Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 15 of 18 · 20 verses
The Yoga of the Supreme Person
Puruṣottama Yoga
This short chapter is so complete that Krishna calls the one who understands it wise, with all duties fulfilled — and tradition in many households recites it daily, often before meals. It opens with a striking image: the world as an aśvattha tree with its roots above in the Divine and its branches spreading below, its leaves the Vedic hymns. Such a tree cannot be climbed to freedom; its entangling roots must be cut with the axe of non-attachment, and the ground sought beyond it — that supreme abode, lit by no sun or moon, from which none return. Krishna then speaks with tender intimacy: every soul is an eternal fragment of Himself; He is seated in every heart, giving memory and knowledge; as the fire of life He digests every meal; as the light in sun, moon, and fire He sustains the worlds. Beyond the perishable and the imperishable alike stands Puruṣottama, the Supreme Person.
What this chapter teaches
- The world is like a sacred fig tree rooted above in the Divine; freedom comes not from climbing its branches but from cutting attachment with the axe of detachment.
- Every living soul is an eternal fragment of Krishna, never a stranger to Him.
- The Lord is seated in every heart, and from Him come memory, knowledge, and their fading.
- Krishna sustains life intimately — as the light of sun and moon, the sap in plants, and the fire that digests food.
- Beyond the perishable and the imperishable stands Puruṣottama, the Supreme Person, known fully by those who love Him with their whole being.
Key verses
ऊर्ध्वमूलमधःशाखमश्वत्थं प्राहुरव्ययम्। छन्दांसि यस्य पर्णानि यस्तं वेद स वेदवित्॥
ūrdhva-mūlam adhaḥ-śākham aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam chandāṁsi yasya parṇāni yas taṁ veda sa veda-vit
They speak of an imperishable aśvattha tree with its roots above and its branches below, whose leaves are the Vedic hymns; one who knows this tree is a knower of the Vedas.
The world hangs from the Divine the way a banyan hangs from its root. Trace anything beautiful today back upward to its source.
Free from pride and delusion, with attachment conquered, ever dwelling in the Self, desires stilled, released from the pairs of pleasure and pain, the undeluded reach that imperishable goal.
The path home is described by what is set down, not by what is acquired. Choose one small pride or grudge to lay aside today.
न तद्भासयते सूर्यो न शशाङ्को न पावकः। यद्गत्वा न निवर्तन्ते तद्धाम परमं मम॥
na tad bhāsayate sūryo na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama
Neither sun nor moon nor fire illumines that place; having gone there, none return. That is My supreme abode.
There is a peace that no circumstance switches on and none can switch off. Every moment of deep prayer is a small homecoming to it.
ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूतः सनातनः। मनःषष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति॥
mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati
A fragment of My own Self, become the eternal soul in the world of the living, draws to itself the mind and the five senses resting in nature.
At your core you are not an accident but a spark of the Divine. Speak to yourself today the way you would speak to something sacred — because you are.
अहं वैश्वानरो भूत्वा प्राणिनां देहमाश्रितः। प्राणापानसमायुक्तः पचाम्यन्नं चतुर्विधम्॥
ahaṁ vaiśvānaro bhūtvā prāṇināṁ deham āśritaḥ prāṇāpāna-samāyuktaḥ pacāmy annaṁ catur-vidham
Becoming the fire of life in the bodies of living beings, joined with the ascending and descending breaths, I digest the four kinds of food.
The Divine is as close as your next meal being digested. Many households recite this verse before eating; even one grateful pause turns lunch into worship.
सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि सन्निविष्टो मत्तः स्मृतिर्ज्ञानमपोहनं च। वेदैश्च सर्वैरहमेव वेद्यो वेदान्तकृद्वेदविदेव चाहम्॥
sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham
I am seated in the hearts of all; from Me come memory, knowledge, and their loss. I am the one to be known through all the Vedas; I am the author of Vedānta and the knower of the Vedas.
Guidance is not far away; it is seated in your own heart. Before big decisions, sit quietly and listen inward first.
One who, undeluded, knows Me thus as the Supreme Person knows all there is to know, O Bhārata, and worships Me with all of their being.
Knowing about God and loving God meet in a whole-hearted life. Let study and devotion feed each other rather than compete.
Study this chapter inside SattvAI — and ask Krishna himself what any verse means for your life.
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