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न रूपमस्येह तथोपलभ्यते नान्तो न चादिर्न च संप्रतिष्ठा।अश्वत्थमेनं सुविरूढमूल मसङ्गशस्त्रेण दृढेन छित्त्वा।।15.3।।

na rūpam asyeha tathopalabhyate nānto na chādir na cha sampratiṣhṭhā aśhvattham enaṁ su-virūḍha-mūlam asaṅga-śhastreṇa dṛiḍhena chhittvā

Sanskrit Chant Recitation
Chapter 15, Verse 3
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Scripture Translation Room

Sanskrit to English Translation

Translator:
Its form is not perceived here as such, nor its end, origin, foundation, or resting place; having cut asunder this firmly rooted peepul tree with the strong axe of non-attachment.

A Reading - Rantideb

Why: its form is not perceived here as such, nor its end, beginning, or foundation, having cut this deeply rooted tree with the strong axe of detachment, describing both the tree's disorienting complexity and the specific tool needed to address it.

In life: some patterns in your life are so deeply embedded and complex that trying to fully map or understand every branch before acting is itself a form of paralysis, sometimes you need to start cutting before you fully understand the whole structure.

Teaching: for an especially tangled pattern in your own life, resist the urge to fully map and understand every branch before acting, sometimes beginning to cut with real detachment, even without full understanding, is the more effective actual starting move.

nanot
rūpamform
asyaof this
ihain this world
tathāas such
upalabhyateis perceived
naneither
antaḥend
nanor
chaalso
ādiḥbeginning
nanever
chaalso
sampratiṣhṭhāthe basis
aśhvatthamsacred fig tree
enamthis
su-virūḍha-mūlamdeep-rooted
asaṅga-śhastreṇaby the axe of detachment
dṛiḍhenastrong
chhittvāhaving cut down

Deep Classical Commentary (Bhashya)

Author:
15.3 न not? रूपम् form? अस्य its? इह here? तथा as such? उपलभ्यते is perceived? न not? अन्तः (its) end? न not? च and? आदिः (its) origin? न not? च and? संप्रतिष्ठा foundation or resting place? अश्वत्थम् Asvattha? एनम् this? सुविरूढमूलम् firmrooted? असङ्गशस्त्रेण with the axe of nonattachment? दृढेन strong? छित्त्वा having cut asunder.Commentary The idea is continued in the next verse.So long as one is under the sway of ignorance? he cannot understand the form of this tree? its end? origin and foundation (middle). O Arjuna Thou mayest perhaps consider that such a huge tree cannot be uprooted by any means whatever. It is not so. However firmly rooted it may be? it can be cut by the powerful axe of nnattachment or dispassion within the twinkling of an eye.After cutting this tree you will have to look within? meditate on the Self and behold the Supreme.Tatha As such As described above. Is it necessary to pull down castles in the air or to break the horns of a hare or to pluck a flower growing in the sky or to get butter from the milk of a tortoise or oil from stone Similarly? O Arjuna? there is no reality in this tree. Therefore why should you entertain any fear as to whether it may be uprooted or not Its form as such is not perceived by anybody here it is like a dream or a mirage or an imaginary city in the sky formed by the clouds or caused by a juggler. It appears and disappears. This tree has DrishtaNashtaSvarupa like the mirage. That object which is destroyed when one beholds it is DrishtaNashta. Nobody has perceived the end? the origin or the foundation of this illusory tree. No one can say that it has arisen from such and such a place or point.Samsara or the peepul tree is inveterately deeprooted. You will have to struggle hard to uproot it with its seed or the selfreproducing deep root.Asanga Dispassion? freedom from attachment to children? wealth and the world.Dridhena Strong. You will have to cut the tree with a strong axe which is sharpened again and again on the whetstone of the practice of discrimination. Further your mind should be turned towards the Supreme Being with the strong determination that you can attain eternal bliss only in Him and that He is the ony Reality.The desire for sensual pleasure is Sanga. Its opposite (dispassion) is Asanga. Renunciation of the three kinds of Eshanas (desires)? viz.? children? wealth and the world (PutraVittaLokeshana) is Asanga. Just as the axe cuts the tree? so also dispassion cuts this tree of Samsara. Hence dispassion is termed an axe. Cutting the tree of Samsara is annihilation of egoism? ignorance? latent tendencies? and renunciation of the fruits of all actions? through the practice of dispassion? control of the mind and the senses? etc. (Cf.VII.14)