No Questions, Only Doubts
When we question, we show our arrogance and violence. When we doubt, we reveal our authentic quest for the truth and readiness to receive the master. Arjuna, now beyond questions, allows krsna to give the experience of the Supreme Being, Purusottama.
śrī bhagavan uvāca ūrdhvamūlamadhaḥ śākham aśvatthaṁ prāhuravyayam I chandāṁsi yasya parṇāni yastaṁ veda sa vedavit II 15.1
15.1 Śrī Bhagavān says, The imperishable banyan tree of life, symbolized by the Aśvattha, has its roots above, with the leaves and branches spreading below the earth. The leaves are said to be the Vedic hymns. One who knows this eternal tree becomes the knower of the Vedas.
adhaś cordhvaṁ prasṛtās tasya śākhā guṇa-pravṛddhā viṣaya-pravālāḥ I adhaśca mūlāny anusaṁtatāni karmānubandhīni manuṣya-loke II 15.2
15.2 The branches of this tree extend below and above the earth, nourished by the three human attributes, guṇa. Its buds are the sense objects. This tree also has roots going down and these are bound to the resultant actions of humans.
na rūpam asyeha tathopalabhyate nānto na cādirna ca saṁpratiṣṭhā I aśvatthamenaṁ su-virūḍha-mūlam asaṅga-śastreṇa dṛḍhena chittvā II 15.3
15.3 The real form of this tree cannot be perceived. No one can understand where it ends, where it begins, or where its foundation is. But with determination one must cut down this strongly rooted tree with the weapon of detachment.
tataḥ padaṁ tat parimārgitavyaṁ yasmingatā na nivartanti bhūyaḥ I tameva cādyaṁ puruṣaṁ prapadye yataḥ pravṛittiḥ prasṛtā purāṇī II 15.4
15.4 One must then seek that place from which having gone, one never returns and surrender to the Supreme Being from whom all activities started from ancient times.
nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣā adhyātma-nityā vinivṛitta-kāmāḥ I dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-sañjñair gacchanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaṁ tat II 15.5
15.5 Those who are free from pride, delusion, and attachment, those who dwell in the Self, who are done with lust, who are free from dualities of joy and sorrow, not confused and those who know how to surrender to the Supreme Person, attain the eternal consciousness.
na tadbhāsayate sūryo na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ I yadgatvā na nivartante taddhāma paramaṁ mama II 15.6
15.6 That Supreme space of eternal consciousness, My consciousness, is not illumined by the Sun or the Moon, or by fire. Those who enter that space never return to this material world.
mamai'vā'ṁśo jīvaloke jīvabhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ I manaḥ ṣaṣḍhānī'ndriyāṇi prakṛitisthāni karṣati II 15.7
15.7 The living entities in this conditioned material world are a portion of My eternal Self; in this conditioned material world they are attracted by the six senses, which include the mind, dwelling in prakṛti, the active energy principle.
śarīraṁ yadavāpnoti yaccāpyutkrāmatīśvaraḥ I gṛihītvai'tāni saṁyāti vāyurgandhānivāśayāt II 15.8
15.8 The spirit in the mind-body living in this material world moves from one body to another carrying these just as air carries aroma.
śrotraṁ cakṣuḥ sparśanaṁ ca rasanaṁ ghrāṇaṁ eva ca I adhiṣṭhāya manaścāyaṁ viṣayānupasevate II 15.9
15.9 The living entity, the spirit, leaves one body, takes some other body and gets new eyes, ears, nose, tongue and sensing body according to the samskāras it had in its causal layer and enjoys the new mental setup.
utkrāmantaṁ sthitaṁ vāpi bhuñjānaṁ vā guṇānvitam I vimūḍhā nānupaśyanti paśyanti jñānacakṣuṣah II 15.10
15.10 Fools in ignorance do not perceive the spirit being united with the guṇas as its enters, enjoys and leaves the body. The one whose inner eye is open clearly perceives everything.
yatanto yoginaścainaṁ paśyantyātmanyavasthitam I yatanto'pyakṛtātmāno nainaṁ paśyantyacetasaḥ II 15.11
15.11 The serious practitioner of Yoga, with an understanding of his self, can see all this clearly. But those who do not have an understanding of the self, however much they try, cannot see.
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yad āditya-gataṁ tejo jagad bhāsayate'khilam yac candramasi yaccāgnau tattejo viddhi māmakam II 15.12
15.12 The light of the Sun, the light of the Moon and the light of fire, all their radiance is also from Me.
gāmāviśya ca bhūtāni dhārayāmy aham ojasā I puṣṇāmi cauṣadhīḥ sarvāḥ somo bhūtvā rasātmakaḥ II 15.13
15.13 Entering into earth, I support all beings with My energy; becoming the watery Moon, I nourish all plant life.
ahaṁ vaiśvānaro bhūtvā prāṇināṁ dehamāśritaḥ I
prāṇāpāna-samāyuktaḥ pacāmy annaṁ caturvidham II 15.14
15.14 I am the fire of digestion in every living body and I am the breath of life, exhaled and inhaled, with which I digest the four-fold food.
