श्रीभगवानुवाच ।ऊर्ध्वमूलमधःशाखमश्वत्थं प्राहुरव्ययम् ।छन्दांसि यस्य पर्णानि यस्तं वेद स वेदवित् ॥
śrībhagavān uvāca |ūrdhvamūlam adhaḥśākham aśvatthaṃ prāhur avyayam |chandāṃsi yasya parṇāni yas taṃ veda sa vedavit ||
- श्रीभगवान् · śrībhagavān
- the Blessed Lord
- उवाच · uvāca
- said
- ऊर्ध्वमूलम् · ūrdhvamūlam
- with roots above
- अधःशाखम् · adhaḥśākham
- with branches below
- अश्वत्थम् · aśvattham
- the banyan (pipal) tree — worldly existence
- प्राहुः · prāhuḥ
- they call
- अव्ययम् · avyayam
- imperishable, ever-renewing
- छन्दांसि · chandāṃsi
- the Vedic hymns
- यस्य · yasya
- whose
- पर्णानि · parṇāni
- leaves
- यः · yaḥ
- who
- तम् · tam
- it
- वेद · veda
- knows
- सः · saḥ
- he
- वेदवित् · vedavit
- a knower of the Vedas
“The Blessed Lord said: They speak of an ever-renewing banyan with roots above and branches below, whose leaves are the Vedic hymns — whoever knows it knows the Vedas.”
— Original plain-language translation
IN SHORT Life is like an upside-down tree; understanding its roots brings clarity.
The famous inverted tree: worldly life rooted in the highest, branching downward into multiplicity. Its leaves — the hymns — both shelter and conceal, offering shade yet hiding the trunk. Knowing the tree means seeing samsara whole, from root to leaf. It is like a phone download tree where one main file keeps spawning folders that fill your storage.
— Reader's notes (original)