श्री भगवानुवाचऊर्ध्वमूलमधःशाखमश्वत्थं प्राहुरव्ययम्।छन्दांसि यस्य पर्णानि यस्तं वेद स वेदवित्।।15.1।।
अधश्चोर्ध्वं प्रसृतास्तस्य शाखा गुणप्रवृद्धा विषयप्रवालाः।अधश्च मूलान्यनुसन्ततानि कर्मानुबन्धीनि मनुष्यलोके।।15.2।।
The Blessed Lord said, “They say that the peepul tree, which has its roots upward and its branches downward, and of which the Vedas are the leaves, is imperishable. He who realizes it is a knower of the Vedas.”
The branches of that Tree, extending downwards and upwards, are strengthened by the qualities and have sense-objects as their shoots. And the roots, which are followed by actions, spread downwards in the human world [According to A.G. and M.S. manusya-loke means a body distinguished by Brahminhood etc.].
Osho’s Commentary
My beloved friend, listen to this paradox. Krishna speaks of a tree whose roots are in the sky and whose branches grow downwards, into this earth. The whole of modern thought, the whole mind of a Darwin, thinks that life is an evolution, a journey from the lower to the higher. But the vision of the Gita is just the opposite. It says the source, the root, is the highest. And this world that we call life is a descent, a fall, a growing downwards, away from that source. What we call progress, the sages have called a fall. To find the ultimate, then, is not to climb higher, but to return to the very root from which you have come. The final goal is the original beginning. The search is not for a new future, but for a forgotten past. The ultimate experience of liberation is like that of a child resting in the mother’s womb—a state of perfect, silent, blissful union. This world-tree is upside down. Its roots are in Brahman, in the divine. Its branches are this vast, manifest creation. Its leaves are the scriptures, the Vedas—mere words fluttering in the wind, far from the root. And its other roots stretch down into the world of men, binding you through your actions, your karma. The path is not to grow new branches, but to turn the river of your life back towards its origin. This is why the East has always spoken of renunciation—not as a denial of life, but as a turning away from this downward flow, a journey back to the source. The tree is vast, but you are never disconnected from the root. The sap of the divine still flows in the furthest leaf. To become aware of this inner connection and to begin the journey back home is the whole art of religion.