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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.

The Lord said: They speak of an imperishable ashvattha tree with its roots above and its branches below. Its leaves are the Vedic hymns, and whoever knows it knows the Vedas.

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.