Chapter XV- Krishna. Men call the Aswattha,- the Banyan-tree,-
- Which hath its boughs beneath, its roots above,-
- The ever-holy tree. Yea! for its leaves
- Are 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 birth
- From 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 fair
- Of wooing sense: its hanging rootlets seek
- The soil beneath, helping to hold it there,
- As actions wrought amid this world of men
- Bind 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 lay
- This 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 they
- From 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 breeze
- Of summer pleasure stirs the sleeping trees,
- What blast of tempest tears them, bough and stem:
- To 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 itself
- From Being's storehouse,- which containeth all,-
- Senses and intellect. The Sovereign Soul
- Thus 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 itself
- To sense-things so.
- The unenlightened ones
- Mark not that Spirit when he goes or comes,
- Nor when he takes his pleasure in the form,
- Conjoined with qualities; but those see plain
- Who have the eyes to see. Holy souls see
- Which strive thereto. Enlightened, they perceive
- That Spirit in themselves; but foolish ones,
- Even though they strive, discern not, having hearts
- Unkindled, ill-informed!
- Know, too, from Me
- Shineth the gathered glory of the suns
- Which lighten all the world: from Me the moons
- Draw silvery beams, and fire fierce loveliness.
- I penetrate the clay, and lend all shapes
- Their living force; I glide into the plant-
- Root, leaf, and bloom- to make the woodlands green
- With springing sap. Becoming vital warmth,
- I glow in glad, respiring frames, and pass,
- With outward and with inward breath, to feed
- The body by all meats.
- For in this world
- Being is twofold: the Divided, one;
- The Undivided, one. All things that live
- Are "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 beyond
- Divided Being and Undivided- I
- Am 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 Mystery
- Declared to thee! Who comprehendeth this
- Hath wisdom! He is quit of works in bliss!
HERE ENDETH Chapter XV OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, Entitled "Purushottamapraptiyog," Or "The Book of Religion by Attaining the Supreme." |
