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Chapter 15 of 18

पुरुषोत्तम योग

The Supreme Person

A tree with its roots above and branches below — and the instruction is to cut it down.

20 verses

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15 — Summary

Chapter 15 is short, dense, and considered by many traditions the essence of the Gita's metaphysics. It opens with an inverted image: the ashvattha tree, eternal, with roots above and branches below, its leaves the Vedic hymns. Its branches spread upward and downward, nourished by the gunas; its roots reach down into the world of men, binding through action. Its form cannot be perceived here — neither its end, nor its beginning, nor its foundation.

The instruction is blunt: cut it down. Having felled this firmly rooted tree with the strong axe of non-attachment, one should seek that place from which there is no return. The tree is samsara itself — the whole apparatus of worldly existence, endlessly self-propagating, rooted in something above and beyond it — and the Gita's counsel is not to prune it but to sever it at the root with detachment.

The chapter then makes its most intimate claim. An eternal fragment of Krishna himself becomes the living soul in the world of the living; it draws to itself the senses and the mind. And he is seated in the hearts of all — from him come memory, knowledge, and their loss. He is the light in the sun and moon, the fire in the digestive process, the sap that nourishes the plants. Finally he sets out the three-tier ontology that gives the chapter its name: there is the perishable (all beings), the imperishable (the unchanging), and beyond both the Supreme Person, Purushottama, who pervades and sustains the three worlds. Whoever knows him thus knows everything, and worships him with their whole being.

Key Themes

The inverted tree

The ashvattha, with roots above and branches below, is the Gita's image for worldly existence — sustained from a source beyond itself, spreading downward into the world of action. Its unreality is not that it does not exist but that it has no graspable beginning or end.

The axe of non-attachment

Krishna does not counsel managing the tree or enjoying its shade. He says to cut it down with the strong axe of detachment and seek the place from which one does not return. Liberation here is decisive rather than gradual.

A fragment of the divine

The individual soul is described as an eternal portion of Krishna himself — mamaivamsho jiva-loke — which draws the senses and mind around it. It is the Gita's most direct statement of the kinship between the human soul and God.

Seated in every heart

Krishna says he dwells in the hearts of all, and that from him come memory, knowledge, and forgetfulness. The mind's most basic operations are traced to a presence within it rather than to the mind's own machinery.

Purushottama

Beyond the perishable and the imperishable stands the Supreme Person, who enters and sustains the worlds. To know him is to know everything worth knowing — and this identification is what the chapter is named for.

Key Verses of Chapter 15

BG 15.1

श्रीभगवानुवाच | ऊर्ध्वमूलमधःशाखमश्वत्थं प्राहुरव्ययम् | छन्दांसि यस्य पर्णानि यस्तं वेद स वेदवित् ||१५-१||

The eternal ashvattha tree, with roots above and branches below — the image of worldly existence.

BG 15.3

न रूपमस्येह तथोपलभ्यते नान्तो न चादिर्न च सम्प्रतिष्ठा | अश्वत्थमेनं सुविरूढमूलं असङ्गशस्त्रेण दृढेन छित्त्वा ||१५-३||

Cut down this firmly rooted tree with the strong axe of non-attachment.

BG 15.7

ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूतः सनातनः | मनःषष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति ||१५-७||

An eternal fragment of my own self becomes the living soul in the world of the living.

BG 15.15

सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि सन्निविष्टो मत्तः स्मृतिर्ज्ञानमपोहनञ्च | वेदैश्च सर्वैरहमेव वेद्यो वेदान्तकृद्वेदविदेव चाहम् ||१५-१५||

I am seated in the hearts of all; from me come memory, knowledge, and forgetfulness.

BG 15.19

यो मामेवमसम्मूढो जानाति पुरुषोत्तमम् | स सर्वविद्भजति मां सर्वभावेन भारत ||१५-१९||

He who knows me as the Supreme Person worships me with his whole being.

Where Chapter 15 Sits in the Gita

Chapter 14 explained bondage through the gunas. Chapter 15 shows what the whole entangling structure looks like from outside — an inverted tree to be felled — and names what lies beyond it. With the metaphysics complete, Chapters 16 and 17 turn to the practical question of human conduct.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the ashvattha tree in Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15?

