Chapter 15: Purusottama Yoga

Sanskrit Transliteration:

śhrī bhagavān uvācha ūrdhva-mūlam adhaḥ-śhākham aśhvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam chhandāṁsi yasya parṇāni yas taṁ veda sa veda-vit

Translation:

The Supreme Lord said: They speak of an imperishable banyan tree with its roots above and branches below, whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is a knower of the Vedas.

Commentary:

The material world is compared to an inverted banyan tree—roots above in the transcendent, branches below in the manifest world. The Vedic hymns are its leaves, sustaining the tree. Understanding this metaphor is true Vedic knowledge.

Learning:

The world has its roots in transcendence, not in matter. Material existence branches downward from spiritual reality. Understanding this inversion is essential—we look for roots in the wrong place when we seek foundations in matter.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

adhaśh chordhvaṁ prasṛitās tasya śhākhā guṇa-pravṛiddhā viṣhaya-pravālāḥ adhaśh cha mūlāny anusantatāni karmānubandhīni manuṣhya-loke

Translation:

Its branches extend downward and upward, nourished by the gunas, with sense objects as twigs. Below, in the human world, the roots spread, binding through karma.

Commentary:

The tree's branches extend in all directions, fed by the three gunas. Sense objects are the tender shoots that attract. In the human realm, secondary roots extend—actions that bind one deeper to worldly existence.

Learning:

The gunas nourish worldly entanglement; sense objects are the attractive shoots. Your actions in human life create more roots, deeper binding. Understand how you're becoming more entangled through your own activity.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

na rūpam asyeha tathopalabhyate nānto na chādir na cha sampratiṣhṭhā aśhvattham enaṁ su-virūḍha-mūlam asaṅga-śhastreṇa dṛiḍhena chhittvā tataḥ padaṁ tat parimārgitavyaṁ yasmin gatā na nivartanti bhūyaḥ tam eva chādyaṁ puruṣhaṁ prapadye yataḥ pravṛittiḥ prasṛitā purāṇī

Translation:

Its form is not perceived here as such, nor its end, nor its origin, nor its foundation. Having cut this deep-rooted banyan tree with the strong axe of non-attachment, then that place must be sought from which, having gone, one does not return. "I take refuge in that Primal Person from whom this ancient activity has streamed forth."

Commentary:

The tree's true form isn't seen clearly in worldly experience; its full extent is unknowable. Cut it with the weapon of detachment. Then seek that destination from which there's no return—the Primal Person from whom all existence flows.

Learning:

You can't see the full extent of worldly entanglement while caught in it. The tool for cutting free is detachment. Once cut free, seek the eternal source—the Original Person. Take refuge in the origin from which all activity emerged.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣhā adhyātma-nityā vinivṛitta-kāmāḥ dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-saṁjñair gachchhanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaṁ tat

Translation:

Free from pride and delusion, having conquered the fault of attachment, ever devoted to the Self, with desires completely turned away, liberated from the dualities known as pleasure and pain—the undeluded reach that imperishable goal.

Commentary:

Those who attain the eternal goal are: free from pride and illusion, have conquered attachment, are always focused on the Self, have turned away from desires, and are liberated from the duality of pleasure and pain. These undeluded ones reach the imperishable.

Learning:

The path to the eternal involves: releasing pride and delusion, overcoming attachment, continuous Self-focus, desire reduction, and transcending pleasure-pain duality. These qualities together enable arrival at the unchanging goal.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

na tad bhāsayate sūryo na śhaśhāṅko na pāvakaḥ yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama

Translation:

Neither the sun, nor the moon, nor fire illuminates That. Having reached It, one does not return. That is My supreme abode.

Commentary:

Krishna's supreme abode is self-luminous—it needs no sun, moon, or fire to light it. It shines by its own radiance. Reaching it means never returning to material existence. This is the ultimate destination.

Learning:

The final goal is self-luminous—it doesn't depend on external light. It's not a place in the material universe that needs illumination. Reaching this self-effulgent realm is the end of the journey, with no return to darkness.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

mamaivāṁśho jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ manaḥ-ṣhaṣhṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛiti-sthāni karṣhati

Translation:

An eternal fragment of Myself, having become a living being in the world of life, draws to itself the six senses including the mind, which rest in Prakriti.

Commentary:

The individual soul is an eternal part of Krishna. Entering the material world, it attracts to itself the mind and five senses, which belong to material nature. The soul is eternal; its association with mind and senses is temporary.