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sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca I vedaiśca sarvairahameva vedyo vedānta-kṛd vedavid eva cāham II 15.15
15.15 I am seated in everyone's heart and from Me came memory, knowledge and their loss. I am known by the Vedas; indeed, I am the Creator of Vedānta and I am the knower of the Vedas.
dvāvimau puruṣau loke kṣaraścākṣara eva ca I kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni kūṭasthokṣara ucyate II 15.16
15.16 There are two things, the perishable and the imperishable, in this world. There are the living beings who are perishable while there is the unchangeable, the imperishable.
uttamaḥ puruṣastv anyaḥ paramātmetyudāhṛtaḥ I yo lokatrayamāviśya bibhartyavyaya īśvaraḥ II 15.17
15.17 Besides these two, there is the supreme Puruṣa the Lord Himself, who pervades and sustains these three worlds.
yasmāt kṣaram atīto'ham akṣarād api cottamaḥ I
atosmi loke vede ca prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ II 15.18
15.18 As I am transcendental, beyond both the perishable and the imperishable, and the best, I am declared both in the world and in the Vedas as that supreme person, Puruṣottama.
yo mām evam asammūḍho jānāti puruṣottamam I sa sarva-vidbhajati mām sarvabhāvena bhārata II 15.19
15.19 Whoever knows Me as the Supreme, Puruṣottama, without a doubt, is to be understood as the knower of everything and he worships Me with all his being, O son of Bhārata.
iti guhyatamaṁ śāstram idam uktaṁ mayānagha I etad buddhvā buddhimān syāt kṛtakṛtyaśca bhārata II 15.20
15.20 This is the most confidential teaching disclosed by Me, O Sinless One, and whoever knows this will become wise and his actions will bear fruit.
iti śrīmad bhagavadgītāsūpaniṣatsu brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjuna saṁvāde puruṣottamayogo nāma pañcadaśo 'dhyāyaḥ II
In the Upaniṣad of Śrimad Bhagavad Gītā, the scripture of yoga dealing with Brahmavidyā Yogaśāstra, the science of Brahman, in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇārjuna saṁvād, dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa-Arjuna, this is fifteenth chapter named,
> Puruṣottama Yogaḥ, 'The Yoga of The Supreme Being.'
Only Kṛṣṇa speaks now. Arjuna's inner space has been silenced. Arjuna, who is Puruṣa, is now established in Upaniṣad, mirroring the Superconscious Supreme Being or Self, Puruṣottama Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa reveals who He is and what He is. This chapter is traditionally titled Puruṣottama Yogaḥ, Yoga of the Supreme Being. Kṛṣṇa unveils why He is Puruṣottama, Supreme amongst beings and explains that what He has imparted to Arjuna is the most profound secret.
Arjuna has settled into his Self. He is a new being. He can no more be called Arjuna. He is expressing the power of living with enriching, overflowing with devotion onto Kṛṣṇa present in everything and everything present in Kṛṣṇa! From now on, everything that Arjuna does is enriching his own extension in others! He becomes the cause for creating the ultimate reality for humanity in the Cosmic play of Pūrṇavātar Śrī Kṛṣṇa!
Journey Into Causal Body (15.1-15.2)
Kṛṣṇa reveals the secrets of causal layer, the fifth layer, which He refers to as Aśvattha tree*. The totality of the seven layers is our bodymind-spirit system. The second layer is the prāṇic* body that controls air movements inside our physical body. In the previous chapter, Kṛṣṇa explains that this prāṇic layer is filled with desires and how we create conflicting desires and suffer with rajas (restlessness) and tamas (inactivity or depression).
The fifth layer is the causal body. It is where all saṁskāras, our root patterns, are stored in bīja, seed form. Every night we enter the causal body in deep sleep and take saṁskāras out from this layer to create our world.
Even if we move beyond the three layers of desire, restlessness and depression, these root patterns, saṁskāras in seed form, called bīja saṁskāra (seed patterns), need to be cleared and completed. Kṛṣṇa gives completion techniques to destroy these bīja saṁskāras in the causal body.
Kṛṣṇa says, 'The roots of the tree are on the outside; the branches are inside, ūrdhva mūlam-adhaḥ śākham (15.1).' From the causal body, if the roots are taken to be outside, it should be in the earlier three layers ending with the physical body. In a tree, the roots feed nutrients to it and decide its growth. That is why Kṛṣṇa says the roots of the tree are in the physical body. The tree of saṁskāra is watered by the five senses of the physical body and our actions. The saṁskāras in seed form in the causal body are formed and watered by the five senses of the physical body.