Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 15: The Supreme Person

Bhagavad Gita 15.1

ūrdhvamūlamadhaḥśākhamaśvatthaṃ prāhuravyayam | chandāṃsi yasya parṇāni yastaṃ veda sa vedavit ||

They speak of an imperishable sacred fig tree with its roots above and its branches below, whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree knows the Vedas.

Modern context

The chapter opens with a strange image: a tree with its roots above and branches below. The world of experience is pictured upside down. Its source is not down here among the branches but up above, in the divine. We live among the branches, the leaves and buds of sense experience, and easily forget that the whole tree draws its life from somewhere else.