Purusottama-yoga
The Yoga of the Supreme Person

15:1-3: The Blessed One said: It is said that there is an imperishable banyan tree whose roots are above and whose branches are below; the Vedic hymns are its leaves. One who knows this tree knows the entire Vedas.
Its branches spread forth below and above, cultivated by the qualities of material nature; the sense objects are its shoots. Its roots are extended below, thriving by the fruitive activities of human society.
Thus the form of this banyan tree is not perceived here, neither its end, beginning nor its foundation; but this firmly rooted tree can be cut down with the strong axe of non-attachment.

15:4-6: That abode should be sought out whence, having gone, one does not return but takes refuge in God - the primeval Person - from Whom all activities eternally originate.
Devoid of pride and delusion, having conquered the contamination of attachment, established in eternal individuality, having quenched all desires, liberated from the dualities of pleasure and suffering - one who is thus undeluded attains that imperishable abode.
That supreme abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun, the moon or fire. Those who go there do not return.

15:7: Indeed, the living beings are My eternal parts in the world of living entities. With their senses, the mind being the sixth, they are abiding in material nature and are tormented.

15:8, 9: When the living entity obtains and abandons bodies, he takes these and enters into them as aromas abide in the wind.
Employing the ear, the eye, the organ of touch, the tongue, the nose and the mind, one enjoys sense objects.

15:10, 11: Foolish people can not understand the exodus or abidance of the soul, nor the enjoyment of the soul endowed with the qualities of material nature, but those who have knowledge understand.
Endeavoring, the yogis behold this abiding in the Self, but those who lack culture and are devoid of understanding do not see this.

15: 12: The effulgent sunshine which illumines the entire universe, the moon and the radiance of fire - know these to come from Me.

15:13: Entering the earth I sustain all living beings; by My abilities I become the moon and nourish all juicy herbs.

15:14: I become the digestive fire in the body of all living beings. Abiding in the ascending breath - which issues from the upper trunk - and the descending breath - which issues forth from the lower trunk - when equally yoked, I digest the four kinds of food.1

15:15: I am abiding in the hearts of all beings. From Me comes memory, knowledge and forgetfulness. I am knowable through the Vedas. I am the compiler of the Vedanta and the knower of the entire Vedas.

15:16, 17: These two persons are in the world: the perishable and the imperishable. All living beings are perishable while the [other is] called immovable and imperishable.
But there is another, the Highest Person Who is thus called the Supreme Self in Whom the three worlds enter and are sustained, the Imperishable God.

15:18: Because I transcend the perishable as well as the imperishable, I am preeminent. In the world and in the Vedas I am extolled as the Supreme Person.

15:19: One who is undeluded and knows Me thus as the omniscient Supreme Person worships Me with her or his whole being, O descendent of Bharata.

15:20: Thus I have disclosed the most discreet sacred teaching, O sinless one. An intelligent person who understands this, O descendent of Bharata, has accomplished all duties.

Here Ends Chapter Fifteen.

Go to: Chapter Sixteen

Go to: Setting the Stage: My Introduction.

Go to: Notes and References.