Why does the Gita 15.1 compare the Vedas to leaves?
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Transcript
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so question in the 15th chapter Krishna says that chandam syasya parnaani that the leaves of this material world are the vedas, what exactly does that mean actually the 15th chapter begins with a metaphor so in that Krishna is basically using that metaphor to take us to the essence of material existence that means at one level if we see now he is saying it is paradoxical actually that the vedas are said to be leaves but he doesn’t say that one who knows the leaves knows the vedas he says one who knows the whole tree knows the vedas so leaves are often a visible part of a tree but they are not the whole tree and the word veda when Krishna uses it, the word veda can generically mean the broad body of vedic knowledge which includes puranas, itihasas but Krishna when he is using it, in his context he is using the veda primarily to refer to the four vedas and that’s why that similar usage comes in 2.45 so he is saying that you should go beyond the three vedas three gunas and the three vedas so basically the vedas are a part of the karmakanda section of the literature where the idea is people are generally interested in material things and if religion can provide them material things, they are interested in religion also they are not interested in religion primarily for God’s sake or for knowing about their own ultimate destiny in life so for accommodating such people within the house of religion, the vedas offer karmakanda so now in the metaphor of this tree, the whole point is that if Krishna talks about upside down tree, the point is that there is something wrong with this existence Prabhupada gives the example if you are hung upside down, you will be uncomfortable so normally we need to see a tree upside down in a river, in a reflection so through this metaphor, the Gita conveys that this is a that this world is a unnatural place for us and we need to go beyond it so by saying that the leaves are the vedas he is basically contextualizing the vedas within the broad picture and explaining that one shouldn’t become proud just because one knows the vedas and think that one knows everything and that will be seen later also when he says vedaishcha sarvair aham eva vedyoh so 15.15 he says that, the purpose of the vedas is to know me, is not just to know about swarga or against swarga it is to know me, know him so that’s what he is talking about there, so by saying that the leaves are the vedas he is underscoring that we shouldn’t take literal knowledge of only the vedic texts to be the complete knowledge, rather we need to understand the whole tree and understand ultimately the itahapravarti prasitahapurani that supreme person from whom that has come and attained that person so basically to contextualize and position the vedas within the broader picture he gives the example of the vedas are like the leaves of the tree