Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15: The Yoga of the Supreme Person

The chapter opens with the Gita's great botanical image: the cosmic ashvattha tree, roots above and branches below, its leaves the Vedic hymns (15.1). Its branches, nourished by the gunas, spread through the worlds; its secondary roots reach down into the human world, binding to action (15.2). The tree's form cannot be seen from inside it — so Krishna prescribes the axe of non-attachment: cut the deep-rooted tree, then seek the abode from which no one returns (15.3–4).

From cosmology the teaching turns intimate. An eternal fragment of the Divine becomes the living soul, drawing mind and senses to itself and carrying them from body to body as wind carries fragrance (15.7–8). The divine is at work in plain sight: the radiance of sun, moon, and fire (15.12); the energy sustaining the earth; the digestive fire in every body (15.13–14); seated in all hearts as the source of memory and knowledge (15.15). The chapter culminates in its title-doctrine: beyond the perishable world and even the imperishable soul stands the Supreme Person, Purushottama, who pervades and sustains the three worlds (15.16–18) — and knowing him, Krishna says, is knowing everything (15.19).