Verse 15.1

ऊर्ध्वमूलमधःशाखमश्वत्थं प्राहुरव्ययम् ।

छन्दांसि यस्य पर्णानि यस्तं वेद स वेदवित् ॥

15.1

Transliteration

ūrdhvamūlamadhaḥśākhamaśvatthaṃ prāhuravyayam |

chandāṃsi yasya parṇāni yastaṃ veda sa vedavit ||

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3

Translation

The Blessed Lord said They (the wise) speak of the indestructible peepul tree having its root above and branches below, whose leaves are the metres or hymns: he who knows it is a knower of the Vedas.

From the owner's sheet · +1 more

Word by word

with roots above
with branches below
the ashvattha tree
they speak of
imperishable

the Vedic hymns
whose
leaves
who
it
knows
he
knower of the Vedas

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08

Explanation

Krishna opens the chapter with an image instead of an argument. The ashvattha, a sacred fig, is pictured upside down, rooted above in the highest source and branching downward into the world. Its leaves are the Vedic hymns, which sustain and shelter life within it. Calling it imperishable points to the endless flow of worldly existence (saṃsāra) rather than to any one tree. Having described the qualities (guṇa) in the previous chapter, Krishna now gives a single picture of the whole web they weave, and says that understanding it is the real meaning of knowing the Vedas.