Fifteenth chapter titled puruṣottama-yoga meaning the topic of nirguna-brahman. To know nirguna-brahman means to own up knowledge of brahman which is the means to go beyond guṇa, free from the life of samsāra. But what really is samsāra? Without fully understand its nature, do we really want to be free from it? When full understanding is not there, the value towards it also is not there, then one will not stay on this pursuit.
Thus Lord Krsna starts with the nature of samsāra using the imagery of aśvattha tree.
śrībhagavān uvāca ūrdhvamūlam adhaḥśākham aśvatthaṁ prāhuravyayam |
chandāṁsi yasya parṇāni yastaṁ veda sa vedavit ||15.1||
Śrībhagavān said:
They say the imperishable aśvattha tree has its roots above, its branches below and the Vedas are its leaves. The one who knows that is a knower of the Veda.
Generally this creation/universe/life is likened to a tree because generally we do not see the roots of a tree, but we appreciate that a tree is standing because of its roots. Similarly the root/source - kārana of this life of samsāra is beyond our comprehension, yet we infer its existence through its effect - kārya.
In this verse, the vision of a jñānī towards samsāra is illustrated through an aśvattha tree. Literal meaning of aśvattha is not standing there tomorrow. Similarly samsāra is constantly changing. All the names and forms in the realm of samsāra came from unmanifest to manifest, then resolve into unmanifest, which form a cycle which has no beginning and end. Thus samsāra is said to be avyaya - (relatively) imperishable. But it will end only by ātmā-jñāna.
The jñānī sees the roots of samsāra are above - ūrdhvamūlam. Brahman as the basis of entire creation including time and space, in the sense that it precedes the creation as its cause, thus it is above. adhaḥśākham - branches are below. All the physical and subtle elements are branches, and they are below because they are within time and space.
chandāṁsi yasya parṇāni - the leaves are the Veda, as leaves to protect and sustain jīva and perpetuate samsāra, because they provide knowledge of the means to the desired end and also dharma.Veda here means karma-kanda which leads us to be a qualified person for ātmā-jñānam.
yastaṁ veda sa vedavit - the knower of the truth of this tree is the knower of Veda (jñāna-kanda / vedānta). The main thing vedānta wants to convey is “brahman the basis of samsāra is you”. Not that I am the one who cause samsāra, but because of my wrong conclusion about myself and the world, then samsāra is there. This is the opening statement - pratijñā of the chapter. By knowing this tree of samsāra, along with its roots, one is out of the hold of samsāra.
adhaścordhvaṁ prasṛtāstasya śākhāḥ guṇapravṛddhā viṣayapravālāḥ | adhaśca mūlānyanusantatāni karmānubandhīni manuṣyaloke ||15.2||
Its branches that are nourished by the guṇa, with sense objects as their shoots are spread out below and above. And below, the diffused roots are the karmas that bind (one) in the world of mortals.
Branches of the tree of samsāra are extended - prasṛtāstasya śākhāḥ. Some are extended downward and some of them go upward - adhaścordhvaṁ. Above are all the celestial beings, even Indra, Prajāpati up to Brahmaji are within samsāra. Below are human beings, animals and stationary living being like tree. All of them are nourished by three guṇa - guṇapravṛddhā. Because of guṇa, there are karma, and because of karma-phala, one acquired bodies. Whether they are above or below, they are all sustained by guṇa.
On the branch, there are modular buds from which new branches would begin. In the tree of samsāra, the sense objects are the modulars - viṣayapravālāḥ. Desiring these sense objects, one will undertake new karma because of which one will gain a new body.
The main root of this tree of samsāra is brahman with the power of māyā, and the secondary roots coming down from the branches which spread out everywhere - adhaśca mūlānyanusantatāni, they are the binding karma - karmānubandhīni, in the world of mortals - manuṣyaloke.
Next Lord Krsna points out the status of mithya of samsāra and unfold the only really by satya.
na rūpamasyeha tathopalabhyate nānto na cādirna ca sampratiṣṭhā | aśvatthamenaṁ suvirūḍhamūlam asaṅgaśastreṇa dṛḍhena chitvā ||15.3||
Its form is not as it is perceived here. It has no end, no beginning, and no continuance in between. After cutting this aśvattha tree, whose roots are well-entrenched, with the firm weapon of detachment,…
Even though we can see the leaves, trunk, and branches of the tree, but really they are not separate things which have independent existence. In the same way when we begin to analyse, everything is just name and form, doesn’t really has existence of its own. Take any forms of water as example: ice, vapour, fog, etc. each looked different with different utility. But they don’t have independent existent of their own, the really is water alone. In the same way, the entire world is only one sat alone.
Therefore it is said its form is not as it is perceived here - na rūpamasyeha tathopalabhyate. In this sentences, implied that we are not saying the world does not exist, but just does not hold the status of reality as we think. In this same way, the reason we need to use the word svarūpa - true nature, because what we perceive is not the true nature, they are always in another form.
nānto na cādirna ca sampratiṣṭhā - this samsāra has neither beginning nor end nor continuance in between. When there is no independent existence of its own, where does it begin, end and in between? The projection of samsāra, in which the differences of knower-known-knowing are superimposed upon one ātmā. The connection between ātmā and the creation which is mithya, is a superimposition which has no beginning because it is rooted in ignorance. Nor does it have an end (since it is not there to begin with). With no beginning or end, naturally, it is not there in between. From the standpoint of absolute reality, everything other than sat-brahman is superimposed, but empirically it is there. Just like we are seeing sun rising and setting, but in reality it doesn’t move as such.
How can samsāra be negated? By seeing its true form. The tendency is such that it perishes as it is seen, even as we are seeing it, it is gone. Just like when the rope is known from a rope-snake, at that very moment the snake is gone. Once we analyse an object, it disappears into its truth - vastu.
Samsāra is very well rooted - suvirūḍhamūlam. It has very good roots, since there is no better rooting than in ignorance, and it can only be uprooted by knowledge. Therefore to fell it, a particular axe is required which is the axe of detachment - asaṅgaśastreṇa. This detachment must be firm - dṛḍhena.
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