There are certain symbols that are common to many cultures, especially in their distant past. One such is the Cosmic Tree. Devotees of Wagner’s music will well remember the Welt-Atem, the World Ash, that grew through the center of the earth, and how in Die Walkure Sigmund draws out the great sword Nothung (Needful) that had been thrust into it by Wotan, his father.
India, too has this symbol:
The Holy Lord said: They speak of the eternal ashwattha tree with roots above and branches below, its leaves the Vedic hymns; he who knows it is a knower of the Vedas (15:1).
This has both a macrocosmic meaning and a microcosmic one.
The cosmos, physical, astral, and causal, is rooted above in the Supreme Consciousness, in Brahman. Everything has originated in Brahman, has Brahman for its essential Being. That which is “below” is a manifestation of Brahman.
It is usual to say that the leaves of the tree are the hymns of the Veda, but this verse conveys a vital point of the character of relative existence. The word chhandamsi means poetic meter or rhythm. The meaning is that every thing is simply a mode of vibration, an energy-pattern, a variation on the single note of Om, of Mulaprakriti, the Primal Energy. Om, the Shabda (Sound) Brahman, is the Root Sound of which creation is a series of permutations. Those who know this–which implies knowledge of Purusha and Prakriti and their relationship–are knowers of the true Knowledge, the eternal veda/vidya.
We are rooted in our own Self and in Brahman, the Self’s Self. All that we identify with as us are the modes of Prakriti, of Creative Energy–which is Brahman in extension. All things are “songs” of God, incarnations of Om, the Pranava.
Now we get more on the individual trees:
Below, above, its branches spread afar, nourished by the gunas. Its buds are the sense-objects; and in the world of men below its roots engender action (15:2).
The universal ashwattha tree, like the earthly banyan tree, puts down roots from its branches, making the one tree into many dependent trees–an apt symbol of Brahman and us. The three gunas are the elements which make up the universal and individual trees. The objects of the senses are the buds of the trees which, tending downward, make fresh roots in the world. These roots are karmas, both action and the results of action.
Its form is not perceptible here in the world, not its end, nor its beginning, nor its foundation [that which enables it to continue in existence]. Cutting this firm-rooted ashwattha tree with the strong axe of non-attachment, (15:3).
As long as our consciousness is centered in this world, in relative existence, in the experience of the body, mind, and senses, we cannot possibly comprehend the true nature and life of the world and our embodiment within it. Therefore we must transfer our consciousness to the Spirit-self which is eternally rooted in Brahman. Then here and now we will comprehend everything. Just as the kernel of a seed or nut when it ripens pulls away from the shell, in the same way as we ripen through the practice of meditation we shall become detached from all that is of the world. The resulting illumined consciousness (prajna) will be the axe by which we can cut through the subsidiary roots of the earthly ashwattha tree.
Writing of this, Dr. I. K. Taimni observed: “According to the yogic philosophy it is possible to rise completely above the illusions and miseries of life and to gain infinite knowledge, bliss, and power through enlightenment here and now while we are still living in the physical body.… No vague promise of an uncertain postmortem happiness this, but a definite scientific assertion of a fact verified by the experience of innumerable yogis, saints, and sages who have trodden the path of yoga throughout the ages.”
This being absolutely so, Krishna concludes:
Then that place is to be sought to which, having gone, they do not return again: “In that Primeval Purusha from which streamed forth the ancient Power, I take refuge” (15:4).
The second half of this verse should be our constant aspiration.
Read the next article in the Bhagavad Gita for Awakening: Freedom
Swami Nirmalananda Giri (Abbot George Burke)
Swami Nirmalananda Giri, founder of Light of the Spirit Monastery, has spent over six decades immersed in the study and practice of Yoga and and the spiritual traditions of East and West. He is the author of more than 30 books on meditation, practical spiritual life and Sanatana Dharma.
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Introduction to The Bhagavad Gita for Awakening
Preface to The Bhagavad Gita for Awakening
Bhagavad Gita for Awakening links:
- The Battlefield of the Mind
- On the Field of Dharma
- Taking Stock
- The Smile of Krishna
- Birth and Death–The Great Illusions
- Experiencing the Unreal
- The Unreal and the Real
- The Body and the Spirit
- Know the Atman!
- Practical Self-Knowledge
- Perspective on Birth and Death
- The Wonder of the Atman
- The Indestructible Self
- “Happy the Warrior”
- Buddhi Yoga
- Religiosity Versus Religion
- Perspective on Scriptures
- How Not To Act
- How To Act
- Right Perspective
- Wisdom About the Wise
- Wisdom About Both the Foolish and the Wise
- The Way of Peace
- Calming the Storm
- First Steps in Karma Yoga
- From the Beginning to the End
- The Real “Doers”
- Our Spiritual Marching Orders
- Freedom From Karma
- “Nature”
- Swadharma
- In the Grip of the Monster
- Devotee and Friend
- The Eternal Being
- The Path
- Caste and Karma
- Action–Divine and Human
- The Mystery of Action and Inaction
- The Wise in Action
- Sacrificial Offerings
- The Worship of Brahman
- Action–Renounced and Performed
- Freedom (Moksha)
- The Brahman-Knower
- The Goal of Karma Yoga
- Getting There
- The Yogi’s Retreat
- The Yogi’s Inner and Outer Life
- Union With Brahman
- The Yogi’s Future
- Success in Yoga
- The Net and Its Weaver
- Those Who Seek God
- Those Who Worship God and the Gods
- The Veil in the Mind
- The Big Picture
- The Sure Way To Realize God
- Day, Night, and the Two Paths
- The Supreme Knowledge
- Universal Being
- Maya–Its Dupes and Its Knowers
- Worshipping the One
- Going To God
- Wisdom and Knowing
- Going To The Source
- From Hearing To Seeing
- The Wisdom of Devotion
- Right Conduct
- The Field and Its Knower
- Interaction of Purusha and Prakriti
- Seeing the One Within the All
- The Three Gunas
- The Cosmic Tree
- Freedom
- The All-pervading Reality
- The Divine and the Demonic
- Faith and the Three Gunas
- Food and the Three Gunas
- Religion and the Three Gunas
- Tapasya and the Three Gunas
- Charity and the Three Gunas
- Sannyasa and Tyaga
- Deeper Insights On Action
- Knowledge, Action, Doer, and the Three Gunas
- The Three Gunas: Intellect and Firmness
- The Three Kinds of Happiness
- Freedom
- The Great Devotee
- The Final Words
- Glossary
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Read the Maharshi Gita, an arrangement of verses of the Bhagavad Gita made by Sri Ramana Maharshi that gives an overview of the essential message of the Gita.
Read The Bhagavad Gita (arranged in verses for singing) by Swami Nirmalananda Giri (Abbot George Burke).
Read about the meanings of unfamiliar terms in A Brief Sanskrit Glossary