Chapter 15. The Yoga of
the Supreme Person
Chapter 15,
Verse 1.
 The Blessed
Lord said: There is a banyan tree which has its roots upward and its branches
down and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is the
knower of the Vedas.
Chapter 15,
Verse 2.
The branches
of this tree extend downward and upward, nourished by the three modes of
material nature. The twigs are the objects of the senses. This tree also
has roots going down, and these are bound to the fruitive actions of human
society.
Chapter 15,
Verse 3-4.
The real
form of this tree cannot be perceived in this world. No one can understand
where it ends, where it begins, or where its foundation is. But with determination
one must cut down this tree with the weapon of detachment. So doing, one
must seek that place from which, having once gone, one never returns, and
there surrender to that Supreme Personality of Godhead from whom everything
has began and in whom everything is abiding since time immemorial.
Chapter 15,
Verse 5.
One who
is free from illusion, false prestige, and false association, who understands
the eternal, who is done with material lust and is freed from the duality
of happiness and distress, and who knows how to surrender unto the Supreme
Person, attains to that eternal kingdom.
Chapter 15,
Verse 6.
That
abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity.
One who reaches it never returns to this material world.
Chapter 15,
Verse 7.
The living
entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due
to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses,
which include the mind.
Chapter 15,
Verse 8.
The living
entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life
from one body to another as the air carries aromas.
Chapter 15,
Verse 9.
The living
entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of ear,
tongue, and nose and sense of touch, which are grouped about the mind.
He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects.
Chapter 15,
Verse 10.
The foolish
cannot understand how a living entity can quit his body, nor can they understand
what sort of body he enjoys under the spell of the modes of nature. But
one whose eyes are trained in knowledge can see all this.
Chapter 15,
Verse 11.
The endeavoring
transcendentalist, who is situated in self-realization, can see all this
clearly. But those who are not situated in self-realization cannot see
what is taking place, though they may try to.
Chapter 15,
Verse 12.
The splendor
of the sun, which dissipates the darkness of this whole world, comes from
Me. And the splendor of the moon and the splendor of fire are also from
Me.
Chapter 15,
Verse 13.
I enter
into each planet, and by My energy they stay in orbit. I become the moon
and thereby supply the juice of life to all vegetables.
Chapter 15,
Verse 14.
I am
the fire of digestion in every living body, and I am the air of life, outgoing
and incoming, by which I digest the four kinds of foodstuff.
Chapter 15,
Verse 15.
I am
seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and
forgetfulness. By all the Vedas I am to be known; indeed I am the compiler
of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.
Chapter 15,
Verse 16.
There
are two classes of beings, the fallible and the infallible. In the material
world every entity is fallible, and in the spiritual world every entity
is called infallible.
Chapter 15,
Verse 17.
Besides
these two, there is the greatest living personality, the Lord Himself,
who has entered into these worlds and is maintaining them.
Chapter 15,
Verse 18.
Because
I am transcendental, beyond both the fallible and the infallible, and because
I am the greatest, I am celebrated both in the world and in the Vedas as
that Supreme Person.
Chapter 15,
Verse 19.
Whoever
knows Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without doubting, is to
be understood as the knower of everything, and He therefore engages himself
in full devotional service, O son of Bharata.
Chapter 15,
Verse 20.
This
is the most confidential part of the Vedic scriptures, O sinless one, and
it is disclosed now by Me. Whoever understands this will become wise, and
his endeavors will know perfection.
  
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