Bhagavad Gita
Chapter XV — Religion by Attaining the Supreme
Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa18853 min read
Bhagavad GitaKrishnaBhakti
Krishna
Men call the Aswattha,--the Banyan-tree,--Which hath its boughs beneath, its roots above,--The ever-holy tree. Yea! for its leavesAre green and waving hymns which whisper Truth!Who knows the Aswattha, knows Veds, and all.
Its branches shoot to heaven and sink to earth,Even as the deeds of men, which take their birthFrom qualities: its silver sprays and blooms,And all the eager verdure of its girth,Leap to quick life at kiss of sun and air,As men's lives quicken to the temptings fairOf wooing sense: its hanging rootlets seekThe soil beneath, helping to hold it there,
As actions wrought amid this world of menBind them by ever-tightening bonds again.If ye knew well the teaching of the Tree,What its shape saith; and whence it springs; and, then
How it must end, and all the ills of it,The axe of sharp Detachment ye would whet,And cleave the clinging snaky roots, and layThis Aswattha of sense-life low,--to set
New growths upspringing to that happier sky,--Which they who reach shall have no day to die,Nor fade away, nor fall--to Him, I mean,FATHER and FIRST, Who made the mystery
Of old Creation; for to Him come theyFrom passion and from dreams who break away;Who part the bonds constraining them to flesh,And,--Him, the Highest, worshipping alway--
No longer grow at mercy of what breezeOf summer pleasure stirs the sleeping trees,What blast of tempest tears them, bough and stemTo the eternal world pass such as these!
Another Sun gleams there! another Moon!Another Light,--not Dusk, nor Dawn, nor Noon--Which they who once behold return no more;They have attained My rest, life's Utmost boon!
When, in this world of manifested life,The undying Spirit, setting forth from Me,Taketh on form, it draweth to itselfFrom Being's storehouse,--which containeth all,--Senses and intellect. The Sovereign SoulThus entering the flesh, or quitting it,Gathers these up, as the wind gathers scents,Blowing above the flower-beds. Ear and Eye,And Touch and Taste, and Smelling, these it takes,--Yea, and a sentient mind;--linking itselfTo sense-things so.
The unenlightened onesMark not that Spirit when he goes or comes,Nor when he takes his pleasure in the form,Conjoined with qualities; but those see plainWho have the eyes to see. Holy souls seeWhich strive thereto. Enlightened, they perceiveThat Spirit in themselves; but foolish ones,Even though they strive, discern not, having heartsUnkindled, ill-informed!
Know, too, from MeShineth the gathered glory of the sunsWhich lighten all the world: from Me the moonsDraw silvery beams, and fire fierce loveliness.I penetrate the clay, and lend all shapesTheir living force; I glide into the plant--Root, leaf, and bloom--to make the woodlands greenWith springing sap. Becoming vital warmth,I glow in glad, respiring frames, and pass,With outward and with inward breath, to feedThe body by all meats.
For in this worldBeing is twofold: the Divided, one;The Undivided, one. All things that liveAre "the Divided." That which sits apart,"The Undivided."
Higher still is He,The Highest, holding all, whose Name is LORD,The Eternal, Sovereign, First! Who fills all worlds,Sustaining them. And--dwelling thus beyondDivided Being and Undivided--IAm called of men and Vedas, Life Supreme,The PURUSHOTTAMA.
Who knows Me thus,With mind unclouded, knoweth all, dear Prince!And with his whole soul ever worshippeth Me.
Now is the sacred, secret MysteryDeclared to thee! Who comprehendeth thisHath wisdom! He is quit of works in bliss!
HERE ENDS CHAPTER XV. OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITAEntitled "Purushottamapraptiyog,"Or "The Book of Religion by attaining the Supreme."