Learning:

You are an eternal fragment of the divine. Your mind and senses were attracted to you—they're not your original nature. Understanding your identity as divine fragment changes everything about self-perception.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

śharīraṁ yad avāpnoti yach chāpy utkrāmatīśhvaraḥ gṛihītvaitāni saṁyāti vāyur gandhān ivāśhayāt

Translation:

When the lord (soul) obtains a body and when it leaves, it takes these (mind and senses) and goes, as the wind carries fragrances from their source.

Commentary:

When the soul enters or leaves a body, it carries the mind and senses along, like wind carrying scents. The subtle elements travel with the soul from body to body. Death is not annihilation but transition.

Learning:

You don't lose everything at death. Your mind and impressions travel with you, like scent on the wind. This explains continuity of personality across lives and why spiritual work now affects future existence.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

śhrotraṁ chakṣhuḥ sparśhanaṁ cha rasanaṁ ghrāṇam eva cha adhiṣhṭhāya manaśh chāyaṁ viṣhayān upasevate

Translation:

Presiding over hearing, sight, touch, taste, smell, and the mind, this soul experiences the sense objects.

Commentary:

The soul uses the senses and mind to experience the world. Through ears, eyes, skin, tongue, nose, and mind, it engages with sense objects. The soul is the experiencer; the senses are its instruments.

Learning:

Your soul uses the senses as instruments of experience. You're not the senses; you're the one using them. This distinction is crucial—identify with the experiencer, not the instruments of experience.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

utkrāmantaṁ sthitaṁ vāpi bhuñjānaṁ vā guṇānvitam vimūḍhā nānupaśhyanti paśhyanti jñāna-chakṣhuṣhaḥ

Translation:

The deluded do not perceive the soul departing, staying, or experiencing, endowed with qualities. Those with the eye of knowledge see.

Commentary:

Ordinary people don't see the soul as it leaves the body, resides in it, or experiences through it while associated with gunas. But the wise, with eyes of knowledge, can perceive what the deluded miss.

Learning:

Most people don't perceive the soul's activity—its arrivals, departures, and experiences. Wisdom enables this perception. Develop the eye of knowledge to see what's actually happening beneath surface appearances.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

yatanto yoginaśh chainaṁ paśhyanty ātmany avasthitam yatanto 'py akṛitātmāno nainaṁ paśhyanty achetasaḥ

Translation:

Yogis who strive see the Self established in themselves. But those whose minds are not purified, even though striving, do not see.

Commentary:

Dedicated yogis perceive the Self within themselves. But those who haven't purified their minds, despite effort, cannot see. Purification is prerequisite; mere effort without purity is insufficient.

Learning:

Striving alone isn't enough—purification is required. You can work hard at meditation without seeing anything if your mind is impure. Combine effort with purification; one without the other fails.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

yad āditya-gataṁ tejo jagad bhāsayate 'khilam yach chandramasi yach chāgnau tat tejo viddhi māmakam

Translation:

That light of the sun which illuminates the whole world, and that which is in the moon and fire—know that light to be Mine.

Commentary:

The light of sun, moon, and fire—all luminosity that reveals the world—is Krishna's. He is the source of all light, physical and metaphorical. Every illumination comes from him.

Learning:

All light comes from one source. When you see by sunlight or lamplight, recognize the divine source of all illumination. The physical lights point to the one Light that makes all seeing possible.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

gām āviśhya cha bhūtāni dhārayāmy aham ojasā puṣhṇāmi chauṣhadhīḥ sarvāḥ somo bhūtvā rasātmakaḥ

Translation:

Entering the earth, I sustain all beings with My energy. Becoming the watery moon, I nourish all plants.

Commentary:

Krishna's energy permeates the earth, sustaining all creatures. As the moon, he provides the essence that nourishes all vegetation. Life-sustaining forces in earth and sky are his activity.

Learning:

Divine energy sustains all life. The earth's capacity to support beings, the moon's influence on plants—these natural forces are divine activity. Nature's sustaining powers are not impersonal but expressions of divine care.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

ahaṁ vaiśhvānaro bhūtvā prāṇināṁ deham āśhritaḥ prāṇāpāna-samāyuktaḥ pachāmy annaṁ chatur-vidham

Translation:

Becoming the digestive fire in the bodies of living beings, united with the ingoing and outgoing breath, I digest the four kinds of food.

