Bhagavad Gita · 15.5 · The Yoga of the Supreme Divine Personality·5 of 20
निर्मानमोहा जितसङ्गदोषा अध्यात्मनित्या विनिवृत्तकामाः।द्वन्द्वैर्विमुक्ताः सुखदुःखसंज्ञै र्गच्छन्त्यमूढाः पदमव्ययं तत् ॥
nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣhā adhyātma-nityā vinivṛitta-kāmāḥ
dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-sanjñair gachchhanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaṁ tat
Sanskrit recitation
The inverted tree of life · 15.1–15.6 · Teaching
Translation
Free from pride and delusion, victorious over the evil of attachment, dwelling constantly in the Self, their desires having completely turned away, freed from the pairs of opposites known as pleasure and pain, they, the undeluded, reach the eternal goal.
Meaning
Wherever there is pride there is stiff egoism. Absence of discrimination between the Real and the unreal is Moha. Perversion is Moha. Infatuation is Moha. Those who are free from likes and dislikes even when they attain pleasant or unpleasant objects have triumphed over the,evil of attachment. Kartritva Abhimana or the idea I am the doer is Sanga. Likes and dislikes are the Doshas or the evils. Heat and cold, pleasure and pain, honour and dishonour, censure and praise, etc., are the pairs of opposites. Only those who have destroyed ignorance and who have attained the knowledge of the Self reach the eternal goal.Adhyatmanityah Ever engaged in the contemplation of the nature of Brahman or the Supreme Being.Vinivrittakamah All the desires vanish in toto without leaving any trace or taint behind. They who have reached this stage become Yatis or Sannyasins. In the fire of wisdom all desires are burnt. As the birds fly away from a tree which has caught fire, so do desires go away from him.Tat That (the goal) described above.
After Swami Sivananda
The inverted tree of life· 15.1–15.6→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 15.1The Blessed Lord said: They (the wise) speak of the indestructible peepul tree, with its roots above and branches below, whose leaves are the meters or hymns; he who knows it is a knower of the Vedas.
- 15.2Its branches spread below and above, nourished by the Gunas; its buds are sense-objects, and its roots stretch forth below in the world of men, originating action.
- 15.3Its form is not perceived here as such, nor its end, origin, foundation, or resting place; having cut asunder this firmly rooted peepul tree with the strong axe of non-attachment.
- 15.4Then, that goal should be sought for, to which, having gone, none returns again. I seek refuge in that Primeval Purusha, from whence streamed forth the ancient activity or energy.
15.5Free from pride and delusion, victorious over the evil of attachment, dwelling constantly in the Self, their desires having completely turned away, freed from the pairs of opposites known as pleasure and pain, they, the undeluded, reach the eternal goal.
- 15.6Neither does the sun illuminate there, nor the moon, nor the fire; having gone there, they do not return; that is My supreme abode.
Word-by-word→
- tat
- that
- jita
- having overcome
- māna
- vanity
- niḥ
- free from
- padam
- abode
- avyayam
- eternal
- saṅga
- attachment
- mohāḥ
- delusion
- kāmāḥ
- desire to enjoy senses
- doṣhāḥ
- evils
- dvandvaiḥ
- from the dualities
- gachchhanti
- attain
- vimuktāḥ
- liberated
- vinivṛitta
- freed from
- amūḍhāḥ
- unbewildered
- saṁjñaiḥ
- known as
- sukha-duḥkha
- pleasure and pain
- adhyātma-nityāḥ
- dwelling constantly in the self and God
Related verses
- 16.10Filled with insatiable desires, full of hypocrisy, pride, and arrogance, holding evil…
- 1.32I desire not victory, O Krishna, nor kingdom, nor pleasures. What use is dominion to us, O…
- 6.35The Blessed Lord said, "Undoubtedly, O mighty-armed Arjuna, the mind is difficult to…
- 7.27O Bharata, all beings are subject to delusion at birth due to the delusion of the pairs of…