Gita 15.01 The metaphor of the upside-down tree points to the reality beyond the reflection

Transcript

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thank you Bhagavad Gita 15.01 this is the 15th chapter first verse 15th chapter is called as the yoga of the supreme person and in this chapter Krishna talks about how we can raise our consciousness from the material world to the spiritual world and how we can see the spiritual supreme spiritual reality as manifested in the supreme person so here he speaks that urdhva-moolam adhashakam urdhva-moolam adhashakam there is upside down banyan tree whose roots are upwards and whose branches are downwards asvattham prahur avyayam that it is an imperishable tree asvattham chandaham syasyaparanam the vedas are its leaves one who knows these knows this tree, knows the vedas so what essentially is Krishna speaking over here he is saying that actually in this world there is a tree actually this world is like a tree and it is an upside down tree that means that in this world we don’t see much normally we don’t see a tree that is upside down we see that in a reflection where we see that there is actually if there is a tree on the banks of a river then in the reflection the tree will be upside down similarly Krishna is stating over here that what we see in this world is like a reflection it is not the actual reality it is a reflection herein that we see the world to be a place which is not what it really appears to be in general almost all philosophy begins and progresses with the understanding that there is more to reality than what appears on the surface now what that more is and how that can be understood and attained experienced that is a matter of discussion and analysis but to convey that this world is not the full reality different metaphors and methods can be used so one metaphor, one method that is often used is the method of devotional contemplation of philosophical being conveyed through philosophy philosophical insight being conveyed by comparison with some reality in this world some experience in this world Krishna has already talked about how there is a world beyond this world in 8.20 he has stated that beyond this world there is another world and that world continues to exist even when all in this world ceases to exist so that was 8.20 and he has referred to that world again also on several occasions when he says that you will attain my eternal abode so here he is continuing on and he is stating that actually that world is not simply something which we may which is simply a matter of speculation actually that world is the highest reality and the way we can experience it is by redirection of our consciousness if we can learn to not be captivated by worldly sense objects but instead we move towards focusing our consciousness on Krishna we move towards practicing the process of bhakti yoga by which we can connect with higher spiritual reality then that connection with higher spiritual reality will gradually help us to move towards Krishna to attain Krishna to delight in Krishna so of course doesn’t this assume that we already know Krishna and that we want to direct our consciousness towards Krishna yes and no if you consider Krishna as a specific person then most people may not know about Krishna at least in Kaliyuga in today’s world many people may not know but if you consider Krishna as the absolute truth as the transcendental reality who underlies all reality then we can say that actually he is present as the highest reality that there is some higher reality and there is a process for perceiving that higher reality that higher reality belongs to an abode and that abode is the abode of the supreme person so here Krishna is stating that actually the abode of the supreme person that is like the reality and this world is like the reflection now what is the relationship between the reflection and the reflected object firstly if the reflected object was not there then there would be no reflection secondly even if the reflected object is there there has to be some other medium in which that object will get reflected thirdly there has to be some perceiver who perceives the reality and perceives the reflection fourthly illusion is when we perceive when we perceive only the reflection and mistake it to be reality if we understand properly that the reflection is a pointer to reality and we see the reflection and think oh let me move towards the reality then it can be positive also so essentially so essentially this verse is going to open a whole new universe for contemplation and there it states that the essential points of contemplation within this will be that the world in and of itself is not the ultimate reality and Krishna says that one who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas so he says at one level of the Vedas Vedic hymns are the leaves on this tree so he is talking about Vedas in two terms we can have specific knowledge of the tree specific knowledge of how to make the tree grow also and we can have generic knowledge of the overall tree so the Vedic literature do not and in general any branch of knowledge which goes into the technicalities of specifics in this world it cannot give us a comprehensive understanding of the world so Krishna doesn’t say although he says the Vedic hymns are the leaves he doesn’t say one who knows the leaves knows the Vedas he says one who knows this tree knows the Vedas that means the Vedic hymns alone don’t give us a holistic understanding of the nature of reality we need to have the broad Vedic context in which those Vedic hymns are chanted and so the Vedas as we know are largely Karmakand, they talk about rituals for elevating our consciousness to the spiritual level but beyond them all there is, not to the spiritual level there are rituals for getting better mental benefits now through the enactment of some rituals some elevation of consciousness can happen it’s very gradual unless there is an understanding that is connected to the supreme reality Krishna God so we need to focus on perceiving perceiving that reality now how do we perceive that reality that is the process that is given in this chapter overall that process will center on Bhakti so the fact that this world is like a reflection of the real world means that there is a real world there is some medium in which that world is reflected that medium is actually Mahat Tattva the unmanifested matter which is also the energy of the lord and the observer of the reflection is the soul so we ourselves are not the reflection we are the observers of the reflection that means we are parts of the supreme supreme is also the observer, we are also the observers but we are parts of the supreme and we observe in a mood of service to him and thus we move towards him so that how the process for moving towards him will be talked about in this chapter