Asvattha Tree

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This is That eternal Asvattha Tree with its root above and branches below. That

root, indeed, is called the Bright That is Brahman, and That alone is the

Immortal. In That all worlds are contained, and none can pass beyond. This

verily is That.

 

- Katha Upanishad II.iii.1

 

Samsara is this relative universe with its endless cycles of births and deaths.

This tree is upside down (XV.1). Its roots are above (urdhva) and its branches

below (adhas). it was Lord Krishna who teaches his friend Arjuna the

understanding of the Tree of the Universe or the Tree of Samsara.

 

Yea! for its leaves

Are green and waving hymns which whisper Truth!

Who knows the Asvatta, knows Vedas, and all.

- Ibid.

 

 

Asvattha is the Sanskrit name for the Peepal (fiscus religious) fig tree and is

familiar to all Indians. It has heart-shaped leaves and its fruit is purple when

ripe. The Peepal tree was first depicted on a seal discovered at Mohenjodaro, a

city of the Indus civilization (3000 BC - 1700 BC). Its leaves are applied to

wounds after being heated in ghee. It sends its branches down to the earth

below, and is the Buddha’s Bodhi tree

 

There are many properties invo;ved with this Spiritual tree .Krishna says that

the leaves of this metaphorical tree are the sacred hymns of Vedas. Its branches

are nourished by the three gunas (guna-pravrddha) and its twigs (pravalas),

which sprout branches are said to be the objects of the five senses (visaya). In

Samkhya, the things of this world are never separate from the senses, through

which they are perceived. It is the ‘operation’ of the five senses on

‘their’ objects that makes the temporal illusory hologram perceptible to our

human consciousness.

 

The first ever upside down tree.The roots of the upside-down Tree of Samsara

stretch downward from above as our desire-based actions bind (karma-anubandhini)

us to this earth, the human world (manusyaloke). The upside-down tree is also a

metaphor for the mirror image of the unreal which is only a reflection of the

Real.

 

This Tree of the Universe (Samsara) is said to be noisy ‘constantly

reverberating with the tumultuous’ sounds that arise from the cacophony of all

human activity. Its trunk is formed by ‘the various subtle bodies of living

beings.’ Its growth is fed by desire and its fruits are the Lokas, the worlds

of the afterlife, which are experienced as the reward for actions (Sankaracharya

as translated by Nikhilananda )

 

There is a lot more to learn about the Upside down tree.. please if any one is

aware of the same, do share your views.

 

pranam,

Babitha