It is an eternal fig tree with its roots above and its branches below, used as the image of samsara — worldly existence. Its branches, nourished by the three gunas, spread up and down; its secondary roots run into the human world and bind through action. Krishna instructs Arjuna to cut it down with the axe of non-attachment.

Who is Purushottama in the Bhagavad Gita?

Purushottama means the Supreme Person. Chapter 15 sets out three levels of reality: the perishable (all beings), the imperishable (the unchanging), and beyond both, Purushottama — who enters the three worlds and sustains them. Krishna identifies himself as this Supreme Person, and says whoever knows him so knows all there is to know.

What does it mean that the soul is a fragment of God?

In verse 15.7 Krishna says an eternal portion of his own self becomes the individual living being in this world, drawing to itself the mind and the senses. The soul is not a separate creation but a fragment of the divine, which is why the Gita can promise return to a source rather than arrival at a stranger.

How many verses are in Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15?

Chapter 15 has 20 verses, tying with Chapter 12 as the shortest chapter of the Gita.

15.1

श्रीभगवानुवाच |

The Blessed Lord said They (the wise) speak of the indestructible peepul tree having its …

15.2

अधश्चोर्ध्वं प्रसृतास्तस्य शाखा

Below and above spread its branches, nourished by the Gunas; sense-objects are its buds; a…

15.3

न रूपमस्येह तथोपलभ्यते

Its form is not perceived here as such, neither its end nor its origin, nor its foundation…

15.4

ततः पदं तत्परिमार्गितव्यं

Then That goal should be sought for, whither having gone none returns again. I seek refuge…

15.5

निर्मानमोहा जितसङ्गदोषा

Free from pride and delusion, victorious over the evil of attachment, dwelling constantly …

15.6

न तद्भासयते सूर्यो न शशाङ्को न पावकः |

Neither doth the sun illumine there nor the moon, nor the fire; having gone thither they r…

15.7

ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूतः सनातनः |

An eternal portion of Myself having become a living soul in the world of life, draws to (i…

15.8

शरीरं यदवाप्नोति यच्चाप्युत्क्रामतीश्वरः |

When the Lord (as the individual soul) obtains a body and when He leaves it, He takes thes…

15.9

श्रोत्रं चक्षुः स्पर्शनं च रसनं घ्राणमेव च |

Presiding over the ear, the eye, touch, taste and smell, as well as the mind, it enjoys th…

15.10

उत्क्रामन्तं स्थितं वापि भुञ्जानं वा गुणान्वितम् |

The deluded do not see Him Who departs, stays and enjoys; but they who possess the eye of …

15.11

यतन्तो योगिनश्चैनं पश्यन्त्यात्मन्यवस्थितम् |

The Yogins striving (for perfection) behold Him dwelling in the Self; but, the unrefined a…

15.12

यदादित्यगतं तेजो जगद्भासयतेऽखिलम् |

That light which residing in the sun illumines the whole world, that which is in the moon …

15.13

गामाविश्य च भूतानि धारयाम्यहमोजसा |

Permeating the earth I support all beings by (My) energy; and having become the watery moo…

15.14

अहं वैश्वानरो भूत्वा प्राणिनां देहमाश्रितः |

Having become the fire Vaisvanara, I abide in the body of living beings and, associated wi…

15.15

सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि सन्निविष्टो

And I am seated in the hearts of all; from Me are memory and knowledge, as well as their a…

15.16

द्वाविमौ पुरुषौ लोके क्षरश्चाक्षर एव च |

Two Purushas there are in this world, the perishable and the imperishable. All beings are …

15.17

उत्तमः पुरुषस्त्वन्यः परमात्मेत्युधाहृतः |

But distinct is the Supreme Purusha called the highest Self, the indestructible Lord Who, …

15.18

यस्मात्क्षरमतीतोऽहमक्षरादपि चोत्तमः |

As I transcend the perishable and am even higher than the imperishable, I am declared to b…

15.19

यो मामेवमसम्मूढो जानाति पुरुषोत्तमम् |

He who, undeluded, knows Me thus as the highest Purusha, he, knowing all, worships Me with…

15.20

इति गुह्यतमं शास्त्रमिदमुक्तं मयानघ |

Thus, this most secret science has been taught by Me, O sinless one; on knowing this, a ma…

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