Cosmic Tree of Life

 Bhagavad-GītāChapter 15

The Cosmic Tree of Life

While in the 14th Chapter we have seen the use of various arcane Sanskrit terms and their definitions, here Kṛṣṇa uses a simple analogy to help us understand the nature of material existence and its relationship with the divine world: the Cosmic Tree of Life.

BG 15.1

श्री भगवान् उवाच

ऊर्ध्व-मुलम् अधः-शाखम् 

अश्वत्थं प्राहुर् अव्ययम् 

छन्दांसि यस्य पर्णानि 

यस् तं वेद स वेद-वित्

śrī bhagavān uvāca

ūrdhva-mulam adhaḥ-śākham 

aśvatthaṃ prāhur avyayam 

chandāṃsi yasya parṇāni 

yas taṃ veda sa veda-vit

The Lord said, "It is written that this material world is like a perennial Banyan tree whose roots face upwards and its branches extend down.  Its leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas."

 The analogy is that of a banyan tree. Anyone who has ever seen a giant banyan will marvel at how tangled it is. The branches descend into roots and the roots grow new branches. It is impossible to know where the original tree trunk is.

The mysteries of how the subtle laws of nature interact with life energy in the cosmos are manifold.  A search for the origins of existence and the cosmos naturally lead us into a labyrinthine maze of tangled roots. Is mind the root of matter, or its branch? 

If consciousness is the origin of material nature, how does matter spring forth from spirit? Any discussion of the causal relationship between consciousness and matter baffles the mind, since causes and effects are tangled together like the roots and branches of a banyan tree.

How can a tree be upside down?

Stand at water’s edge.  Notice the reflection of a tree. As you look at the mirror image of the tree, you see it reversed, upside down.

The branches appear to go down while the trunk and roots go up. If it is difficult to trace out the root of a tangled banyan tree, it is even more so when trying to analyze its shadowy reflection in water.  

The reflection is only temporary; it vanishes with the sunset. It may be visible in moonlight, but the shadowy reflection on moonlit water will be more difficult to analyze.  The reflection is only real for awhile; seen and unseen according to the light. The tree itself stands day or night: it is perennial.

 In the same way this material world is a kind of distorted reflection of the real world, the eternal world.  The material world is called prakṛti  where the origin of all worlds is the puruṣa,  the Supreme Person.

The tree of this material world is only a reflection of the real tree of the spiritual world. The water represents the tendency for exploitation. Just as the tree's reflection is situated on water, the perceived world, a reflection of the spiritual world, is situated on desire. One who wants to get out of this material existence may know this tree thoroughly, first through through analytical study, then through transcendental knowledge. Discussion and argument will not be sufficient.

In the mirror image, reflected by moonlight in dark water, the branches of the banyan tree of material existence extend in all directions. The roots tangle into branches and the branches become roots. The labyrinth of roots and branches are nourished by the modes of material nature, purity, mobility, and inertia.  The twigs and branches develop into the objective reality of all the sense objects, colors and forms within the space-time continuum. This banyan tree of material existence is rooted in karma and exploitation.

And yet there is no metacognitive sense that allows us to study the true nature of this mirror image. Captivated in studying the roots and branches of the dark reflection we can find neither end nor beginning to this tree of life. 

The tree is organic: it is living, changing, moving. It is also hard material, objective existence. And yet it is only a reflection of ultimate reality. Its study can yield no fruit. We cannot understand where this dark reflection ends, where it begins, or what its true foundation is, without the light of divine love.

Kṛṣṇa says, 

nirmāna mohā jita saṇga doṣā adhyātma nitya vinivṛtta kāmāḥ

dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-saṃjñair 

gacchanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaṃ tat

निर्मान मोहा जित सण्ग दोषा अध्यात्म नित्य विनिवृत्त कामाः

द्वन्द्वैर् विमुक्ताः सुख-दुःख-संज्ञैर् गच्छन्त्य् अमूढाः पदम् अव्ययं तत्

"But those who are free from the corruption of vanity, who avoid decadent company and who are dedicated to self-realization attain to the eternal world of divine love. The perennial tree of the world of exploitation derives from the mayic power of the Supreme Being. Illuminated souls surrender themselves to the Lord, Kṛṣṇa and thus achieve his holy abode." BG 15.5

While the 15^th Chapter of Bhagavad-Gītā begins with the analogy of the "Cosmic Tree of Life," Kṛṣṇa gradually leads into the theme of the Supreme Person and the need for dediction in divine love. Therefore this chapter has been titled Purushottama-Yoga, or the “Yoga of the Supreme Person. 

We have already seen the meaning of puruṣa  and prakṛti in “spirit” and “matter” or “god” and “goddess” or “subject” and “object.” The word “uttama” means “ultimate.” Purushotthama means the “Ultimate Person.” Synonyms would be Super-subject, Super-spirit, Super-god.  The chapter is called the “Yoga of the Supreme Person” as it is here argued that the Supreme Person is distinct from the spiritual creation, whether conjoined with the non-spiritual or in its pure state, because He pervades, maintains, and governs the objective universe as the Super-subject.

At the end of this chapter, Bhaktivedānta Swāmi summarizes as follows:

 “While performing devotional service in the association of pure devotees in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there are certain things which require to be vanquished altogether. The most important thing one has to surmount is weakness of the heart. The first falldown is caused by the desire to lord it over material nature. Thus one gives up the transcendental loving service of the Supreme Lord. The second weakness of the heart is that as one increases the propensity of lording it over material nature, he becomes attached to matter and the possession of matter. The problems of material existence are due to these weaknesses of the heart.”

Great souls transmit the transcendental knowledge by which we become illuminated and achieve freedom from the tangled forest of this material world.