The Tree of Life : Srimad Bhagavad Gita : 1.7.

10/12/2018
The Tree of Life : Srimad Bhagavad Gita : 1.7
Chapter- 1: The Twofold Character of Cosmic Life-7.
Post - 7.

This is explained in the very first verse of the Fifteenth Chapter of the Gita. There is the expression of this tree into various branches.

What are these branches?

The knowledge that we seek, the intelligence that we have, the perceptions which give us satisfaction are the branches of this impulse for self-expression—

chandamsi yasya parnani (B.G. 15.1).

Chandamsi are various types of knowledge, natural as well as supernatural, and it is so because the tree spreads itself not merely in this world of physical experience, but also even in the heavens.

Adhas cordhvam prasyatastasya sakha (B.G. 15.2):

The branches of this tree spread themselves not merely here on Earth but also above in the heavens.

Na tad asti prthivyam va divi deveshu va punah,
sattvam prakrtijair muktam yad ebhih syat tribhir gunaih (B.G. 18.40):

Not one thing anywhere, neither in heaven nor on Earth, can be found which is not an expression of the gunas.

Gunapravrddha vishayapravalah (B.G. 15.2):

The gunas are the forces of externalised expression; the power that drags us outside of ourselves, which pushes us out of our own house and into the space outside, that is the guna.

The gunas of prakriti are the forces which make us a stranger to our own life and aberrant in our own personality, and make us lose our own self. The powers that make us lose our own self and search for that which is not our self are the gunas of prakriti. Just as the sap of the tree moves outwardly in the direction of the ramification of branches, the sap of life moves outwardly in the direction of the ramification of experiences.

Therefore, we seek infinitude of experiences. Variety is the spice of life. We are bored of monotony. We know very well we can sit for hours and hours in a movie theatre watching a variety of sound and colour, passing the whole night without a wink of sleep.

But if we sit for japa, for instance, chanting one name throughout the night, we will droop down into sleep in half an hour. The mind does not like monotony.

It likes variety, but why?

To be continued ..