Commentary:

Krishna is the digestive fire (Vaishvanara) within all beings. Working with the breath, he digests all food—whether chewed, swallowed, licked, or sucked. Digestion is divine activity within you.

Learning:

Your ability to digest food is divine power within you. The fire in your belly is God's presence. Every biological function can be recognized as divine activity. Your body is a temple of divine working.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

sarvasya chāhaṁ hṛidi sanniviṣhṭo mattaḥ smṛitir jñānam apohanaṁ cha vedaiśh cha sarvair aham eva vedyo vedānta-kṛid veda-vid eva chāham

Translation:

I am seated in the hearts of all. From Me come memory, knowledge, and their removal. I am that which is to be known by all the Vedas. I am the author of Vedanta and the knower of the Vedas.

Commentary:

Krishna dwells in every heart. Memory, knowledge, and forgetting come from him. He is what all Vedas seek to reveal, the creator of Vedantic philosophy, and the true knower of Vedic wisdom.

Learning:

God is in your heart right now. Your memory, understanding, and even forgetting come from this inner presence. The goal of all scripture is this one presence. The closest reality is the divine within.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

dvāv imau puruṣhau loke kṣharaśh chākṣhara eva cha kṣharaḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni kūṭa-stho 'kṣhara uchyate

Translation:

There are two kinds of persons in this world—the perishable and the imperishable. All beings are the perishable; the unchanging is called the imperishable.

Commentary:

Two categories of purusha (conscious entities) exist: kshara (perishable)—all embodied beings subject to change—and akshara (imperishable)—the unchanging, eternal aspect. This is a basic metaphysical distinction.

Learning:

Existence has two categories: the changing and the unchanging. All individual beings belong to the changing category. But there's also an imperishable aspect. Understanding both is necessary for complete knowledge.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

uttamaḥ puruṣhas tv anyaḥ paramātmety udāhṛitaḥ yo loka-trayam āviśhya bibharty avyaya īśhvaraḥ

Translation:

But there is another, the Supreme Person, called the Supreme Self, who, entering the three worlds, sustains them—the imperishable Lord.

Commentary:

Beyond both perishable and imperishable is the Supreme Person—Paramatma. He enters and sustains all three worlds while remaining unchanging. He is the Lord beyond both categories.

Learning:

Beyond the changing and the unchanging is the Supreme Person who sustains both. This is Krishna—not just one category but the source of all categories. He transcends what he sustains.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

yasmāt kṣharam atīto 'ham akṣharād api chottamaḥ ato 'smi loke vede cha prathitaḥ puruṣhottamaḥ

Translation:

Since I transcend the perishable and am higher even than the imperishable, I am celebrated in the world and in the Vedas as the Supreme Person (Purusottama).

Commentary:

Krishna declares his position: he transcends the perishable and is superior even to the imperishable. Therefore, he is known as Purusottama—the Supreme Person—in worldly knowledge and Vedic scripture.

Learning:

The title Purusottama means "Supreme Person"—beyond both changeable beings and the unchangeable absolute. This is the highest designation. Krishna is not just one god among others but the Ultimate.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

yo mām evam asammūḍho jānāti puruṣhottamam sa sarva-vid bhajati māṁ sarva-bhāvena bhārata

Translation:

One who, without delusion, thus knows Me as the Supreme Person—that one, knowing all, worships Me with complete being, O Bharata.

Commentary:

Whoever knows Krishna as Purusottama without confusion knows everything essential. Such a person worships him with their entire being—not partially but completely. Complete understanding leads to complete devotion.

Learning:

Knowing Krishna as the Supreme Person is knowing what matters most. This knowledge naturally leads to whole-being worship. Partial knowledge yields partial devotion; complete understanding brings complete love.

Sanskrit Transliteration:

iti guhyatamaṁ śhāstram idam uktaṁ mayānagha etad buddhvā buddhimān syāt kṛita-kṛityaśh cha bhārata

Translation:

Thus this most secret teaching has been imparted by Me, O sinless one. Understanding this, one becomes truly wise and has accomplished all duties, O Bharata.

Commentary:

This chapter contains the deepest secret (guhyatama). Understanding it makes one truly intelligent and fulfills all obligations. Nothing remains to be done when this is understood.

Learning:

This teaching is supreme. Understanding it makes you truly wise and completes your spiritual duties. Nothing more needs to be accomplished. This is the culmination of spiritual knowledge.