The Bhagavadgita Chapter XV: The Yoga of the Supreme Person
1 Sri Bhagavan said: He who knows the Peepul tree (in the shape of creation), which is said to be imperishable, with its roots in the Primal Being, whose stem is represented by Brahma (the Creator), and whose leaves are the Vedas, is a knower of (the real import of) the Vedas.
2 The Branches of this tree (in the shape of the different species of living beings), nourished by the three Gunas, and having sense-enjoyments for their tender leaves, extend both downwards and upwards; and its roots (in the shape of egoism, the feeling of meum and latent desires), which bind the soul according to his actions in this mortal world, are also spread in all regions, higher as well as lower.
3 Its nature, what it is stated to be, is not actually perceived here (on mature thought); for it has neither beginning nor end, nor even stability. So, cutting down this Peepul tree, whose roots are so deep-laid, by the formidable weapon of dispassion.
4 One should diligently seek that Supreme State (God), having reached which one never returns; and saying to himself, “I seek refuge in the Primal Person (Narayana), from whom has emanated this beginningless flow of creation”, one should meditate on Him.
5 Those undeluded ones, who are free from pride and infatuation, who have conquered the vice of attachment and dwell constantly in God, and whose desires have completely disappeared, - freed from the pairs of opposites known as pleasure and pain, they attain that imperishable Supreme State.
6 Having reached which men do not return, that is My Supreme State; neither the Sun nor Moon nor fire can illumine It.
7 The Jivatma (soul) in the body is an eternal portion of Myself; it draws with it the mind and the five senses that rest in Matter.
8 As the wind carries away odours from their seat, even so the Jivatma, the lord of the body, snatching these (the mind and the senses) from the body, which it casts off, migrates into the body, which it acquires.
9 This (Jivatma), while dwelling in the ear, the eye, the senses of touch, taste and smell and the mind, enjoys the objects of the senses.
10 The ignorant do not perceive the soul departing from, or dwelling in, the body, enjoying the objects of sense, or endowed with the three attributes. Only those, who possess the eye of wisdom, know it in reality.
11 Even striving Yogis are able to know the Self dwelling in their heart. The ignorant, however, whose hearts have not been purified, perceive Him not, even though striving.
12 The effulgence inherent in the sun, which illumines the entire universe, and that which exists in the Moon as well as in the fire, know it to be My effulgence.
13 And entering the earth, it is I who sustain all beings by my power; and becoming the nectarean moon, I nourish all plants.
14 Becoming the fire which dwells in the bodies of living beings, and uniting with the Prana and Apana breaths, I digest the four kinds of food,
15 And it is I who am installed in the hearts of all (as their inner witness). Memory, wisdom and the ratiocinative faculty also emanate from Me. It is I whom the four Vedas seek to know; nay it is I who am the author of the Vedanta as well as the Knower of the Vedas.
16 In this world there are two kinds of Purusas (entities) – perishable and imperishable; the bodies of all beings are perishable, and the Jivatma or soul within is said to be imperishable.
17 The Supreme Person is distinct from both, who, interpenetrating the three worlds, sustains all, and is designated as the Universal Soul and the imperishable Lord.
18 Since I am beyond perishable Matter and superior to the imperishable Soul (enveloped in Maya), hence it is that I am known in the world as well as in the Veda as the Supreme Person.
19 Arjuna, the undeluded person, who thus knows Me in reality as the Supreme Person, he, knowing all, worships Me with his whole being.
20 O sinless Arjuna, in this way this most secret teaching has been imparted by Me; assimilating this, man becomes wise and attains supreme satisfaction.
Thus, in the Upanisad sung by the Lord, the science of Brahma, the scripture on Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krsna and Arjuna, ends the fifteenth chapter entitled “The Yoga of the Supreme Person.”
