Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 15, Verse 1
श्री भगवानुवाचऊर्ध्वमूलमधःशाखमश्वत्थं प्राहुरव्ययम्।छन्दांसि यस्य पर्णानि यस्तं वेद स वेदवित्।।
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
ūrdhva-mūlam adhaḥ-śākham aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam
cchandānsi yasya parṇāni yas taṁ veda sa veda-vit
also searched as "urdhvamulam adhahshakham ashvattham prahur avyayam"
Translation
The Lord said, "They speak of an immutable Asvattha tree with its roots above and branches below; its leaves are the Vedas. He who knows it knows the Vedas."
Vāṇi's rendering
There is a fig tree, they say, roots above, branches below, its leaves the sacred hymns. Who knows it knows the Vedas.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| श्रीभगवान्śrī-bhagavān | Krishna, the radiant one |
| उवाचuvāca | said |
| ऊर्ध्वमूलम्ūrdhva-mūlam | having its root above |
| अधःशाखम्adhaḥ-śākham | having its branches below |
| अश्वत्थम्aśvatthaṁ | the fig tree; that which does not last till tomorrow |
| प्राहुःprāhur | they call it, they say (sandhi before avyayam) |
| अव्ययम्avyayam | unending, never used up |
| छन्दांसिcchandānsi | the sacred hymns, the Vedas |
| यस्यyasya | whose |
| पर्णानिparṇāni | leaves |
| यःyas | whoever (sandhi before taṁ) |
| तम्taṁ | that, it |
| वेदveda | knows |
| सःsa | he, that one |
| वेदवित्veda-vit | one who truly knows the Vedas |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15 Verse 1 mean?
Krishna describes the world as a fig tree growing downward — root above, branches below, leaves made of sacred hymns. Everything visible is branch and leaf. The source is unseen, and upstream of all of it. To know the tree this way, Krishna says, is what knowing the Vedas actually means.
What is the meaning of the line urdhvamulam adhahshakham ashvattham prahur avyayam?
Ūrdhva-mūlam is root above; adhaḥ-śākham is branches below. The aśvattha spreads downward from a source you cannot locate by looking around you. Called avyayam because it never runs out — cut a branch and another grows. Only knowing where the root lies changes anything.
Why are the Vedas called the leaves of this tree?
Leaves protect a tree and feed it; the hymns do that for the world of birth and action, teaching what to do and what it costs. But leaves are not the root. Krishna honours them and places them — beautiful, necessary, still not the thing they point toward.
Why does the tree of the world grow downward instead of upward?
Because you are looking from inside its branches. What is nearest to you — your body, your work, your years — is the far end of the growth, not the beginning. The beginning is above, meaning prior, meaning uncaused. Your life is a twig on something older than looking.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
A tree drawn upside down. Krishna hands Arjuna an image before an argument: the fig whose root is above and whose branching is below. Everything you can touch is branch — body, work, family, the years. The root is where you cannot point. This is why grasping at the visible never holds; you are pulling at leaves. And the leaves are the hymns themselves, beautiful, rustling, still not the root. Arjuna wanted to know how to be free of the world. Krishna first shows him which way the world hangs. Look at what you are standing in, and ask where it is fed from.