- 15.1ऊर्ध्वमूलमधःशाखमश्वत्थं प्राहुरव्ययम् ।Krishna introduces the world as a reversed tree whose meaning is understood through spiritual knowledge.
- 15.2अधश्चोर्ध्वं प्रसृतास्तस्य शाखा गुणप्रवृद्धा विषयप्रवालाः ।The world-tree grows through the forces of nature, the senses, and the actions of human life.
- 15.3न रूपमस्येह तथोपलभ्यते नान्तो न चादिर्न च सम्प्रतिष्ठा ।The world-tree cannot be fully understood from within ordinary experience, so it must be cut by detachment.
- 15.4ततः पदं तत्परिमार्गितव्यं यस्मिन्गता न निवर्तन्ति भूयः ।After cutting attachment, the seeker should turn toward the supreme source and never return to bondage.
- 15.5निर्मानमोहा जितसङ्गदोषा अध्यात्मनित्या विनिवृत्तकामाः ।Freedom comes when pride, attachment, desire, and inner division are overcome.
- 15.6न तद्भासयते सूर्यो न शशाङ्को न पावकः ।The highest spiritual state is beyond all ordinary sources of light and does not lead back to worldly rebirth.
- 15.7ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूतः सनातनः ।The individual soul is a living spark of the divine that takes on mind and senses in the world.
- 15.8शरीरं यदवाप्नोति यच्चाप्युत्क्रामतीश्वरः ।The soul moves from one body to another carrying its inner impressions along.
- 15.9श्रोत्रं चक्षुः स्पर्शनं च रसनं घ्राणमेव च ।The soul experiences the world through the senses and the mind.
- 15.10उत्क्रामन्तं स्थितं वापि भुञ्जानं वा गुणान्वितम् ।Only clear spiritual vision can recognize the soul moving through embodied life.
- 15.11यतन्तो योगिनश्चैनं पश्यन्त्यात्मन्यवस्थितम् ।Spiritual vision comes to those who are disciplined and inwardly prepared.
- 15.12यदादित्यगतं तेजो जगद्भासयतेऽखिलम् ।The brilliance in the great cosmic lights is a manifestation of Krishna.
- 15.13गामाविश्य च भूतानि धारयाम्यहमोजसा ।Krishna supports life both through the earth’s strength and the moon’s nourishing influence.
- 15.14अहं वैश्वानरो भूत्वा प्राणिनां देहमाश्रितः ।Krishna works within the body as the fire that digests and sustains life.
- 15.15सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि सन्निविष्टो मत्तः स्मृतिर्ज्ञानमपोहनञ्च ।Krishna says He lives in every heart and is the source of remembrance, wisdom, and even forgetting.
- 15.16द्वाविमौ पुरुषौ लोके क्षरश्चाक्षर एव च ।Krishna distinguishes between the changing world of beings and the unchanging reality behind it.
- 15.17उत्तमः पुरुषस्त्वन्यः परमात्मेत्युधाहृतः ।Beyond the changing and the unchanging stands the supreme divine Person who sustains all worlds.
- 15.18यस्मात्क्षरमतीतोऽहमक्षरादपि चोत्तमः ।Krishna claims to be beyond both the changing world and the unchanging witness, and therefore the highest divine reality.
- 15.19यो मामेवमसम्मूढो जानाति पुरुषोत्तमम् ।Clear understanding naturally leads to wholehearted devotion.
- 15.20इति गुह्यतमं शास्त्रमिदमुक्तं मयानघ ।Krishna says this hidden teaching completes the seeker’s work and leads to true wisdom.
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