Chapter 15

The Supreme Person

The Upside-Down Tree

The inverted tree

Krishna binds the world of birth and death into one striking picture — an *ashvattha* tree growing upside down, its roots above, its branches spreading below, fed by the qualities of nature, its buds the objects of the senses, its lower roots reaching down into the actions that bind.

"Its true form," he says, "is never seen by anyone standing inside it" — not its beginning, not its end, not its foundation. There is only one tool for cutting it down: the firm axe of non-attachment. Then a person searches for the place from which, once reached, there is no return.

The traveller

Within the world, Krishna says, each living being is an eternal portion of him. That portion draws to itself the five senses and the mind, both resting in nature.

When it takes up a body, and when it leaves one, it carries the senses and mind along — exactly the way a passing breeze lifts scents from the places where they had settled.

The one in the heart

"I am the light that lives in the sun, in the moon, in fire," Krishna says, "lighting the whole world." He enters the earth and holds up every being with his own energy, and becomes the very sap that feeds the plants.

He is the digestive fire in the body of every living thing, joined with the two breaths, breaking down the four kinds of food. He is seated in the heart of everyone, and from him rise memory, knowledge, and their loss; he is what all the Vedas exist to know.

The three

"In this world," Krishna says, "there are two 'persons' — the perishable, which is every being, and the imperishable, the unchanging principle standing above them."

Beyond both stands a third — the highest, the Supreme Person, *Purushottama*, who enters the three worlds and holds them up. "Because I am beyond the perishable, and higher even than the imperishable," he says, "the world and the Vedas both know me as Purushottama." The one who knows him without confusion worships him with their whole being.

Note: None of the three schools reads verse 15.7's "a portion of myself" as a literal piece broken off God; each avoids that reading in its own way. The inverted-tree image echoes the Katha Upanishad. Though only twenty verses long, Chapter 15 has a prominent place in recitation; in some traditions it is chanted before meals.

Source: Mahabharata — Bhishma Parva, The Supreme Person

Now — how much stayed with you?

Riddle

I am a tree that grows upside down — roots above, branches below. Krishna calls me the picture of the world of birth and death. Which tree am I?

  • The banyan
  • A mango in place of the fig
  • The wish-fulfilling tree
  • The *ashvattha*, the sacred fig
Read the whole story — The inverted tree

The tree is nourished by the qualities of nature, its buds the objects of the senses, its lower roots reaching down into the actions that bind.

Its true form is not seen by anyone standing inside it — not its beginning, not its end, not its foundation.

The tool for cutting it down is the firm axe of non-attachment.

Fact

What is the tool for cutting down the inverted tree, according to Krishna?

  • The sword of knowledge
  • The fire of austerity
  • The firm axe of non-attachment
  • The rope of devotion
Read the whole story — The axe of non-attachment

"Cut with the firm axe of non-attachment."

Then one seeks the place from which, once reached, there is no return.

The inverted-tree image echoes the Katha Upanishad — it is not the Gita's own invention.

Fact

By what image does Krishna describe the jiva moving from one body to another?

  • Like a breeze, moving on, carrying scents away from the places they belong to
  • Like a snake shedding its skin
  • Like a person changing worn clothes
  • Like a river meeting the sea
Read the whole story — The traveller

Within the living world there is an eternal portion, belonging to Krishna, that becomes the individual soul.

It draws to itself the five senses and the mind, which rest in nature.

When it takes up a body and when it leaves one, it carries them along — the way a breeze carries scents.

Who said it?

"I am seated in the heart of everyone, and from me come memory, knowledge and their loss" — who says this?

  • Arjuna
  • The Vedas, in one voice
  • Sanjaya
  • Krishna
Read the whole story — The one in the heart

Verse 15.15: "I am seated in the heart of all."

Krishna calls himself the light in the sun, the moon and fire, and the digestive fire in the body of every living thing, processing the four kinds of food.

And he is what all the Vedas are meant to know.

What happened?

How many "persons" does Krishna name in the world, and how is the Supreme Person different?

  • One
  • Two
  • Four
  • Countless
Read the whole story — The three

Because Krishna is beyond the perishable and higher than the imperishable, he is known in the world and in the Vedas as the Supreme Person.

The one who knows him without confusion worships him with their whole being.

This is the chapter's summit — and Krishna calls it the most secret teaching.

Who am I?

I am beyond the perishable and higher than the imperishable — so both the world and the Vedas call me the Supreme Person. Who am I?

  • The imperishable person
  • Purushottama
  • The perishable person
  • Nature
Read the whole story — Purushottama

Verse 15.18: "so I am celebrated in the world and in the Vedas as the Supreme Person."

The chapter's very name is this, and it is a summit of the jnana hexad in the Gita's three-by-six division.

None of the three schools reads verse 15.7's "a portion of myself" as a literal piece broken off God — each avoids it in its own way.

Why is that?

The Gita calls the jiva a "portion" of Krishna (15.7) — why do Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva all reject a crude "piece broken off God" reading?

  • Because the verse was inserted later
  • Because the Gita does not speak of the jiva at all
  • Because the word "portion" is not in the Gita
  • Because breaking God into physical pieces is unacceptable to all three Vedanta traditions
Read the whole story — A portion, not a fragment

For Shankara, "a portion of myself" indicates an apparent limitation or association, not a real division.

For Ramanuja, the jiva is a real, eternal part or mode of the Lord, retaining its individuality.

For Madhva, "portion" means dependence or likeness, not shared essence.

The texts disagree

"The inverted ashvattha tree is a plain botanical description" — is this right?

  • No
  • Yes, Krishna is talking about a real fig tree
  • Yes, it is agricultural advice
  • No
Read the whole story — Metaphor, not a tree

The tree's roots are above — its origin is beyond this visible world.

Its branches spread below, nourished by the gunas, reaching down into action.

The schools differ on the exact meaning of its parts, but all agree it maps bondage and the need for detachment.

Put it in order

In what order does Chapter 15's teaching move?

  • The three persons → the one in the heart → the inverted tree → the travelling jiva
  • The one in the heart → the three persons → the inverted tree → the travelling jiva
  • The inverted ashvattha tree and the axe of non-attachment → the jiva, Krishna's eternal portion, carrying the senses like the wind → Krishna the light in sun, moon and fire, seated in the heart → the two persons (perishable, imperishable) and the third, Purushottama
  • The travelling jiva → the three persons → the inverted tree → the one in the heart
Read the whole story — From the tree to Purushottama

The chapter opens on an inverted tree — the whole world in one picture.

In between are the jiva's journey and Krishna's pervasiveness.

At the end the frame of the three persons, and at its summit Purushottama — which Krishna calls the most secret teaching.

Later tradition

What special place does Chapter 15 hold in tradition?

  • It is never recited
  • Though only twenty verses long, it has a prominent place in recitation; in some traditions it is chanted before meals
  • It is the longest chapter
  • It is recited only in South India
Read the whole story — Before meals

In Chapter 15 Krishna calls himself the digestive fire in the body of every living thing, processing the four kinds of food.

Perhaps for that reason, several traditions recite this chapter before meals.

It is among the Gita's short chapters, but its place in the text is large.