tree in the Vedas was to make us understand that, we are beyond the cycle of life and death, and we should work towards cutting this tree down. For the same purpose, Lord Shree Krishna has mentioned that one who understands the secret (of cutting) this tree of samsara is the knower of the Vedas (veda vit).
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This vast creation, this whole world, is like a peepal tree which has its roots above and branches below. The downward gravitational pull of space and time is the reason for the externalisation and the ramification of the original power, original vitality, which is the root of creation. The root contains everything that the tree has, but the tree’s branches do not have everything that the root contains. A little bit of the essence of the original root is distributed in different proportions among the branches, which are thick or thin, as the case may be.
This world is like an inverted asvattha tree, or any kind of tree, as the word ‘asvattha’ may be construed to mean ‘not lasting for long’. Na svattham—asvattham: It will not endure even until tomorrow. Svastha means ‘that which can continue and last until tomorrow’—that is, it will live in the future. But this will not live in the future; its nature is perishable. It is not permanent and, therefore, it is asvattha. That is one etymological meaning of the word asvattha: it does not last long. The world will not be there for all times; therefore, it is asvattha. Or we may say that the world is like an asvattha tree—that is, a peepal tree.
Its root is an imperishable, inconceivable essence; and it is above. The aboveness is to be understood very carefully because we may be under the impression that for a thing to be above, it has to be distant in space in terms of so many kilometres or light years because we can conceive of above and below only in terms of spatial expanse. But that is not actually the meaning of the aboveness of God. As the root of this tree is God Himself, it cannot be regarded as being above in a spatial sense. He is above in the quality of manifestation, above in logical sense, above in the comprehensiveness and inclusiveness of spirit. It is more a conceptual transcendence, and not a physical aboveness like the stars in the sky.
The distance between the world and God is not actually measurable as we can measure the distance between the root of a real tree and its branches. Here is a tree whose length cannot be measured by any yardstick of the world, in the same way as we cannot measure the distance between childhood and old age. There is a distance, of course, between the time when a person is a little baby and the time when he becomes old, but we cannot take a ruler and measure the length of the period that has been covered, because it is a time process that is responsible for the concept of distance between childhood and old age. There is a distance between the knowledge of a little child in kindergarten and a person studying in higher classes, but it is not measurable by a ruler or a yardstick. It is a conceptual distance, a logical distance, a very important distance indeed—more important than a measurable distance.We may say that such distance is the distance between us and God. He is very far, and yet that far distance which appears to be there between us and God is not in any way comparable to spatial measurement or even to temporal measurement of duration.
Otherwise, it is very frightening to conclude that millions of light years may be the distance between us and God and we do not have the appurtenances to reach Him at all, while the fact is that God is so close to us that there is absolutely no spatial distance at all. It is an immediate experience. Hence, some distinction must be made in understanding the analogy of the inverted tree in this sloka. It is an analogy, and we should not stretch any analogy to the breaking point. It should be taken in its spirit.
Chandāṁsi yasya parṇāni: All the values of life, including the Vedas and all knowledge, are hanging, as it were, like the leaves and the flowers of this tree. The Veda is considered to be the highest knowledge, and it is given a place among the leaves—not the trunk or the root. Yas taṁ veda sa vedavit:
Whoever has an insight into the mystery or meaning behind this analogy knows what the Veda really is. Ūrdhvamūlam adhaḥśākham aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyam, chandāṁsi yasya parṇāni yastaṁ veda sa vedavit.
The tree of life has its root upwards in the unmanifest, which is rooted in the Divine Being, with its branches spr ad below as the manifested universe. This tree is inclusive of great misery like birth, old age, grief, and death. It appears to be of a different nature every moment. It is now seen, and now not seen—like the illusion of water in a mirage or a city in the clouds. It can be felled like a tree, and it has a beginning and an end like a tree. It is essenceless, like the sapless plantain tree. It is the cause of great doubts and confusion in the minds of the non-discriminating. Its true nature is not ascertained even by aspirants of knowledge. Its true meaning is found in the original essence of Brahman, which is ascertained in the Vedanta Shastra. This tree is born out of the potency of ignorance, desire and action. It is born out of the sprout of Hiranyagarbha, who combines in Himself cosmic knowledge and action. The branches of this tree consist of the various subtle bodies of individuals. It has become proud due to being watered by the desires and cravings of individuals. Its buds consist of the objects of the mind and the senses. Its leaves consist of knowledge from the scriptures, tradition, logic, and learning. Its flowers are the impulses for sacrifice, charity, austerity, etc. Its essence is the experience of pleasure and pain. Its root is fastened tightly because of the constant watering through the intense longing for the different objects on which all individuals depend. It is inhabited by several birds, called individuals—from Brahma, the Creator, down to inanimate matter. It is full of tumultuous noises like those of weeping, shouting, playing, joking, singing, dancing, running, and such other sounds created by the experiences of exhilaration and grief, giving rise to pleasure and pain.
This tree can be cut down with the strong weapon of detachment, consequent upon the realisation of the identity of the self with Brahman, through hearing the Vedanta texts,contemplating upon their meaning, and profound meditation thereon. This tree shakes, being blown by the wind of various desires and actions of the individual. Its various parts are the different worlds inhabited by celestial beings, human beings, beasts, demons, etc.
The beginning of this tree is not known. It extends everywhere, and its form is incomprehensible. This tree is ultimately based on the pure essence of self-luminous consciousness. The enigmatic character of this tree is accounted for by the incomprehensible nature of Brahman itself, in which it is rooted. This tree is essentially unreal, because it is experienced as a modification. The Sruti says that all modification is only a play of speech—a mere name—and, therefore, false. This Brahman, which is the reality behind this universal tree, is transcended by nothing; and other than it, there is no reality.
This whole universe works systematically, being controlled by the supreme life-principle—Brahman.
Mahad bhayaṁ vajram udyatam (Katha 2.3.2):
This Brahman is like a great terror, like an uplifted thunderbolt. Acharya Sankara has given
an elaborate commentary on this verse of the Kathopanishad.
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Next : Chapter-15. Slokam-2.
Adhaś cordhvaṁ prasṛtās tasya śākhā guṇapravṛddhā
viṣayapravālāḥ, adhaś ca mūlānyanusaṁtatāni karmānubandhīni manuṣyaloke (15.2):
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To be continued ....
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