Chapter 15: Purushottama-yoga: / Verse 2

The endless world which is considered an inverted tree without any beginning, Krishna says, is widely spread out above as well as below. The situation above is beyond our reach. But it must be like what we see here; branches of the same tree!

Surrounding our earth are countless clusters of celestial bodies, including sun and moon. What about the endless stars at infinite distances? What all are present in these, is beyond our comprehension! Our scope is limited to dealing with the branches extended towards us.

Nature’s gunas – sattva, rajas and tamas – nourish the branches of this eternal tree. Krishna also says that humans shape and extend this world-tree by means of their desire-motivated activities, resulting in bondage.

In fact, the growth and extension of human race anywhere depend on their own discretion and will. We can increase and decrease our population as we decide. Likewise, it is up to us to migrate to newer areas and settle there. This is meant by “casting secondary roots and branches below”. Who knows whether people will go to the moon also one day and decide to settle there?

As long as man craves to enjoy the world which is but a play of gunas, as long as he is attached to the desire-motivated activities and their fruits, he will not be able to get back to his supreme spiritual identity. He will be lost in the ever-changing leaves and branches of the cosmic tree.

So, Krishna reveals the way to freedom – how to go beyond the quagmire of this cosmic tree, the endless chain of birth and death.