BHAGAVAD GITA

Conversation 15. The Yoga of Highest Vision

Table of Contents

Chapter 14 - Chapter 16


  • Krishna said:
    They speak of the eternal Ashvattha tree
    Having its origin above and its branches below
    Whose leaves are the (Vedic) hymns.
    One who understands this
    Is a knower of the Vedas.


  • The branches spread below and above.
    The tree is nourished by the Gunas;
    Sense pleasures are its sprouts;
    And its roots stretch below
    In the human world causing Karmic bondage.


  • Neither its form nor its beginning,
    Neither its end nor its existence
    Is perceptible here on the earth.
    Having cut these firm roots of the Ashvattha tree
    By the mighty ax of Vairaagya or detachment;


  • The goal should be sought reaching
    Which one does not come back; thus thinking:
    In that very primal spirit I take refuge
    From which this primal manifestation comes forth.


  • Those who are free from pride and delusion,
    Who have conquered the evil of attachment,
    Who are constantly dwelling in the Supreme Self
    With all Kaama completely stilled, who are free
    From the dualities known as pleasure and pain;
    Such undeluded persons reach the eternal goal.


  • The sun does not illumine there,
    Nor the moon, nor the fire.
    That is My supreme abode.
    Having reached there they do not come back.


  • Atma in the body is My eternal
    Indivisible fragment indeed.
    Atma gets bound due to superimposition
    Or association with the six sensory faculties,
    Including the mind, of perception.


  • As the air takes away the aroma from the source,
    Similarly Atma takes the six sensory faculties
    From the physical body it casts off
    To the body it acquires.


  • The Jeevaatma enjoys sense pleasures
    With the help of six sensory faculties:
    Hearing, touch, sight, taste, smell, and mind.


  • The ignorant do not perceive Jeeva
    Departing from the body, or remaining in the body
    And enjoying sense pleasures by associating with the Gunas.
    Those with the eye of knowledge can see.


  • The yogis striving behold Atma
    Abiding in their heart; but the ignorant,
    Whose intellect is not pure,
    Do not perceive Him even though striving.


  • The light that coming from the sun
    Illumines the whole world;
    And which is in the moon, and in the fire;
    Know that light to be Mine.


  • Entering the earth
    I support all beings with My energy;
    Becoming the sap-giving moon
    I nourish all the plants.


  • Becoming the digestive fire,
    I remain in the body of all living beings;
    Uniting with vital breaths, the Prana and Apana,
    I digest all four varieties of food; and


  • I am seated in the hearts of all beings.
    The memory, knowledge, and the removal of doubts
    And wrong notions by reasoning or in Samadhi come from Me.
    I am verily that which is to be known by all the Vedas.
    I am, indeed, the author of the Vedanta
    And the knower of the Vedas.


  • There are two entities in this world:
    The perishable and the imperishable.
    All beings are perishable,
    And the Atma is imperishable.


  • There is another supreme spirit
    Called Ishvara or Paramaatma,
    The indestructible Lord who pervades
    The three worlds and sustains them.


  • I am beyond the perishable body,
    And higher than the imperishable Atma;
    Therefore, I am known in this world and in the Vedas
    As Purushottama, or the Supreme Spirit.


  • The wise one, who truly knows Me as the Purushottama,
    Knows everything and worships Me wholeheartedly, O Arjuna.


  • Thus this most secret science
    Has been explained by Me, O sinless Arjuna.
    Having understood this, one becomes enlightened
    And one's all duties are accomplished.

    This is the end of Chapter XV of the Bhagavad Gita
    Entitled "Purusottama-Yoga,"
    Or "The Yoga of the Highest Vision"