śrī-bhagavān uvāca
ūrdhva-mūlam adhaḥ-śākham
aśvatthaḿ prāhur avyayam
chandāḿsi yasya parṇāni
yas taḿ veda sa veda-vit

Translation

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is said that there is an imperishable banyan tree that has its roots upward and its branches down and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas.

adhaś cordhvaḿ prasṛtās tasya śākhā
guṇa-pravṛddhā viṣaya-pravālāḥ
adhaś ca mūlāny anusantatāni
karmānubandhīni manuṣya-loke

Translation

The branches of this tree extend downward and upward, nourished by the three modes of material nature. The twigs are the objects of the senses. This tree also has roots going down, and these are bound to the fruitive actions of human society.

na rūpam asyeha tathopalabhyate
nānto na cādir na ca sampratiṣṭhā
aśvattham enaḿ su-virūḍha-mūlam
asańga-śastreṇa dṛḍhena chittvā

tataḥ padaḿ tat parimārgitavyaḿ
yasmin gatā na nivartanti bhūyaḥ
tam eva cādyaḿ puruṣaḿ prapadye
yataḥ pravṛttiḥ prasṛtā purāṇī

Translation

The real form of this tree cannot be perceived in this world. 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. Thereafter, one must seek that place from which, having gone, one never returns, and there surrender to that Supreme Personality of Godhead from whom everything began and from whom everything has extended since time immemorial.

nirmāna-mohā jita-sańga-doṣā
adhyātma-nityā vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ
dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-saḿjñair
gacchanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaḿ tat

Translation

Those who are free from false prestige, illusion and false association, who understand the eternal, who are done with material lust, who are freed from the dualities of happiness and distress, and who, unbewildered, know how to surrender unto the Supreme Person attain to that eternal kingdom.

na tad bhāsayate sūryo
na śaśāńko na pāvakaḥ
yad gatvā na nivartante
tad dhāma paramaḿ mama

Translation

That supreme abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by fire or electricity. Those who reach it never return to this material world.

mamaivāḿśo jīva-loke
jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
prakṛti-sthāni karṣati

Translation

The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.

sariram yad avapnoti
yac capy utkramatishvarah
grhitvaitani samyati
vayur gandhan ivasayat

Translation

The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aromas. Thus he takes one kind of body and again quits it to take another.

śrotraḿ cakṣuḥ sparśanaḿ ca
rasanaḿ ghrāṇam eva ca
adhiṣṭhāya manaś cāyaḿ
viṣayān upasevate

Translation

The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of ear, eye, tongue, nose and sense of touch, which are grouped about the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects.

utkrāmantaḿ sthitaḿ vāpi
bhuñjānaḿ vā guṇānvitam
vimūḍhā nānupaśyanti
paśyanti jñāna-cakṣuṣaḥ

Translation

The foolish cannot understand how a living entity can quit his body, nor can they understand what sort of body he enjoys under the spell of the modes of nature. But one whose eyes are trained in knowledge can see all this.

yatanto yoginaś cainaḿ
paśyanty ātmany avasthitam
yatanto ’py akṛtātmāno
nainaḿ paśyanty acetasaḥ

Translation

The endeavoring transcendentalists, who are situated in self-realization, can see all this clearly. But those whose minds are not developed and who are not situated in self-realization cannot see what is taking place, though they may try to.