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Kathopanisad

Chapter 2 Valli 3 Mantra 1

Lecture

Mantra

Ṣaṣṭhī Vaḷḷī

THE WORLD-TREE ROOTED IN BRAHMAN

ūrdhva̍-mūlo’vāk-śākha e̱so’śva̍tthas sa̱nāta̍nah |
tad e̍va śu̱kraṁ tad bra̱hma tad e̍vāmṛ̱tam u̍cyate |
tasmi̍n lo̱kāś śri̍tās sa̱rve̱ ta̱d u nā̍tyeti̱ kaśca̍na |
e̱tad vai tat || 

esaḥ = this; aśvatthaḥ = sacred fig tree; ūrdhva-mūlaḥ = has its roots above; avāk-śākhaḥ = downwards are its branches; sanātanaḥ = eternal; tat-eva = that indeed is; śukraṁ = white, pure, resplendant; tat brahma = that is Brahman; tat-eva = that indeed is;  amṛtam = immortal; ucyate = is called; tasmin = on That; sarve lokāḥ = all the realms of existence; śṛitāḥ = are fixed, based; kaḥcana na = nothing whatsoever; atyeti = exceeds, transcends; tat-u = that indeed; etat-vai tat = This verily is that.

This is the ancient Asvattha tree whose roots are above and whose branches (spread) below. That is verily the pure, that is Brahman, and that is also called the Immortal. In that, rest all the worlds, and none can transcend It. Verily this is That.

by Swami Chinmayananda:

All those who have at least a scrappy knowledge of Sanskrit are advised to get hold of a copy of Shri Sankara’s commentary upon this Mantra; it is a piece of joy. Even the great philosopher Shri Śaṅkaracharya was seemingly carried away into the realm of pure poetry and literature at the beauty of the deep suggestions contained in the above Mantra.

Just as the sweet scent of the night flower wafting towards us can give us an idea of not only the presence of the night queen shrub but also the roots that sustain the plant, so too, the Sruti from an observation of the finite world of names and forms wants to deduce “the root of it all” that lies in a region concealed from our superficial observations. Thus, to point out an unseen cause for the seen and experienced effects, the scripture is here bringing out a beautiful comparison of the universe projected out from Reality in the form of an Asvattha tree (peepal tree). It is also relevant here to remember that in describing the same fig tree, Lord Vyasa also devoted three entire stanzas in the opening of the XV Chapter in his masterpiece, Bhagavat Gita.

Śaṅkaracharya, in his commentary, also provides us with a reason why the Samsara has been compared to a tree by the Sruti; in Sanskrit, the word “Vrksha” means a tree “because it is felled” (Vrscanat).

Commonly known to the majority there is no tree, that is so extensive in growth, sturdy in build, and long in its duration of life as the Peepal and the Sruti could not have thought of another tree equally appropriate, to compare it with the world of plurality. Generally, the professional writers of cheap bazaar notes led away by the literal word meaning, explain the tree of Samsara as having its roots above and the branches hanging down. This is absurd and even the Sruti statements cannot make any Asvattha tree do a Sirasasana, however, much-misguided artists may try with their colors to represent this misreading of the Sruti texts by Sanskrit Pundits; Sankara has very pointedly hinted at this misunderstanding.

Urdhva Moola (roots up) – The word Urdhva here does not mean “up” in the sense of geometrical “up” but it is used to indicate the idea of “reverence’. Thus, of the many parts of the Tree of Samsara, the root is much more sacred and hence Urdhva; the Tree of Samsara has its roots sucking out its sap from the “Vishnoh Paramam Padam” (the Supreme place of Vishnu, the All-pervading Atman).

Again, there can be yet another reason why Sruti has chosen this Peepal tree for her purposes of representing Samsara. The very word Asvattha can be liquidated in Sanskrit into three parts meaning thereby “that which will not be tomorrow”. Samara is a word that indicates the world of the finite objects, here death and destruction are the constant happenings; no simpler word would have more completely and so effectively indicated the world of perishable objects as the Asvattha.

Despite our repeated efforts at finding for them sufficient reasons to generate their appreciation of this gem of poetry and philosophy, our educated Hindu brethren, in their hardened prejudices against the style and contents of the Upanishads might yet find some difficulty in understanding it. Chinmaya may here try to give them yet another example.

Have you not seen, in your history textbooks, charts representing the line of descendants of the various ruling families Each of them starts with a great grandsire and then branches out into sons and daughters, who, in their turn, again spread out into an array of grandsons and grand-daughters … ad infinitum. Don’t these printed charts look like a tree with its roots up?  They are called in English the charts of family trees; If our modern historians, in their matter-of-fact and unpoetic approach to data, can come to use such a poetic idea of a family tree, would you not, if not in sympathy, at least in an intellectual understanding give the Rsis of the Upanishads the benefit of the doubt:

In short, the Upanishad wants us to understand only the simple fact that the finite world, the Asvattha, is itself rooted in Truth and maintains itself from the nourishments drawn from the Absolute Truth. The Samsara is a “tree”, mainly because it can be cut down and removed once and forever with the firm axe of discrimination (viveka). Refer Gita, XV, 3.

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